Sales outreach · checked 2026-10-19Can I vibecode Woodpecker?
KINDA· weekend project
The sequencing is a weekend: import a CSV, send timed steps from your own mailbox, stop on a reply, and honour unsubscribes. The harder part isn't code. Whether mail lands in the inbox depends on your domain's reputation, authentication records, warm-up and sending pattern, and one burned domain ends the experiment. Woodpecker's warm-up, deliverability monitor, verifier and lead finder are where its money goes. A homemade sender works for a few dozen prospects a day from one or two mailboxes; LinkedIn automation and volume are outside what a personal build should attempt.
$35/moprice
$420you'd save a year
weekendbuild time
—people replaced it
What you need on hand.
DifficultyAdvanced · Real infrastructure or OAuth work.
TimeA weekend to build; weeks before the domain is ready to send at volume
- Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
- Node.js 22better-sqlite3 compiles a native module, so build tools must be installed.
- A separate sending domain and mailboxKeep it apart from your main domain, with SPF, DKIM and DMARC in place.
- An always-on machine or small VPSThe worker has to run through the working day to send and watch for replies.
Before you buildWoodpecker's trial is 14 days or 100 cold emails. If you send a few dozen messages a week, a free sequencer plan from a competitor may be all you need.
- 1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
- 2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
- 3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.
The prompt
Build me a small cold-email sequencer to replace Woodpecker for low volume. Requirements:
- Node.js 22 + TypeScript: a Fastify server with server-rendered pages (Eta) on
http://localhost:4870 and a worker loop that `npm start` launches next to it.
- Storage: better-sqlite3 in ./data/outreach.db for prospects (email, first name, company, custom
fields, timezone), campaigns with ordered steps (subject, body, wait in days), enrolments with a
status (queued, active, replied, bounced, unsubscribed, finished), a send log and a suppression list.
- Import: upload a CSV, map the columns, drop invalid addresses and duplicates, skip anyone on the
suppression list and show the counts before saving.
- Templates: `{{firstName}}` and `{{company}}` fields with a fallback (`{{firstName|there}}`), plus
spintax like `{Hi|Hello}`. Refuse to save a step with an unresolved field and show a preview
for any prospect.
- Sending: mailboxes configured in .env (SMTP through `nodemailer`, replies read over IMAP with
`imapflow`), a daily cap per mailbox (default 30), a random 90 to 240 second gap between sends,
sending only 08:00 to 17:00 on weekdays in each prospect's timezone, and an automatic pause
of a mailbox after 3 bounces in a row.
- Replies and bounces: poll the inbox every 2 minutes, match replies by In-Reply-To or References,
stop the sequence on a reply, add hard bounces to the suppression list, and list out-of-office
replies without stopping the sequence.
- Every message carries a `List-Unsubscribe` header and a signed unsubscribe link that adds the
address to the suppression list, plus a footer with my sender name and postal address from .env.
- Single user. No accounts, no telemetry, no open or click tracking, local-first: the only outbound
connections are to my own mail servers.
- Out of scope: warm-up between mailboxes, LinkedIn steps, lead finding, email verification, CRM sync.
- README: the SPF, DKIM and DMARC records for a separate sending domain, a warning that cold email
is regulated (GDPR, PECR, CAN-SPAM) and that a new domain needs weeks of gentle sending, and
how to keep the worker running under launchd or systemd.Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.
Then keep going
Next prompts, same folder.
The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own Woodpecker.
Add reply classification to the sequencer in this folder. Requirements: - When a reply is matched, send its text (quoted history stripped) to an OpenAI-compatible endpoint from .env and store one label: interested, not_interested, out_of_office, wrong_person or unsubscribe, with a one-line reason. - `unsubscribe` adds the address to the suppression list at once; `out_of_office` keeps the sequence running; the others stop it. - Show replies grouped by label on the admin page; let me override a label. - Send only the reply text to the endpoint and say so in the README. - Update the README.
Add a gentle ramp for new mailboxes to the sequencer in this folder. Requirements: - Per mailbox, a ramp schedule in .env (for example start 5 a day, add 2 every 3 days, stop at the daily cap) and a `rampStart` date. - The sending loop uses the lower of the ramp value and the daily cap. - Pause a mailbox for 48 hours when its bounce rate over the last 50 sends passes 5%. - Show each mailbox's current limit and status on the admin page. - Update the README.
Add a small prospect page to the sequencer in this folder. Requirements: - Per prospect: status (new, contacted, replied, meeting, closed, lost), free-text notes, next follow-up date and the full message history from the send log and matched replies. - A list view with filters by status, campaign and overdue follow-up, and a button to export the filtered list as CSV. - Changing a prospect to meeting, closed or lost stops any active sequence for that prospect. - Update the README.
Add subject A/B testing to the sequencer in this folder. Requirements: - A step can hold two subject lines; assign each prospect to one at random and store the choice. - Report sends, replies and reply rate per variant on the campaign page, with a note that small samples prove nothing. - Allow picking a winner, which applies to prospects who haven't received the step yet. - No open tracking: use replies only. - Update the README.
What you lose
- Mailbox warm-up, inbox rotation and a deliverability monitor
- Lead Finder and unlimited email verification
- LinkedIn steps and combined email, LinkedIn and call sequences
- AI interest-level detection and sorting of replies, with out-of-office filtering
- Two-way HubSpot and Pipedrive sync, Zapier, Clay and an agency panel
Why people still pay
Cold email lives or dies on deliverability, and Woodpecker bundles the dull infrastructure: warm-up, human-like sending limits, bounce handling, a verifier and a lead finder, with unlimited mailboxes and team members on every plan. Agencies run many clients through one panel. A homemade sender saves money but leaves inbox placement as your problem.
