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Connect Clay to VS Code

Give VS Code governed access to Clay’s 21 tools through Runlayer, with identity, policy, scanning, and audit on every call.

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Set up

Add Clay to VS Code in four steps

Admins approve the server once. Everyone in VS Code then gets it through the same governed connection.

  1. 1

    Approve Clay in Runlayer

    Add Clay from the catalog and choose who can use it and which of its tools are allowed.

  2. 2

    Connect VS Code to Runlayer

    Runlayer’s CLI installs the Runlayer Plugin natively in VS Code; users can also add it over MCP. With direct tool listing turned on for your deployment, Clay’s 21 tools show up in VS Code’s own tool list (VS Code 1.103 or newer).

    VS Code setup guide
  3. 3

    Sign in to Clay

    Sign in the way Clay requires. Runlayer holds the credentials so they stay out of the client’s configuration.

  4. 4

    Use Clay from VS Code

    Clay’s approved tools appear in VS Code. Every call is checked against policy and recorded.

Tools

21 Clay tools in VS Code

Runlayer policy decides which of these VS Code users can call. 12 read data only and 3 can change or delete data.

  • Add company data points

    Add data points to companies in an existing search.

  • Add contact data points

    Add data points to contacts in an existing search.

  • Ask question about accounts

    Ask a natural language question about one or more accounts available in Clay Audiences.

  • Find and enrich company

    Find and enrich a single company by domain or LinkedIn URL.

  • Find and enrich contacts at company

    Search for contacts at a company by role, title, name, or department.

  • Find and enrich list of contacts

    Find and enrich specific named contacts at their companies.

  • Get credits available

    Check if credits are available for the workspace.

  • Get current workspace

    Report which Clay workspace this connection is pinned to.

See all 21 Clay tools

Control

What Runlayer can see and stop in VS Code

Some controls apply to every client at the gateway. Others depend on what VS Code exposes to Runlayer.

  • Gateway policy (available)

    Every Clay call from VS Code passes through Runlayer, where your policies can allow, alert, mask, or block it.

  • Audit trail (available)

    Each call is recorded with the user, VS Code as the client, the tool, and the policy and scanner decisions.

  • Client hooks (available)

    Capture supported prompts, reasoning, local and MCP tool calls, responses, and scanner decisions in real time.

  • Stop a call before it runs (available)

    Runlayer can deny a tool call before VS Code runs it.

  • Block output after it runs (available)

    Runlayer can block a tool’s output before VS Code’s model sees it.

  • Redact output in place (available)

    Runlayer can mask sensitive parts of a tool’s output in VS Code and pass the rest through.

Frequently asked questions

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