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name: clay-install-auth description: | Install and configure Clay SDK/CLI authentication. Use when setting up a new Clay integration, configuring API keys, or initializing Clay in your project. Trigger with phrases like "install clay", "setup clay", "clay auth", "configure clay API key". allowed-tools: Read, Write, Edit, Bash(npm:), Bash(pip:), Grep version: 1.0.0 license: MIT author: Jeremy Longshore jeremy@intentsolutions.io

Clay Install & Auth

Overview

Set up Clay SDK/CLI and configure authentication credentials.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ or Python 3.10+
• Package manager (npm, pnpm, or pip)
• Clay account with API access
• API key from Clay dashboard

Instructions

Step 1: Install SDK

# Node.js
npm install @clay/sdk

# Python
pip install clay

Step 2: Configure Authentication

# Set environment variable
export CLAY_API_KEY="your-api-key"

# Or create .env file
echo 'CLAY_API_KEY=your-api-key' >> .env

Step 3: Verify Connection

// Test connection code here

Output

• Installed SDK package in node_modules or site-packages
• Environment variable or .env file with API key
• Successful connection verification output

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
Invalid API Key	Incorrect or expired key	Verify key in Clay dashboard
Rate Limited	Exceeded quota	Check quota at https://docs.clay.com
Network Error	Firewall blocking	Ensure outbound HTTPS allowed
Module Not Found	Installation failed	Run npm install or pip install again

Examples

TypeScript Setup

import { ClayClient } from '@clay/sdk';

const client = new ClayClient({
  apiKey: process.env.CLAY_API_KEY,
});

Python Setup

from clay import ClayClient

client = ClayClient(
    api_key=os.environ.get('CLAY_API_KEY')
)

Resources

• Clay Documentation
• Clay Dashboard
• Clay Status

Next Steps

After successful auth, proceed to clay-hello-world for your first API call.