clay-performance-tuning

# Clay Performance Tuning ## Overview Optimize Clay table processing speed, enrichment hit rates, and credit efficiency. Clay processes enrichment columns sequentially per row, and each enrichment column makes external API calls. Performance tuning focuses on reducing wasted enrichments, ordering columns optimally, and managing table auto-run behavior. ## Prerequisites - Clay table with enrichment columns configured - Understanding of which providers are in your waterfall - Access to Clay table settings and column configuration ## Instructions ### Step 1: Order Enrichment Columns by Speed Clay runs enrichment columns left-to-right. Place fast columns first: | Column Type | Typical Speed | Position | |-------------|---------------|----------| | Company lookup (Clearbit) | ~100ms | First (fastest) | | Email finder (single provider) | ~200ms | Second | | Email waterfall (multi-provider) | 1-10s | Middle | | Claygent AI research | 5-30s | Later | | HTTP API (outbound call) | Variable | Last | | AI text generation | 2-5s | After Claygent | **Why order matters:** Fast columns populate data that slow columns may need as input (e.g., company name feeds into Claygent research prompt). ### Step 2: Add Conditional Run Rules Prevent enrichments from running on rows that won't yield results: ``` # In Clay column settings > "Only run if" condition: # Email waterfall: only run if we have enough input data ISNOTEMPTY(domain) AND ISNOTEMPTY(first_name) AND ISNOTEMPTY(last_name) ...