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The pipeline

Email addresses

Real addresses first, confirmed patterns second, never invented.

A wrong address doesn't just fail — it bounces, and bounces are how Gmail decides you are a spammer. So addresses follow a strict order: real ones first, a confirmed pattern second, nothing invented.

Where addresses come from#

SourceLabelNotes
GitHub commit metadataverifiedAn engineer’s own commit on the company’s repo. Old commit addresses count only as scraped.
The company’s own siteverifiedNamed next to an address on their team or contact page.
The open webscrapedAny @their-domain address a search turns up.
Hunter.ioscraped → votedIts addresses are voted on like any other; its own pattern claim is never trusted. (On hold: no key.)
Confirmed patternpattern-guessedBuilt from the company’s format — see below.

Learning a company's pattern#

  1. Collect real examples
    Only named addresses that were read on the company's domain — never ones a pattern made.
  2. Vote
    Each example votes for the format that explains it ({first}, {first}.{last}, {f}{last}…). An address two formats could explain is skipped.
  3. Confirm
    A pattern is confirmed only with at least two agreeing examples (or one plus the company's own page stating the format), at least half the votes, and twice the runner-up.
  4. Only when nothing real is held
    If anyone ready to refer at the company already has a real address (published or verified), no address is guessed for anyone there. A guessed address is the last resort.
  5. Apply, carefully
    Ready referrers with a real first and last name get the pattern address — only after an MX lookup proves the domain takes mail. No SMTP probing. Labelled pattern-guessed.
  6. Retract
    An address an unconfirmed pattern made is taken back, unless a draft already went to it.
Patterns can go stale
On 19 Oct 2026 Sarvam AI's confirmed {first}@ format produced four bounces — one of the four examples that had confirmed it belonged to someone who had since left. That is why guessed addresses have their own daily cap and a bounce brake, and why a bounce moves the address to dead_email so it is never tried again.
Why guessing became the last resort
At the same company on 23 Oct 2026, 23 of 24 addresses written to had been guessed; three bounced and nine were refused as spam. Real addresses deliver. Since then a guess is made only when no real one is held, and the batch puts anyone with a guessed address behind everyone with a real one.

At send time#

The address's confidence is frozen onto the email when it is drafted, shown in the review queue, and checked again by the sender: guessed addresses stop once the day's guessed cap is spent or the bounce brake is on. See Sending.