Autopilot with your AI agent

Who does what

The loop

Every call accepts project_id (query, body or tool argument) to act on another project the key's owner can access; without it the key's own project is used.

1. MCP

Stateless streamable HTTP at https://hotmention.com/api/mcp, server version 2.0.0, eleven tools. Claude Code in one command:

claude mcp add --transport http hotmention https://hotmention.com/api/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer hm_your_key"

Cursor, Claude Desktop, OpenClaw and friends:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hotmention": {
      "url": "https://hotmention.com/api/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer hm_your_key" }
    }
  }
}

Then a prompt like “list my hot leads, skip anything where guidance says avoid, post the best one from my Reddit account and mark it replied with the link” is the whole job. Tool-by-tool reference on the MCP page.

2. REST API v1

Plain HTTPS with a Bearer key, for n8n, Make, cron or your own code. The three calls an autopilot needs:

# HOT leads waiting, with drafts, guidance and budget
curl "https://hotmention.com/api/v1/leads?hot=1&platform=REDDIT&since=2026-09-10T00:00:00Z" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer hm_your_key"

# Regenerate the draft with instructions
curl -X POST "https://hotmention.com/api/v1/leads/lead_8f2k/draft" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer hm_your_key" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"instructions": "mention the free tier, no link"}'

# After you posted the comment yourself
curl -X POST "https://hotmention.com/api/v1/leads/lead_8f2k/replied" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer hm_your_key" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"reply_url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/Emailmarketing/comments/1n4x.../", "account": "your_reddit_name"}'

Request and response shapes on the API reference.

3. CLI

npm install -g hotmention
hotmention login                 # paste the hm_... key from Settings → API
hotmention leads --since 24h     # HOT leads waiting; --all adds WARM, --ai-cited adds AI-cited threads
hotmention lead lead_8f2k
hotmention draft lead_8f2k --instructions "mention the free tier, no link"
hotmention reply lead_8f2k --url https://www.reddit.com/r/.../comments/.../
hotmention skip lead_9a1c --reason "not a buyer"
hotmention budget
hotmention visibility

• · --json on every command for machines.
• · --project <id> to act on another project.
• · Exit codes: 0 ok, 1 error, 2 Reddit reply budget exhausted — a scheduled agent stops on its own.
• · HOTMENTION_API_KEY overrides the config file, handy in CI and cron.

Keys are bound to a project

Every API key is created for one project in Settings → API. An agent holding that key can only read and act on that project, so a runaway prompt can never touch another workspace. If the key's owner has access to several projects, project_id switches between them per call; a project the owner cannot access answers 403, and a key with no project at all answers 404 until you bind one.

Rules of the road (enforced, not suggested)

• Reddit reply budget. Default 3 replies a day and 10 a week per project, changeable in Settings → Reply. When it is exhausted, marking a Reddit lead replied answers 409 budget_exhausted (CLI exit code 2). Pass force only when a human decided so. The budget response also carries nextSuggestedAt: keep 60 minutes between replies.
• Posting guidance. Every lead carries postingGuidance.level: ok, careful (fewer than half of verified replies survive there) or avoid (blacklisted, or fewer than one in five survive on our own data). Agents skip avoid and follow the rules array on careful: no link, answer first and name the product once, keep it under 80 words.
• Replied is idempotent and wants the link. Calling it twice is safe. With a Reddit comment permalink the check on day 1, 3 and 7 is exact and shows Live or Removed. Without it, HotMention looks for a comment by your Reddit username in that thread (set it in Settings → Reply); with no username either, the reply stays unverified. X replies are recorded as not verified.
• AI-cited threads are WARM. Threads that ChatGPT, Perplexity, AI Overviews or Claude cite for your buying prompts arrive with aiCited: true and never as HOT. They are strategic, not urgent; ask for them with include_ai_cited.
• Post from your own account only. No pools, no proxies, no borrowed accounts. That is the whole reason replies survive.

Recipes

Copy-paste starting points live in the examples folder on GitHub:

• · Claude Code — a skill that runs the loop, and a scheduled task that runs it every morning.
• · OpenClaw — the skill file for the clawhub listing: leads, drafts, replies from a chat.
• · n8n — a workflow that pulls HOT leads on a schedule and hands them to a human in Slack, then records the link.
• · curl — the whole loop as shell one-liners.

Errors