---
name: sales-cloudresearch
description: "CloudResearch (cloudresearch.com) platform help — a data-quality-first online research-participant panel: recruit, screen, and pay vetted participants from CloudResearch's own Connect panel (continuously screened via Sentry — bot/duplicate/attention detection, census-matched samples, longitudinal Waves) for surveys, online tasks, and behavioral or AI-training studies; you host the instrument and Connect supplies the humans. Use when creating a Connect study or wiring its redirect and participantId capture into Qualtrics, cleaning out bots or AI/ChatGPT-pasted open-ended answers, designing attention checks and screeners, reading the platform fee (academic vs commercial) or minimum pay, automating study creation or submission approval via the support-provisioned X-API-KEY REST API, or choosing between the legacy MTurk Toolkit and Connect. Do NOT use for choosing a research tool broadly or the validate-before-building method (use /sales-idea-validation), or Prolific's self-serve API panel (use /sales-prolific)."
argument-hint: "[describe what you need help with in CloudResearch]"
license: MIT
version: 1.0.0
tags: [sales, pre-launch, platform]
---

# CloudResearch Platform Help

CloudResearch (cloudresearch.com) is a **data-quality-first online research-participant platform** — it
**recruits, screens, and pays** vetted participants for **surveys, online tasks, and behavioral / AI-training
studies**. Its edge is **data quality**: **Connect** is CloudResearch's own panel, screened continuously by
**Sentry** (behavioral analysis, device fingerprinting, AI-content detection, bot/duplicate/IP checks), with
**census-matched** sampling and longitudinal **Waves** re-contact. It's the **bring-your-own-instrument**
panel — you host the survey/task in **your own tool** (Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, a custom app) and Connect
supplies the humans.

It's the **data-quality-first peer to Prolific** (`/sales-prolific`): the same recruit class, but where
Prolific's edge is an **instant self-serve API token**, CloudResearch's edge is **Sentry screening** and its
API key is **support-provisioned**. CloudResearch also runs a legacy **MTurk Toolkit** over Amazon Mechanical
Turk — but **MTurk closes to new customers 2026-07-30**, so steer new work to **Connect**.

**Two things to say almost every time:**
- **Vetted people answering ≠ demand.** A clean, high-quality sample is strong signal for *problem/behavior*
  research — but a participant saying "I'd pay" is **still not a purchase**. Keep the *why*; take a go/no-go to
  a **real behavior test** (`/sales-idea-validation`, `/sales-funnel`).
- **The reward is not the cost.** A **platform fee** rides on top (best-effort **25% academic / 40%
  commercial**) — budget **reward + fee** and confirm at cloudresearch.com/pricing before launching.

## Step 1 — Gather context

If `references/learnings.md` exists, read it first for accumulated platform knowledge.

Ask only what you can't infer:

1. **What do you need?**
   - A) **Recruit / target** — demographic filters, census-matched samples, quotas, feasibility checks
   - B) **Study lifecycle** — create → wire the survey redirect → launch → monitor → review/approve
   - C) **Data quality** — attention checks, screening out bots / AI-pasted answers, when to reject
   - D) **Pay** — approve, reject, bonus, and the platform fee + minimum pay
   - E) **Automate / integrate** — the Connect REST API, survey-tool integration, MTurk Toolkit vs Connect
2. **Which product?** Connect (its own panel — the default), Prime Panels (aggregated third-party panels), or
   the legacy MTurk Toolkit. Where does the survey/task live? (Connect supplies participants; the instrument
   is external.)

Skip-ahead: if the user wants to **compare research/recruit tools across the market** or the
**validate-before-building method**, that's `/sales-idea-validation` — route in Step 2.

## Step 2 — Route or answer directly

| If the user's question is about… | Route to |
|---|---|
| Comparing research/recruitment/idea tools across the market, or the validate-before-building **method** | `/sales-idea-validation {question}` |
| **Prolific** — the self-serve-API peer panel (instant token, HMAC webhooks, MCP, CLI) | `/sales-prolific {question}` |
| Recruiting **B2B / hard-to-reach professionals** for **moderated interviews** (a recruit-only marketplace) | `/sales-respondent {question}` |
| An **all-in-one** recruit + run + repository research suite | `/sales-great-question {question}` |
| Running a **usability / IA test** (card sort, tree test, prototype tasks) on a **built** artifact | `/sales-uxtweak` or `/sales-lyssna` `{question}` |
| Running a **real behavior** demand test (smoke-test page, waitlist, pre-sale) after research | `/sales-idea-validation` or `/sales-funnel` `{question}` |

When routing, give the exact command: "This is a {domain} question — run: `/sales-idea-validation {original question}`"

Otherwise, answer CloudResearch-specific questions using Step 3.

