How to Use ArtifactSend: The Beginner's Guide
CodexFuse Team · 2026-11-03T20:12:50.435Z · 12 min read min read
How to Use ArtifactSend: The Beginner's Guide
Learning how to use ArtifactSend takes about ten minutes, and it changes what happens after you send a pitch deck, a memo, or a data room. ArtifactSend is the free DocSend alternative that Claude and ChatGPT can drive through an MCP server, and its whole pitch fits on one line of its own homepage: "Everything you want to know after you hit send." Instead of attaching a file and hoping, you share a tracked link and then see who opened it, how far each reader got, and how long they spent on each page or section. If you use a coding agent day to day, the Claude Code beginner guide pairs naturally with this one, because ArtifactSend's most unusual trick is that you can ask your AI assistant what happened to your documents and get answers from the reading data.
One disambiguation first: ArtifactSend is a standalone product from Vela Partners, a venture capital firm that builds AI products for investors and founders. It is not Anthropic's "Claude artifacts" feature, though it can host Claude artifacts as tracked links. Everything in this guide is as documented on ArtifactSend's own site and Product Hunt page as of November 3, 2026; the product launched on October 31, so expect the details to keep moving.
What Is ArtifactSend?
ArtifactSend is a free document-sharing service that turns PDFs, pitch decks, Word, PowerPoint and Excel files, HTML, Markdown, and Claude artifacts into private tracked links, or into free data rooms with NDAs and watermarks, and then reports exactly how each reader engaged with the document. The Product Hunt listing describes it this way: "Share a PDF, pitch deck, Word, PowerPoint or Excel file, or a Claude artifact as a private link. See who opened it, how far they read and time on each page. Email gates, a link per person, expiry, watermarks, NDAs and data rooms are free, with unlimited team members."
The part that makes it different from every other free sharing link is the AI layer. You connect ArtifactSend to Claude or ChatGPT through its MCP server, and then you can ask plain questions like "who read the deck I sent on Monday?" and get the answer in the chat. Sharing itself is free and unlimited — links, readers, team members, analytics, data rooms, website tracking, every reader door. ArtifactSend only charges when AI does work for you: half a cent per Claude or ChatGPT action, with the first 20 actions free.
How Do You Share Your First Tracked Link With ArtifactSend?
You share your first tracked link with ArtifactSend by preparing the document, creating a link, choosing a reader door, and sending it to your reader — then you watch the analytics instead of guessing. The vendor's documented flow runs like this:
- Prepare the document. Any PDF, Word, PowerPoint or Excel file, HTML page, Markdown file, or Claude artifact works. For a Claude artifact you have two options: share it in Claude with "anyone with the link" and paste that link into ArtifactSend, or copy or download the artifact and paste or drop it into ArtifactSend instead. The second option is the one that unlocks time-per-section tracking, click maps, and replays.
- Create the tracked link. Upload or paste the document and ArtifactSend gives it a private link. PDFs track page by page, decks track slide by slide, and sheets track tab by tab. Claude artifacts and HTML stay live: charts keep moving, tabs keep clicking, and forms keep working.
- Choose a reader door. Pick how strictly you want to guard the link: a fully open link, an email gate, a six-digit email code, Google sign-in, an allow list of named people, a company-domain restriction, an expiry date, or an alert the moment someone opens it for the first time. One link per person is supported, so you can see exactly which investor opened what.
- Send the link, not the file. Because the document lives behind the link, you can update the content later without sending a new file. If you fix slide 6, you can put the new version behind the same link.
- Read the read receipts, then ask Claude. The dashboard shows who opened the document, how far they got, and time on each page. For the part no dashboard shows, ask your connected AI: "Who read the Acme proposal, and did anyone reach pricing?"
That last step is the read-receipt lesson the product is built around. Traditional sharing ends at "sent." ArtifactSend's loop only ends when you know who engaged, and the AI arc closes the loop in plain English instead of charts.
What Do You See After You Hit Send?
After you hit send, ArtifactSend shows you a per-reader report: who opened the document by name, how far they read, how long they spent on each page or section, their active reading time, a click map, what text they copied, visit replays, and whether they came back. This is the direct answer to the maker's founding complaint, quoted from the launch post: "DocSend charges per seat for the parts we use most, and its reports stop at time per page."
