【2026】Automating Japanese Startup Lead Research with Codex CLI & Hermes Agent: The Complete Beginner Guide

💡 Bottom line: switching from "manually Googling" Japanese startups and prospects to "letting AI agents collect them automatically" cuts the time to 1/10 and eliminates oversights. This article explains, for complete beginners, how to use two AI agents — OpenAI's Codex CLI and Nous Research's Hermes Agent — to automatically build Japanese startup / prospect lists.

「Where are the Japanese startups I should sell to?」 「Manually building a prospecting list takes all day…」

If you're in sales, marketing, or freelancing, you've hit this wall.

In 2026, you can almost fully automate this by simply asking an AI agent to "research and compile a list." By the end of this article, you'll be running Codex CLI and Hermes Agent yourself, with Japanese startup info in a CSV.

What You'll Learn

• The full picture of Japanese startup / prospect data sources (free & paid)
• Installing OpenAI Codex CLI and practical prompts for data collection
• Setting up Hermes Agent for browser automation and article generation
• How to divide the work (what to give Codex, what to give Hermes)
• Real impressions and how to avoid common failures

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📊 The "Data Source Map" for Finding Japanese Startups

Before letting AI collect, know where the information lives. Giving agents correct URLs dramatically improves accuracy.

Key insight: AI agents are great at "searching, opening pages, extracting text," but weak at login-required pages and CAPTCHAs. Starting with the "◎ ○" sources is the fastest route for beginners.

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Setting Up Codex CLI

1. Install

npm install -g @openai/codex

2. Authenticate

codex login

3. Practical Prompt for Japanese Startup Collection

Search for Japanese startups that match our service (SaaS for SMBs).
For each: company name, URL, industry, funding amount, founding year, and why they fit.
Compile into a CSV.

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Setting Up Hermes Agent

1. Install

curl -fsSL https://hermes-agent.nousresearch.com/install.sh | bash

2. Real-Time Research with x_search

Ask Hermes to search X in real time:

Use x_search to find Japanese founders announcing funding in the last week.
Compile company names and contact info.

3. Browser Automation & Article Generation

Hermes can open pages, extract data, and even draft outreach articles automatically.

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How to Split the Work

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Common Failures & How to Avoid

• Login walls: use public sources first
• CAPTCHA: avoid scraping-heavy sources; use APIs instead
• Outdated info: cross-check with official databases
• Language barrier: Japanese sources may need Japanese prompts for best results

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🎯 Final Recommendation

Japanese startup / prospect collection has moved from "the era of manual Googling" to "the era of AI agents."

• List building, routine collection → automate with OpenAI Codex CLI
• Real-time research, article writing → end-to-end with Hermes Agent

Combine these two, and a full day of sales list building becomes 10 minutes — you spend your time only on "truly valuable meetings."

Try Hermes Agent's x_search once right now. From there, the world changes.

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This article does not contain affiliate links. Codex CLI and Hermes Agent are both open source (free); no compensation mechanism exists.

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