## Step 3 — CloudResearch reference

**Read `references/platform-guide.md`** for the full reference — the module/automation-surface table (what's
API-accessible vs UI-only), pricing/fee + minimum-pay math, the Account → Project → Assignment data model,
survey integration (redirect + participantId), and quick-start recipes. **Read
`references/cloudresearch-api-reference.md`** for the API surface (support-provisioned `X-API-KEY` auth, the
project/assignments/demographics functions, idempotency tokens, and the poll-not-webhook reality). Answer
using only the relevant section — don't dump the full reference.

## Step 4 — Actionable guidance

- **Say the caveat: a clean sample is not demand.** CloudResearch gets **real, well-screened people to
  answer** (strong signal — genuine behavior/language) but a stated "I'd pay" is **not observed demand**. Keep
  the *why*; take the go/no-go to a **real behavior test** (pre-sale, smoke test) → `/sales-idea-validation`.
- **Budget reward + platform fee, and present it as best-effort.** Total ≈ **reward + platform fee**
  (best-effort **25% academic / 40% commercial**, changed 2025-01-01), with an enforced **minimum pay**
  (best-effort **~$7.50/hr**, recommended **~$10/hr** — low pay also drags quality and speed). State all
  figures as best-effort and point to **cloudresearch.com/pricing**.
- **Treat data quality as a design problem, not just a panel feature.** Sentry stops **bots, duplicates, and
  server-farm/foreign-IP fraud** — it does **not** stop a real human pasting **ChatGPT** into a free-text box.
  Add your own **attention checks, timing thresholds, and copy-paste detection** in the instrument, then
  **reject** genuine failures with a clear reason and reserve **bonuses** for real effort.
- **Fix "participants don't fit" with targeting + a feasibility check, not the panel.** Apply **demographic
  filters**, run a **feasibility estimate** before launch so a quota isn't impossible, add **custom screening
  questions** with attention checks, and use **quotas / census-matched** sampling to balance the sample.
- **Wire the survey redirect correctly — it's the completion signal.** Capture **`participantId`** as a URL
  param / embedded field so responses tie back to the panel, and set the **End-of-Survey redirect** (or a
  fixed completion code) to fire **only after** the last question. A misconfigured redirect = completes that
  never register.
- **Automate via the API — but expect poll, not push.** The key is **support-provisioned** (email support),
  sent as **`X-API-KEY`**. Flow: **feasibility → create project** (send an **idempotency token**, 24h TTL) →
  **update_status LIVE** → **poll** `assignments.list_all` + `project.retrieve_statistics` (there are **no
  webhooks**) → **approve** valid submissions (approval **releases payment**), reject failures, **bonus**
  standouts. Reuse the same idempotency token on retries so you don't double-create or double-charge.
- **Steer new work to Connect, not the MTurk Toolkit.** MTurk closes to new customers **2026-07-30**; the
  Toolkit is legacy. Connect (CloudResearch's own vetted panel) is the pitch and is unaffected.

If you discover a gotcha or tip not in `references/learnings.md`, append it there with today's date.

## Gotchas

*Best-effort from research (2026-07) — pricing (fee 25% academic / 40% commercial, min pay ~$7.50/hr, rec.
~$10/hr), the MTurk sunset date, and API specifics all move; verify at cloudresearch.com/pricing and the live
Connect Swagger UI.*

- **The reward is not the total.** A **platform fee** sits on top (best-effort **25% academic / 40%
  commercial**, raised 2025-01-01) with an enforced **minimum pay** floor (~$7.50/hr, rec. $10/hr — low pay
  also drags quality and speed). Budget **reward + fee** before launching.
- **Sentry stops bots, not a human pasting ChatGPT.** The current data-quality threat is **AI-written
  open-ended answers** from real, verified people — add attention/timing checks and copy-paste detection in
  **your own instrument**, then reject failures and reserve bonuses for genuine effort.
- **The API key is support-provisioned, not self-serve.** Auth is an **`X-API-KEY`** header and you must
  **email support** to get a key — unlike Prolific's instant token. Treat the key like a password.
- **No webhooks — you must poll.** No outbound event system / MCP / native Zapier is documented; reconcile by
  **polling** `assignments.list_all` + `project.retrieve_statistics`, and use **idempotency tokens** (24h) on
  create/bonus so retries are safe.
- **The MTurk Toolkit is sunsetting.** Amazon Mechanical Turk **closes to new customers 2026-07-30** — new
  adopters can't onboard the Toolkit; use **Connect** (unaffected).
- **The survey redirect / `participantId` is the completion signal.** Capture `participantId` and set the
  End-of-Survey redirect (or completion code) to fire after the last question, or completes never register.
- **A clean sample ≠ demand.** Hundreds of well-screened people answering "I'd buy this" is stated preference
  at scale, not a purchase — take the WTP go/no-go to a real behavior test.
- **Rejections affect participants.** Reject only genuine failures, with a specific reason — over-rejecting
  gets flagged and is unfair; that's why attention-check *design* matters more than blanket rejection.

