# Android Market Research > Market and competitor research for an Android app idea. Use FIRST in the pipeline - before android-product-planning - whenever the user has an app idea, wants to build an app, or asks whether there's a market for something. Fans out web searches across the app's category, names 3-7 real competitor apps with what each does well and where it's weak, mines user-review complaints for unmet needs, sur… - **Type:** Skill - **Install:** `agentstack add skill-mcgrass-ops-android-studio-pipeline-android-market-research` - **Verified:** Yes — security-reviewed for prompt injection and unsafe behavior - **Seller:** [Mcgrass-ops](https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/mcgrass-ops) - **Installs:** 0 - **Category:** [Agent Skills](https://agentstack.voostack.com/c/agent-skills) - **Latest version:** 0.1.0 - **License:** MIT - **Upstream author:** [Mcgrass-ops](https://github.com/Mcgrass-ops) - **Source:** https://github.com/Mcgrass-ops/android-studio-pipeline/tree/main/skills/android-market-research ## Install ```sh agentstack add skill-mcgrass-ops-android-studio-pipeline-android-market-research ``` Requires the [AgentStack CLI](https://agentstack.voostack.com/docs/cli). Works with Claude Code, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible agent. ## About # Android Market Research This is **stage 1** of the Android app pipeline. It runs *before* planning. The job is to replace assumptions with evidence: what already exists in this category, what users actually complain about, how these apps make money, and where the opening is. Planning that starts from real market facts produces a far sharper product than planning from a one-sentence hunch. Pipeline position: ``` > RESEARCH > planning -> monetization -> (replan) -> design -> MCP code -> polish ``` ## Stage 0 - right-size before you research Before any searching, settle one thing: is this a quick/personal/throwaway build, or a product the user actually intends to ship? Ask if it is not obvious. The answer sets the depth of everything downstream: - **Quick / personal / utility:** do a 5-10 minute pass - name 2-3 obvious incumbents and the one gap, skip sizing, ASO, and most of the brief. Do **not** spin a throwaway timer into a commercial product. Hand off a one-paragraph brief and move on. - **Real / shippable:** run the full flow below. Most over-scoping starts right here: an open prompt like "make a timer" is not permission to plan a startup. When in doubt, ask. ## Core philosophy 1. **Evidence over intuition.** Every claim in the brief should trace to something observed - an app on the store, a review, a pricing page, a search result. Don't invent market sizes. 2. **Competitors are free product research.** For almost any idea, 3-7 apps already live in roughly that space. Study them. Steal what works, flip what's stale, attack what users hate. 3. **Reviews are the gap map.** One- and two-star reviews of incumbents are where unmet needs hide. "I wish it could..." and "it keeps..." are gold. 4. **Research is scoped, not infinite.** Aim for a tight, decision-useful brief, not a literature review. Stop when the picture is clear enough to plan against. ## When this triggers - "Build me an X app" -> research first, then hand to planning. - "I have an idea for..." -> research. - "Is there a market for..." / "who are the competitors for..." -> research, and you may stop at the brief if that's all they asked. When NOT to trigger: work on an already-scoped project (bug fixes, a new screen, refactors), or pure design/style tweaks. ## The research flow Use `WebSearch` and `web_fetch`. Fan out several searches in parallel rather than one at a time. 1. **Name the category and the job.** In one line, what is this app and what progress is the user hiring it to make? This frames every search. 2. **Find the incumbents - from primary sources, not listicles.** Identify 3-7 real apps. Where you have browser tools, open the actual Play Store listing and read the live pricing and a real sample of recent reviews - that is primary evidence. Roundup articles are SEO listicles that cite each other; use them only to *find* candidates, never as the source of a fact. For each app capture: what it does, install scale / rating if visible, its live monetization, and one strength + one weakness. 3. **Mine the complaints - read real review text.** Read actual one- and two-star reviews on the live Play listing (use the browser if available), plus Reddit/forum threads, for the top incumbents; quote the real wording where you can. Pull the recurring frustrations - these become the differentiation thesis. 4. **Survey monetization norms.** What's standard in this category - free+ads, one-time, freemium subscription, IAP? Note typical price points. This pre-loads the monetization stage. 5. **Scan the ASO / keyword landscape.** What terms would users search? Which are crowded, which look winnable? Note 5-10 candidate keywords. 6. **Flag risks.** Market saturation, a dominant incumbent, platform/feasibility concerns (AI cost, hardware, fragmentation), or regulatory/compliance overhead (finance, health, kids). Search breadth by ambition: a simple utility needs a light pass (steps 1-3); a crowded consumer or AI-native category needs the full six. ## The research brief (output) Produce a brief with these sections. Keep it to ~1-2 pages; cite sources inline. - **Category & job** - one line each. - **Market snapshot** - growing, saturated, or niche, with the evidence. If you cite any size/volume number, make it an explicit order-of-magnitude *estimate* and state the assumptions (e.g. "~X installs, inferred from rating counts"). Never present an estimate as a measured fact. - **Competitor table** - 3-7 apps: what it does - strength - weakness - monetization. - **Unmet needs** - the 3-5 recurring complaints / gaps, drawn from reviews. - **Differentiation thesis** - the one-sentence opening this product could take. - **Monetization norms** - what's standard + typical price points (feeds the monetization skill). - **ASO keywords** - 5-10 candidate search terms, flagged crowded vs. winnable. - **Risks** - market, feasibility, and compliance flags. - **Sources** - linked. **Sources and verification (required).** The brief is not finished without a linked **Sources** section. Tag every factual or quantitative claim **[verified]** (you opened the live source - link it) or **[unverified]** (listicle, memory, or estimate). If you could not verify something, say so plainly rather than state it with false confidence - a confident brief with zero citations is exactly the failure to prevent. ## Hand-off to planning After the brief is confirmed, hand to **`android-product-planning`**. The brief sharpens the planning questions: the competitor table and unmet-needs list feed the "reference apps" and JTBD steps; the monetization norms pre-load the monetization question; the risks feed the coherence checks and pre-mortem. If the research shows the idea is already well-served with no clear opening, say so plainly before planning - it's cheaper to learn that here than after five screens are built. ## Reference apps will date Anything found on the store reflects today. Re-run the search rather than trusting a cached memory of a category; rankings, pricing, and feature sets move fast. ## Source & license This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code. - **Author:** [Mcgrass-ops](https://github.com/Mcgrass-ops) - **Source:** [Mcgrass-ops/android-studio-pipeline](https://github.com/Mcgrass-ops/android-studio-pipeline) - **License:** MIT Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above. ## Pricing - **Free** — Free ## Security capabilities Automated source analysis of v0.1.0 — what this tool can access: - **Network access:** no - **Filesystem access:** no - **Shell / process execution:** no - **Environment & secrets:** no - **Dynamic code execution:** no *"Yes" means the capability is present in the source — more access means more to trust, not that it is unsafe.* ## Versions - **0.1.0** — security scan: passed — Imported from the upstream source. ## Links - Listing page: https://agentstack.voostack.com/l/skill-mcgrass-ops-android-studio-pipeline-android-market-research - Seller: https://agentstack.voostack.com/s/mcgrass-ops - Browse the marketplace: https://agentstack.voostack.com/browse --- Listed on AgentStack — the marketplace for AI agent skills and MCP servers. 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