The two metrics beginners underestimate are read depth and active reading time. Time on page can be inflated by an open tab; read depth — how far the reader actually scrolled through a deck — and active reading time tell you whether an investor stopped at slide 3 or made it to the pricing page. Copy tracking tells you which passages readers cared enough to take with them, and visit replays let you watch a reading session back. If you run a weekly investor update, the vendor's own example flow is to tell the assistant: "Email me every Friday at 9 who read my investor updates," and it does.
Which Reader Door Should You Use?
You should use the lightest reader door your content allows, because every gate you add costs you some opens — so match the door to the stakes of the document. Every door below is free, and the table is built from ArtifactSend's own documented list.
| Reader door | What the reader does | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Open link | Clicks and reads, no identity | Public content, press kits, anything where reach beats tracking |
| Email gate | Types an email address | You want a name on every read without friction |
| Six-digit email code | Confirms the email with a code | You need to know the reader actually owns the address |
| Google sign-in | Signs in with Google | Enterprise-style decks where identity must be verified |
| Allow list | Only named people get in | A fundraise where only specific partners should see the deck |
| Company-domain restriction | Only readers from a set domain get in | Sending a proposal to one company: "only @acme.com" |
| Expiry | Link dies on a date you set | Time-boxed offers, fundraising rounds, expiring terms |
| Alert on first open | You get notified the moment it opens | You want to call the investor while the deck is still warm |
A practical default for a fundraising deck: allow list plus alert on first open. You know exactly who was invited, and you get pinged the moment a partner starts reading so you can time your follow-up.
How Do Claude and ChatGPT Drive ArtifactSend?
Claude and ChatGPT drive ArtifactSend through its MCP server at artifactsend.com/mcp: you connect it once, and from then on your AI assistant can send links, read the analytics, and report back in plain language. If you have not used MCP before, the what MCP is explainer covers the concept in plain terms.
The documented connection steps are simple. In Claude, open Settings, then Connectors, select "Add custom connector," name it ArtifactSend, paste the connector address, select Connect, sign in to ArtifactSend, and select Allow. That works in claude.ai, the Claude desktop app, and the phone app, and the sign-in is OAuth-style: nothing to copy and no key to keep safe, and you can disconnect any time in Settings. In a coding agent, you run npx artifactsend setup. There is also a Claude Code plugin (install it with /plugin install artifactsend@llm-preneur) and a public agent-skills repository (LLM-preneur/skills, MIT licensed) with skills for sharing with tracking, data rooms, and reading shared links.
Once connected, the vendor's own example prompts show what the driving looks like. Sharing: "Send this deck to the Sequoia partners. Only @sequoiacap.com, and they confirm their email." Checking: "Who read the Acme proposal, and did anyone reach pricing?" Updating: "I fixed slide 6. Put the new version behind the same link." Following up: "Email me every Friday at 9 who read my investor updates." Investigating: "What did readers ask the Northwind deck this week?" Each thing the assistant does through ArtifactSend counts as one AI action at half a cent, and the first 20 are free — so a busy month of asking about your decks costs a few dollars. For builders wiring this into their own stacks, the Dify beginner guide covers the agent-building lane this pattern belongs to.
What Else Is Free in ArtifactSend?
Beyond links and analytics, ArtifactSend ships free data rooms, reader Q and A, comments, video tracking, website visit alerts, and Slack plus webhooks. Data rooms hold up to 300 documents in folders behind one link with one door per room, an optional NDA that records who agreed and when, and an optional watermark stamped with the reader's email. Reader Q and A lets readers ask questions the document answers — answers come only from what you wrote, you see every question, and each answer costs five cents.
Comments are free: anyone with the link clicks a spot on the page and writes, threads stay on the page, everyone sees them, and you get an email. Video is free too, up to 200 MB, with watch time per reader and which parts they watched. Website visit alerts email you when a reader clicks through to your site — while they are still there. Slack notifications and webhooks are free, as are password links, a download switch, and screenshot protection on the homepage's comparison table.
How Does ArtifactSend Compare to DocSend?