## Related skills

- `/sales-prolific` — The **self-serve-API** peer panel: same recruit class, but its edge is an **instant Token key** + HMAC webhooks + MCP + a CLI, where CloudResearch's edge is **Sentry data-quality screening** and a **support-provisioned** key. Pick Prolific when you need a self-serve pipeline; CloudResearch when data-quality screening is the priority. Install: `npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-prolific -a claude-code`
- `/sales-idea-validation` — The validate-before-building method + the full research/recruit/validator tool landscape (a research "yes" is not demand). Install: `npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-idea-validation -a claude-code`
- `/sales-respondent` — The recruit-only **B2B/professional interview** marketplace (CloudResearch is broad online samples + data-quality screening; Respondent is hard-to-reach professionals for moderated interviews). Install: `npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-respondent -a claude-code`
- `/sales-great-question` — The all-in-one recruit + run + repository suite (CloudResearch is recruit + collect only; you bring your own instrument and repository). Install: `npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-great-question -a claude-code`
- `/sales-funnel` — Build the smoke-test / fake-door landing page that turns a research hypothesis into a real demand test. Install: `npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-funnel -a claude-code`
- `/sales-do` — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: `npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do -a claude-code`

## Examples

### Example 1: "How do I launch a Connect study and approve submissions from my own backend?" (developer/automation)
**User says**: "I want to create studies and pay people through CloudResearch's API without clicking around the dashboard."
**Skill does**: Explains the **API pipeline** (Step 4) — **email support for an `X-API-KEY`**, then
**feasibility → create project** (with an **idempotency token**) → **update_status LIVE** → **poll**
`assignments.list_all` + `project.retrieve_statistics` (there are **no webhooks**) → **approve** valid
submissions (approval **releases payment**), reject failures, bonus standouts. Warns that the key is
support-provisioned (not instant like Prolific) and to reuse the same idempotency token on retries.
**Result**: The user runs the whole study lifecycle from their backend with the payment gate correct.

### Example 2: "Half my CloudResearch open-ended answers look ChatGPT-written"
**User says**: "I'm getting free-text responses that read like AI — is the panel bad?"
**Skill does**: Reframes it as a **data-quality/instrument** issue, not a bad panel — **Sentry** screens bots,
duplicates, and server-farm fraud but **not** a real human pasting ChatGPT. Prescribes **behavior-specific
prompts**, **attention + timing checks**, and **copy-paste detection in your own survey**, tighter
**demographic filters** with a **feasibility** check, and **rejecting** genuine failures with a clear reason
while reserving **bonuses** for quality.
**Result**: The user cleans the sample by fixing screening + attention-check design instead of switching tools.

### Example 3: "What will an n=300 study actually cost on CloudResearch?"
**User says**: "I want 300 participants for a 10-minute survey — what's the real bill?"
**Skill does**: Explains total ≈ **reward + platform fee** (best-effort **25% academic / 40% commercial**)
with an enforced **minimum pay** (~$7.50/hr, rec. $10/hr): e.g. $1.50 × 300 = $450 participant pay, +40%
commercial fee $180 → **≈ $630** (academic 25% → **≈ $562.50**). Presents all figures as best-effort —
**confirm at cloudresearch.com/pricing** — and suggests paying nearer $10/hr for faster, higher-quality data.
**Result**: The user budgets reward + fee up front and sizes the study to their spend.

## Troubleshooting

### "My API calls 401 / where's my API key?"
**Symptom**: Requests fail auth, and there's no self-serve key in the dashboard.
**Cause**: CloudResearch Connect uses an **`X-API-KEY`** header, and the key is **provisioned by support** —
it isn't an instant self-serve token like Prolific's.
**Solution**: **Email support@cloudresearch.com** (or your account contact) to have a key issued, then send
`X-API-KEY: <key>` on every request. The official OpenAPI spec is auth-gated, so verify the exact base path
and reward unit on your first authenticated call.

### "Completes aren't registering / participants say the survey didn't mark them done"
**Symptom**: Participants finish the survey but Connect shows no completion.
**Cause**: The **End-of-Survey redirect** (or completion code) isn't wired, or `participantId` isn't being
captured, so Connect never gets the completion signal.
**Solution**: In the survey tool, capture **`participantId`** from the URL as an embedded/hidden field, and
set the wizard's **Redirect URL** as the **End-of-Survey** action so it fires **only after** the last
question. If your tool can't redirect, use a **fixed completion code** shown on the final page instead.

### "I'm getting low-quality or seemingly-fraudulent responses"
**Symptom**: Some responses look bot-like, duplicated, or from suspicious locations.
**Cause**: Sentry screens hard, but no panel is perfect — and AI-pasted free-text from real humans slips past
any bot check. Blanket-rejecting is unfair and gets flagged.
**Solution**: Add **attention checks, timing thresholds, and copy-paste detection** in your instrument;
**reject** only genuine failures with a specific reason; use **feasibility + demographic filters + quotas** to
target better up front; and report clearly fraudulent submissions for data-quality review. Pay nearer the
recommended rate — higher pay correlates with higher quality.