Is there an open-source AI SDR for LinkedIn?

Yes. HeyLead is an AI SDR for LinkedIn released under the MIT licence at github.com/D4umak/linkedin-outreach-mcp. It runs as an MCP server in Claude, Claude Code or Cursor, finds prospects, writes in your voice, follows up and handles replies.

Can I self-host HeyLead?

Yes. A self-hosted install needs your own Unipile account for LinkedIn access and your own LLM API key (a free Gemini key is enough to start). Contacts and messages stay on your machine in a local SQLite database.

An open-source AI SDR for LinkedIn

Last updated 19 September 2026

HeyLead is an AI SDR for LinkedIn, and the code is on GitHub under the MIT licence. It finds the right people, writes to them in your voice, follows up and handles replies. You can run it yourself or use the hosted plan.

Source: github.com/D4umak/linkedin-outreach-mcp. Package: heylead on PyPI.

What is in the repo

The MCP server, with 35 tools for your AI client (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, any stdio MCP client)
Targeting: buyer personas from a plain description, LinkedIn search and fit scoring
Writing: voice matching from your own LinkedIn posts, openers and follow-ups
Replies: reading and answering replies, meeting booking
A local scheduler with rate limits and quiet hours

Self-host it

You need two accounts of your own:

Unipile, which connects to LinkedIn. Sign up at unipile.com and put the DSN and API key in ~/.heylead/config.json as unipile_api_url and unipile_api_key.
An LLM API key from Gemini, Claude or OpenAI. AI calls are billed to you; a free Gemini key is enough to start.

claude mcp add heylead -- uvx heylead

Then tell your AI: "Set up my HeyLead profile with this Gemini key: ...". Contacts and messages stay on your machine in a local SQLite database. Sending runs from your machine, so it stops when the machine sleeps.

Or use the hosted plan

Sign in at heylead.dev, connect LinkedIn and paste the setup message into your chat. No Unipile account and no API keys. Campaigns run from the cloud around the clock, and there is a web dashboard next to the chat.

How it reaches LinkedIn

Through Unipile's API. It does not use a Chrome extension or drive your browser. LinkedIn's User Agreement prohibits automated invitations and messages, so any tool like this carries a risk to the account. HeyLead keeps to daily and weekly limits and a weekday sending window, which lowers the risk but does not remove it.