# How Ravn Works: Contact Data for Claude and AI Agents

Canonical: https://askravn.com/how-it-works

How it works

# Connect once. Then just ask.

Ravn is a set of contact-data tools your agent can call: verify an email, find one, read a company, check a phone, search people. One account, three ways in, the same answer every time.
[Start free: 1,000 lookups](https://askravn.com/#start) [Read the docs](https://askravn.com/docs)

Get started
## Three steps, no key to copy.
Prefer the terminal? `npx ravn login` does the same.

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### Add the connector
In Claude: Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, and paste `https://api.askravn.com/mcp`. In Claude Code: `claude mcp add --transport http ravn https://api.askravn.com/mcp`.

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### Sign in with your email
A Ravn page opens. Type your email, then the 6-digit code we send. New accounts start with 1,000 free lookups.

- / 03
### Ask in plain English
"Check these 200 emails and drop anything risky." "Find the Head of Design at Linear." Claude picks the tools, runs them and tells you what it couldn't verify.

## Three ways in. Same tools.
Every tool has one name and one answer shape across all three. Branch on `status`; a miss is `not_found` and costs nothing.

### [MCP server](https://askravn.com/mcp-server)
For Claude, Claude Code, Cursor and any MCP client. OAuth sign-in, or an API key header for servers and CI.

### [CLI](https://askravn.com/docs#cli)
`npx ravn` for scripts, terminal agents and CSVs. JSON when piped, tables in a terminal, resumable `enrich` runs.

### [REST API](https://askravn.com/docs#auth)
`POST /v1/tools/{name}` with a bearer key. JSON Schemas for every tool at `/v1/tools`.

Under the hood
## Checked, never guessed.

- / 01
### Our own live checks
DNS, mail servers, the company's own website and public registries, run at the moment you ask.

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### Your own provider key
People and company lookups run on your own data-provider account, which Ravn calls for you and never keeps. We never scrape LinkedIn.

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### Suppression before results
Anyone who opted out is removed before an answer leaves our servers. [More on our data →](https://askravn.com/data)

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### Honest verdicts
If we couldn't test a mailbox, the answer says so. Catch-alls are marked risky, not valid.

## Every tool, one key.
[See pricing →](https://askravn.com/pricing)