# Open-source candidate sourcing that checks the pipeline first

> Candidate sourcing is finding people who never applied, then checking they are not already in your pipeline. Kortix is the open-source CompanyOS: your agents, their skills, your company memory, and every connector in one git repo you own, with the agents working on real cloud computers.

URL: https://candidatesourcingguide.com/

For recruiters who source by hand

**The open-source CompanyOS**

`The published run on Kortix's candidate-sourcing page.`

```
Daily candidate-sourcing sweep · 07:00
Illustrative example. Your counts depend on the role and the sourcing profile.
```

Source: https://kortix.com/use-cases/candidate-sourcing

Open source. Read it, fork it, audit it.

[Try Kortix](https://kortix.com) · [See a run](https://candidatesourcingguide.com/#use-cases)

Self-host is free · Sources and drafts only, the recruiter sends · One new session per open role, every morning

## The job breaks at the second step

Finding people is the part a recruiter can already do. Reading the pipeline and writing a first touch that survives a reply is the part that gets skipped when the role is already three weeks late.

### Pipeline check: Drops the people you already know.

The run reads the role's Greenhouse pipeline before it drafts anything, so someone who applied in March or was passed on in April is not contacted again. The run's output reads: "Reviewed **31** LinkedIn profiles and dropped **13** that were already in the pipeline. Drafted **18** personalized emails, each with the candidate's current role and the reason they matched. All **18** are in the review inbox, and nothing was sent."

What comes back: `greenhouse-check.csv`

| Ref | Stage | Action |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Applied in March | Dropped |
| 2 | Contacted in April | Dropped |
| 3 | New match | Drafted |

Illustrative example. Your counts depend on the role and the sourcing profile.

### First draft: Each email uses the candidate's own work.

The draft is built from one or two real details in the profile, and the skill file says to rewrite any line that reads the same without them. The [AI candidate sourcing](/ai-candidate-sourcing) page applies that test to a ranked list.

What comes back: `drafts/batch-0917.csv`

| Ref | Current role | Line used in the draft |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | Staff data engineer | The warehouse migration you ran is the setup we work in |
| 2 | Payments product manager | You shipped the checkout rewrite your team wrote about |

One batch, one opening per candidate

### Review inbox: Sending stays with the recruiter.

Every draft lands in the review inbox. The agent has no send action and no write access to Greenhouse, so the recruiter edits, sends and updates the ATS. The [open-source sourcing guide](/open-source-candidate-sourcing) covers where that boundary is written down.

What comes back: `review-inbox.md`

- Drafts in the inbox: 18
- Sent by the agent: 0
- Greenhouse writes: 0

Illustrative example. Your counts depend on the role and the sourcing profile.

## What each sourcing tool sells you

Each price is the vendor's published figure, checked November 2026 on the [Juicebox](https://juicebox.ai/pricing), [hireEZ](https://hireez.com/pricing/) and [Pin](https://www.pin.com/pricing/) pricing pages. The [tools page](/candidate-sourcing-tools) goes further into what each price includes.

| | Kortix (recommended) | Juicebox, PeopleGPT | hireEZ | Pin |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| What it is | An open-source CompanyOS where sourcing is an agent in your repo | AI search over a candidate database, with outreach templates and ATS integrations | Sourcing, CRM, outreach and screening on top of your ATS | AI sourcing over 850M+ profiles, with sequences and interview booking |
| Published price | Free to start on your own keys; credits from $50 a month | Free tier; Starter $99 per seat a month on yearly billing | Solo recruiters start at $494/mo with a 7-day free trial | Free; Solo $100 per user a month, billed yearly |
| Open source | Yes | No | No | No |
| Self-host | Yes, free | No, SaaS only | No, SaaS only | No, SaaS only |
| ATS integration | Greenhouse connects as a connector, read-only on the pipeline | Integrates with Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby, Workday and others | 40+ native ATS integrations | 120+ ATS integrations including Greenhouse, Lever, Ashby and iCIMS |

Rival prices are each vendor's published figure; check the vendor page before you buy.

## The rules are files you can read

Open source changes what a recruiter can check before trusting a run. The dedupe rule, the draft limit and the send boundary are text in the repo, and anything that touches them arrives as a change request.

### The agent

One file holds the prompt. `agents/candidate-sourcing.md` carries the job the agent does, and `kortix.yaml` carries the `triggers:` block that runs it every morning.

### The rules

A skill file holds the checks. `skills/outbound-sourcing/SKILL.md` says read the pipeline first, drop every match already in it, and draft at most 20 candidates per run.

### The boundary

Never send, never write to the ATS. The same file ends with two refusals, and [Kortix](https://kortix.com) publishes the run that holds them, from trigger to review inbox.

### Hosting

Run it where the data has to stay. Run it on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network. Self-host is free.

## Candidate sourcing questions, answered

### What does candidate sourcing mean?

Candidate sourcing is the work of finding people who fit a role before they apply: searching for profiles, checking who is already known, and writing the first message. It ends where the interview process begins, and the [step-by-step guide](/how-to-source-candidates) puts the pipeline check in its right place.

### Is sourcing the same as recruiting?

No. Sourcing is the front of recruiting, where people are found and contacted; recruiting also covers screening, interviews, offers and the hire. Many small teams run both from one desk, which is why the two words get used for each other.

### What are the best tools for candidate sourcing?

It depends on whether you want to rent seats or own the job. Juicebox, hireEZ and Pin sell searches and sequences by the seat; Kortix is the open-source CompanyOS, where the sourcing agent and its rules are files in your repo. The [tools comparison](/candidate-sourcing-tools) sets the prices side by side.

### What is the difference between sourcing and recruiting?

Sourcing ends with people who will take a first call. Recruiting carries those people through screening, interviews and an offer, and a sourcing tool buys only the first part, which is why its price rarely covers the second. The [longer comparison](/candidate-sourcing-vs-recruiting) follows one role through both halves.

## Start with the pipeline check.

The setup prompt writes the agent, the skill and the daily trigger into one change request, so you can read the whole job before it runs.

[Try Kortix](https://kortix.com) · [See the comparison](https://candidatesourcingguide.com/#compare)