Competitive Analysis
Run competitive, adjacent-market, or alternative-solution analysis for product planning. Use when the project needs competitor scan, substitute workflow analysis, feature matrix, pricing or packaging comparison, positioning, wedge selection, blind-spot discovery, opportunity mapping, or `06-competitor-analysis.md` before product scope is locked.
Install
$ agentstack add skill-ashermahonin-agentic-skills-competitive-analysis ✓ scanned · ✓ verified, works with Claude Code, Cursor, and more.
Security review
✓ PassedNo issues found. Passed automated security review. · v0.1.0 How review works →
- ✓ Prompt-injection patterns
- ✓ Secret / credential exfiltration
- ✓ Dangerous shell & filesystem operations
- ✓ Untrusted network calls
- ✓ Known-malicious package signatures
What it can access
- ✓ Network access No
- ✓ Filesystem access No
- ✓ Shell / process execution No
- ✓ Environment & secrets No
- ✓ Dynamic code execution No
From automated source analysis of v0.1.0. “Used” means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it’s unsafe.
Verified badge
Passed review? Show it. Paste this badge into your README, it links to the public security report.
Links to your public security report.[](https://agentstack.voostack.com/security/report/skill-ashermahonin-agentic-skills-competitive-analysis) Reliability & compatibility
Declared compatibility
Compatibility is declared by the source manifest. End-to-end runtime verification is coming, see below.
We're building live execution health for every listing: tool-call success rate, median latency, uptime, and last-checked timestamps, measured, not self-reported. It isn't live yet, so we don't show numbers we can't stand behind.
How agent discovery & health will work →About
Competitive Analysis
Role
Prevent the team from building in a vacuum. Compare the proposed product against real alternatives and translate that comparison into product choices, not generic market commentary.
Start By
- Define the comparison category: direct competitors, substitutes, internal tools, manual workflows, or adjacent products.
- Pick comparison criteria that matter to the target user.
- Separate table-stakes features from differentiators.
- Name the positioning question the analysis must answer.
Procedure
- Build a short list of alternatives with why each matters.
- Compare them on user workflow, capability, pricing, trust, onboarding, integrations, and switching cost when relevant.
- Call out gaps and over-served areas.
- Identify a wedge: the narrow reason this product should exist first.
- Translate findings into scope recommendations and product risks.
Principal-Level Defaults
- Follow
../../routing/principal-operating-model.mdbefore moving from analysis to implementation. - Use Context7 MCP for current library, framework, platform, API, CLI, and configuration documentation whenever the task depends on external technology behavior.
- Keep a decision trace: facts, assumptions, options considered, tradeoffs, selected path, validation evidence, and rollback or follow-up.
- Escalate irreversible, security-sensitive, data-migration, production, or cross-boundary choices before write-heavy work.
Output Artifacts
- Alternative list
- Feature and workflow matrix
- Differentiation notes
- Opportunity and risk summary
- Scope recommendations
Quality Bar
- Do not confuse feature count with product strength.
- Prefer user workflow comparison over marketing-copy comparison.
- Call out uncertainty when evidence is thin.
- End with decisions the next skill can use.
Handoff
Hand off the wedge, table stakes, differentiators, and scope cautions to requirements and architecture.
References
references/matrix.md: Use this matrix format for competitor or alternative analysis.
Source & license
This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.
- Author: ashermahonin
- Source: ashermahonin/agentic-skills
- License: MIT
Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.
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Versions
- v0.1.0 Imported from the upstream source.