Woodpecker or your own copy?
Over
Your usage
12h ×$/h
Woodpecker, 1 yr$420
Your own copy, 1 yr$86running + build session
You keep$335pays for itself in the first month
Estimate · A domain costs about a dollar a month; one mailbox on Google Workspace or Fastmail adds a few dollars, and a small VPS another $5. The build is token usage on your agent plan. Verification and lead data are not included.
Take your data, then cancel.
1 · Take your data out of Woodpecker
- 1Prospects: open Prospects, tick the ones you want or select all, open More actions and choose the CSV export. Add the filter Contacted: No first to export only uncontacted prospects.
- 2Campaign prospects: open the campaign's Prospects tab, pick a group such as sent, opened or bounced, filter if needed, select all and export from the Actions tab.
- 3Campaign statistics: use Export as .CSV above the statistics. Daily, weekly and monthly reports download from Deliverability, then Reports; the Deliverability Monitor exports CSV or PDF.
- 4Not exportable: email replies and the campaigns themselves (sequences and templates). Copy the sequence text by hand before you leave.
2 · Cancel Woodpecker
- 1Go to Settings, then Billing, then Subscription and scroll to the Delete or pause account section.
- 2Choose delete, read the notice, pick a reason and confirm. Future payments are cancelled and the account stays active until the billing period ends; it is deleted afterwards.
- 3Changed your mind? Log in and click Restore account.
- 4Pausing instead keeps your data for $10 a month but blocks sending and new campaigns.
- The help center describes no refunds; it says only that discounts can't be turned into refunds. Ask support if you need one.
- Domains or mailboxes bought through Woodpecker keep billing unless you remove them before pausing.
- Export the blacklisted domains and addresses (Company settings, Safety, Export to CSV) so people who opted out are not emailed again by the next tool.
- On a trial there is nothing to cancel: the billing FAQ says an unconverted trial account is deleted after some time, while the pricing page says you keep access, so export what you need either way.
The escape hatch
Don't feel like building it? These are already free.
WarmblyOpen sourceApache-2.0 self-hosted cold-email platform with sequences, a unified inbox and warm-up across your own mailboxes; runs with Docker Compose.★ 460 · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗OpenOutreachOpen sourceGPL-3.0 self-hosted CLI: you describe your product and it finds matching people through a licensed data provider, then emails them from your mailbox. You don't bring a list.★ 3.3k · active Oct 2026 · one-click install
CLIVisit ↗MauticOpen sourceGPL-3.0 marketing automation with drip campaigns, segments and forms; built for contacts who opted in, so cold outreach is a stretch.★ 11k · active Oct 2026 · self-host, real ops
WebVisit ↗
WebVisit ↗OpenOutreachOpen sourceGPL-3.0 self-hosted CLI: you describe your product and it finds matching people through a licensed data provider, then emails them from your mailbox. You don't bring a list.★ 3.3k · active Oct 2026 · one-click install
CLIVisit ↗MauticOpen sourceGPL-3.0 marketing automation with drip campaigns, segments and forms; built for contacts who opted in, so cold outreach is a stretch.★ 11k · active Oct 2026 · self-host, real ops
WebVisit ↗
The numbers
Woodpecker pricing
| Plan | Monthly | Annual, per month | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free trial | $0 | $0 | 14 days or 100 cold emails, whichever comes first, all features, no card. |
| Cold Email, 500 prospects | $35 | $23.33 | 500 contacted prospects a month, up to 8,000 emails, 2 warm-ups, 100 Lead Finder credits, unlimited email accounts, team members and email verification. |
| Larger prospect limits | custom | — | A slider runs from 500 to 1,000,000 contacted prospects, plus an Unlimited option; emails, warm-ups and Lead Finder credits grow with the limit. |
| Add-ons | custom | — | LinkedIn Outreach $29 per connected account; integrations, API, webhooks, MCP and CLI $20; extra warm-up $5 per mailbox; Google or Microsoft mailbox $6; Maildoso, Mailforge, Infraforge or Azure mailbox $4; Lead Finder from 500 credits for $10; domains about $1 a month billed yearly; Agency Panel $27 per active client. |
- Free tier
- Trial only: 14 days or 100 cold emails. There is no permanent free plan.
- Billing
- Monthly or annual (33% off), no contract, cancel any time. Prices exclude VAT; pay by card or PayPal. A mid-cycle upgrade charges the difference; a downgrade applies from the next cycle. Pausing the account costs $10 a month and blocks sending. The plan does not upgrade itself when you hit the limit: new prospects simply stop being contacted until the limit renews.
- Hidden costs
- The $35 covers the sending app only. API, webhooks and integrations are a $20 add-on, LinkedIn is $29 per connected account, extra warm-ups are $5 a mailbox, and mailboxes and domains bought through Woodpecker are billed separately. Prospects count once per campaign, so one contact in three campaigns uses three of your 500.
- Source
- woodpecker.co
Also on the list
Related apps
A 14-day trial, or 100 cold emails if that comes first, with every feature and no card; you keep access to the account afterwards.
Kinda. The core is a weekend build with the prompt on this page, but real gaps remain: Mailbox warm-up, inbox rotation and a deliverability monitor, Lead Finder and unlimited email verification.
About $35 a month on the Cold Email, 500 contacted prospects plan, $420 a year (checked 2026-10-19).
Mailbox warm-up, inbox rotation and a deliverability monitor; Lead Finder and unlimited email verification; LinkedIn steps and combined email, LinkedIn and call sequences; AI interest-level detection and sorting of replies, with out-of-office filtering; Two-way HubSpot and Pipedrive sync, Zapier, Clay and an agency panel. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.
Yes: Warmbly (open source), OpenOutreach (open source), Mautic (open source).