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Reject Ashby candidates and send the rejection email

A job closes its first screen, 60 applications sit in Application Review, and a recruiter opens each one, picks an archive reason and an email template before moving to the next.

Cotlet does it in your own Ashby account with list_applications, get_candidate, list_archive_reasons and archive_application, called by your AI agent, an n8n workflow or a script.

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Hosted · nothing to install or maintain

Can Ashby do this on its own?

Ashby offers three native ways (checked 16 Oct 2026): Archive in Application Review, bulk archive from candidate search, and Auto-reject on conditions. The official MCP has no reject tool, and its stage tool is described as moving an application to another interview stage. Nothing in Ashby reads a resume and your notes, then picks a reason per person.

How you do it in Ashby today

  1. In Application Review, or on the candidate profile, the recruiter clicks Archive for the application.
  2. Ashby asks for one archive reason from the list an admin keeps under Admin > Jobs & Applications > Archive Reasons; a note is optional.
  3. The recruiter picks a rejection email template, a from address, and sends it immediately or schedules it.
  4. For many at once, candidate search can bulk archive applications and schedule the rejection email, or Auto-reject can archive on conditions such as an answer on the application form.
  5. The reason then shows in the Archived stage under Activities & Progress > Interview Progress, with the note behind Details.

How to reject Ashby candidates and send the rejection email

Prompt

List active applications in the Senior Backend Engineer job that sit in Application Review and were submitted more than 14 days ago. Reject the ones whose resume shows under 3 years of backend work with the archive reason "Not a fit", send the rejection email template "After screen" and show me the rest.
  1. 01

    Pull the screen queue

    Your agent lists active applications of one job with list_applications, filtered by the stage name and an updated_before date, and pages until the queue is complete.

  2. 02

    Read before deciding

    For each application get_candidate returns the resume summary, notes and earlier emails, so a candidate a colleague already flagged is never rejected by rule alone.

  3. 03

    Map the rule to a reason

    list_archive_reasons gives the exact reason names your admin set up. The agent picks only from that list; if none fits, it leaves the candidate for you instead of inventing a reason.

  4. 04

    Archive with the email

    archive_application runs for the clear matches with the reason, an optional note and the rejection template. Each call waits for your OK by default, because the candidate gets an email.

  5. 05

    Report the rest

    Applications that do not match are listed with one line on why, so you can decide on them by hand.

What you get back

Example data

Job: Senior Backend Engineer, stage Application Review, older than 14 days: 22
Archived 14 with reason "Not a fit", email "After screen" sent:
- Chris Nowak: 1 year of backend work
- Dana Rossi: only frontend roles
Left for you 8:
- Mei Tanaka: strong resume, but a note from Priya says "call back in Q1"
- Omar Haddad: resume missing

Other ways to ask

  • Every Monday, archive applications older than 30 days in any job with the reason "Position filled", and schedule the email for 9:00 the next morning.
  • Show me which of these 22 applications you would reject and why, but do not archive anyone yet.
  • Reject everyone who answered "No" to the work authorization question, with no email, and list their names.

What Ashby allows, and what to know first

  • Ashby requires an archive reason on every archive, and the list of reasons is set by an admin under Admin > Jobs & Applications > Archive Reasons.
  • The rejection email can be sent right away or scheduled, and only the person who drafted a scheduled email can view or reschedule it.
  • Archiving rejects the candidate for that job only and moves them to the Archived stage of that interview process.
  • In Application Review the reason is required before a candidate can be rejected, and the email needs a template and a from address.
  • Ashby lets an organization set a default archive reason and a default rejection email on its Application Review page.

archive_application asks for your OK by default. To run it weekly without you, switch confirmation off for that tool in your dashboard.

Sources: Ashby Knowledge Base: Candidate Profile · Ashby Knowledge Base: Application Review · Ashby product update: Bulk archive applications from candidate search · Ashby product update: Pre-screen candidates with Auto-reject

Call archive_application from a script

curl

curl -X POST https://cotlet.dev/api/v1/ashby/applications/7d2e4c18-5f3a-4b09-8a61-c0e9d3f1a742/archive \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $COTLET_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"archive_reason":"Not a fit","note":"About 1 year of backend work; the role asks for 3 or more.","email_template":"After screen","send":"immediately"}'

Example response

{
  "application_id": "7d2e4c18-5f3a-4b09-8a61-c0e9d3f1a742",
  "status": "Archived",
  "archive_reason": "Not a fit",
  "note_added": true,
  "rejection_email": {
    "template": "After screen",
    "status": "sent"
  }
}

MCP: add https://cotlet.dev/mcp/v1 with the same key; the call is ashby_write → archive_application. Example data.

Schedule it in n8n, Make, Zapier or cron

Ashby tools this automation uses

Cotlet Ashby tools used to reject Ashby candidates and send the rejection email
Tool Parameters
list_applications job_id, stage, updated_before, archived, cursor
get_candidate candidate_id
list_archive_reasons none
archive_application application_id, archive_reason, note, email_template, send, send_at
All 12 Ashby tools with descriptions

Frequently asked questions

Is it safe to connect Ashby to Cotlet?

Yes. You sign in to Ashby yourself, in your own Cloud Browser in the EU, and we never save your password. Your agents only get Ashby once you enable it, every background request is listed, and the browser profile is stored encrypted with AES-256-GCM, the cipher 1Password uses for its vaults. The AI model never sees a login, posts and messages wait for your OK, and Disable for agents cuts access in one click. Independent scanners grade cotlet.dev A+ on Qualys SSL Labs, securityheaders.com and Mozilla Observatory; live results are on https://cotlet.dev/security.

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