Clean AI text in Clay with ZeroTraceAI

Step-by-step guide to cleaning AI-generated personalization in your Clay table before pushing to Smartlead, Instantly, or any sender.

What this guide does

By the end of this guide, you will have a column in your Clay table that automatically calls the ZeroTraceAI API to clean AI-generated text on every row. The column strips hidden Unicode characters, em-dashes, smart quotes, and other invisible AI fingerprints, then hands back clean text ready to push into Smartlead, Instantly, or any sender. The whole setup takes 5 to 10 minutes and requires no coding knowledge.

What you need

  • •A Clay account with a workspace
  • •A column in your Clay table containing AI-generated text (from an OpenAI or Claude column, for example)
  • •A ZeroTraceAI API key (free trial available — sign up at zerotraceai.com/auth/signup)
  • •5 to 10 minutes
1

Get your ZeroTraceAI API key

  1. 1.Go to zerotraceai.com/auth/signup
  2. 2.Sign up with email or Google (Google is faster)
  3. 3.Verify your email if you signed up with email
  4. 4.Go to your dashboard at zerotraceai.com/dashboard
  5. 5.Click “Generate API Key”
  6. 6.Copy the key (starts with zt_live_...) and keep it safe. You can only see the full key once.
2

Add an HTTP API column in Clay

  1. 1.Open your Clay table
  2. 2.Click the + button to add a new column
  3. 3.From the options, choose HTTP API
  4. 4.Name the column something like Cleaned Text or AI Text Cleaned
3

Configure the HTTP API call

Enter these exact values in Clay's HTTP API configuration:

URL
https://www.zerotraceai.com/api/v1/clean
Method
POST
Headers
Authorization: Bearer zt_live_YOUR_KEY_HERE
Content-Type: application/json
Body (JSON)
{
  "texts": ["{{AI Personalization}}"]
}
Important: Replace AI Personalization with the exact name of your column that contains the AI-generated text. The double curly braces tell Clay to substitute the value from that row's cell.
Your Clay merge tags are safe. ZeroTraceAI only cleans hidden Unicode characters, em-dashes, smart quotes, and AI fingerprints. Merge tags like {{firstName}}, {{company_name}}, or any other variable using double curly braces pass through completely untouched. The cleaning logic does not process curly braces or underscores at all.
4

Extract the cleaned text

In Clay's HTTP API column settings, find the Path to Result or Output Field option (Clay's exact label may vary by UI version). Enter:

results[0].cleaned_text

This pulls just the cleaned text from the response, ignoring the modifications count and metadata.

5

Run it

  1. 1.Click Run or Save in Clay
  2. 2.Clay will call ZeroTraceAI for each row in your table
  3. 3.The cleaned text appears in your new column within seconds
  4. 4.You can now use this cleaned column as the source for Smartlead, Instantly, or wherever you push emails from

Pricing and limits

  • •Each cleaned text counts as 1 against your monthly quota
  • •Free trial: 100 cleanings in 30 days
  • •Starter ($5/mo): 1,000 cleanings per month
  • •Pro ($15/mo): 10,000 cleanings per month
  • •See full pricing at zerotraceai.com/pricing

Need help?

  • •Stuck on a step? Email support@leadlegend.org
  • •Want the AI to walk you through this? See our docs page for an AI-assisted setup prompt
  • •Want to clean texts in bulk? The API accepts up to 1,000 texts per request
Ready to start? Get your free API key →