Push GitHub Developer Leads to Closely

What Is Closely?

Closely (closely.com) is a LinkedIn and email outreach automation platform used by sales teams and growth marketers to run multi-touch sequences combining LinkedIn connection requests, InMail, and email. It supports contact enrichment, smart inbox management, team collaboration, and campaign analytics. Closely is popular with B2B sales teams targeting technical buyers via LinkedIn.

Why Combine GitLeads with Closely

LinkedIn outreach to developers performs best when it is timely and relevant. A connection request sent 24 hours after a developer stars a competitor's GitHub repo is dramatically more effective than a cold outreach from a scraped list. GitLeads captures those exact buying signals — new GitHub stars, keyword mentions in issues and PRs — and can push them to Closely the moment they happen.

The result: your Closely sequences launch at the moment of highest developer intent, with full context about why you're reaching out.

Integration Architecture: GitLeads → Closely

GitLeads does not have a native Closely connector. The recommended integration path uses GitLeads webhooks, which fire an enriched JSON payload for every new lead signal. You consume that webhook in n8n, Make, or Zapier and call the Closely API to enroll the contact in a sequence.

// GitLeads webhook payload (simplified)
{
  "signal": {
    "type": "star",
    "repo": "triggerdotdev/trigger.dev",
    "at": "2026-05-13T09:12:00Z"
  },
  "lead": {
    "github_username": "emeka_dev",
    "name": "Emeka Okoye",
    "email": "emeka@acme.io",
    "company": "Acme Corp",
    "location": "Lagos, Nigeria",
    "bio": "Backend engineer. Node.js, TypeScript, Postgres.",
    "followers": 340,
    "top_languages": ["TypeScript", "Go"]
  }
}

n8n Workflow (Recommended)

1. Create a Webhook node in n8n — copy the URL into GitLeads Integrations → Webhooks
2. Add an HTTP Request node: POST https://api.closely.com/api/v1/contacts with your API key
3. Map lead.name, lead.email, and lead.github_username to Closely contact fields
4. Add a second HTTP Request node to enroll the contact: POST /api/v1/campaigns/{campaignId}/contacts
5. Optionally add a filter node: only enroll leads with followers > 100 or email present

// Closely create contact API call
const response = await fetch('https://api.closely.com/api/v1/contacts', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.CLOSELY_API_KEY}`,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    firstName: lead.name.split(' ')[0],
    lastName: lead.name.split(' ').slice(1).join(' '),
    email: lead.email,
    company: lead.company,
    customFields: {
      github_username: lead.github_username,
      github_signal: `Starred ${signal.repo}`,
      top_languages: lead.top_languages.join(', '),
    },
  }),
});

// Enroll in campaign
await fetch(`https://api.closely.com/api/v1/campaigns/${CAMPAIGN_ID}/contacts`, {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: { 'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.CLOSELY_API_KEY}`, 'Content-Type': 'application/json' },
  body: JSON.stringify({ contactId: (await response.json()).id }),
});

Closely Sequence Tips for Developer Leads

• Step 1 (Day 0): LinkedIn connection request — keep the note short and reference the signal context ("saw you're using Trigger.dev")
• Step 2 (Day 3): LinkedIn message if connected — share one relevant piece of value (a doc, comparison, case study)
• Step 3 (Day 7): Email follow-up if email present — reference the LinkedIn step, don't repeat the pitch
• Avoid generic sequences — Closely allows custom variables; use signal_context and top_languages from GitLeads payload
• Use Closely's smart reply detection to pause sequences when the lead replies anywhere

What Signals to Send to Closely

Not every GitLeads signal should go to Closely. LinkedIn outreach is higher-friction than email, so qualify leads before enrolling them:

• Prioritize leads with public LinkedIn URLs in their GitHub bio (high match probability)
• Filter for follower count > 50 (eliminates bots and passive users)
• Keyword signals from Issues/PRs are higher intent than raw stars — send these first
• Leads with company fields set in their GitHub profile are likely employed developers, not students