ArtifactSend positions itself against DocSend on one axis: price. The vendor's comparison claims a team of five pays $0 a year with ArtifactSend versus $1,800 with DocSend and $1,332 with Papermark, cites DocSend Standard at $30 per user per month, and says DocSend has no free plan, only a 14-day trial, as of October 2026. Treat these as the vendor's own claims — they are useful for orientation, not independently verified here.
The substantive differences, as the vendor states them: ArtifactSend's sharing tier is free with unlimited documents, links, readers, and team members and charges only for AI actions; DocSend charges per seat. ArtifactSend's reports go down to time per page or section, active reading time, click maps, copied text, and replays; the maker's launch post says DocSend's reports stop at time per page. And DocSend has no AI-driven querying of readership data, which is ArtifactSend's headline feature. If you need eSignatures or custom domains today, though, DocSend has them and ArtifactSend does not — yet.
What Is Still on the Roadmap?
Still on the roadmap, per ArtifactSend's own pages: eSignatures, custom domains, and a self-hosted version. The launch-day Product Hunt post also listed video analytics and password links as roadmap items, but the current homepage comparison table lists video watch time and password links as shipped and free — the product is four days old and moving fast, so treat any launch-week statement as perishable.
The pricing model is freemium with three parts. Sharing is free and unlimited: links, readers, team members, analytics, data rooms, website tracking, every reader door — "no seats, ever," and no credit card required to start. AI usage is prepaid: five cents per reader answer, half a cent per Claude or ChatGPT action, the first 20 actions free, with a card added in Billing only when you go beyond. The one paid add-on is branding at $2 a month: your own name, logo, and color on the reader doors. As the site puts it: "No AI, no bill. A busy month is a few dollars."
Sources
- Product Hunt — "ArtifactSend: Free DocSend alternative that Claude and ChatGPT can drive" — https://www.producthunt.com/products/artifactsend (listing published 2026-10-31, updated 2026-11-03; tagline, description, launch post quotes)
- ArtifactSend homepage — https://artifactsend.com/ (hero line, feature list, pricing, reader doors, data rooms, vendor FAQ; fetched 2026-11-03)
- ArtifactSend MCP page — https://artifactsend.com/mcp (connection steps, npx setup command, example AI flows, AI-action pricing; fetched 2026-11-03)
- ArtifactSend "DocSend alternatives" guide — https://artifactsend.com/guides/docsend-alternatives (DocSend comparison claims, shipped vs missing features; fetched 2026-11-03)
- GitHub — LLM-preneur/skills — https://github.com/LLM-preneur/skills (MIT license, Claude Code plugin, three agent skills; fetched 2026-11-03)
- Glama MCP connectors — https://glama.ai/mcp/connectors/com.artifactsend (connector description; fetched 2026-11-03)
Frequently Asked Questions
Is ArtifactSend really free?
Sharing is free and unlimited: links, readers, team members, analytics, data rooms, and every reader door cost nothing, and no credit card is required. You only pay when AI does work for you — five cents per reader answer, half a cent per Claude or ChatGPT action after the first 20 free ones — plus an optional $2-a-month branding add-on.
How is ArtifactSend different from Claude artifacts?
They are different products with similar-sounding names. Claude artifacts are Anthropic's feature for creating documents and apps inside Claude; ArtifactSend is a standalone document-sharing service from Vela Partners. The connection is that ArtifactSend can host a Claude artifact behind one of its tracked links so you can see who opened it.
Does ArtifactSend work with ChatGPT or only Claude?
Both. The vendor states the MCP server works inside ChatGPT and Claude, and its examples cover asking either assistant who read a deck. The documented Claude connection is Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector; coding agents connect with npx artifactsend setup.
Can I see exactly how far someone read my deck?
Yes. Reader reports show how far each reader got, time on each page or section, active reading time, a click map, copied text, visit replays, and who came back — plus an optional alert the moment someone opens the link for the first time.
Does ArtifactSend have eSignatures or custom domains?
Not yet. eSignatures, custom domains, and a self-hosted version are on the vendor's public roadmap, not shipped. Video tracking with watch time and password links, which were roadmap items at launch, now appear as shipped and free on the homepage.
