Competitor Intel

Competitor Intelligence

Real-time competitive intelligence powered by Nimble's web data APIs.

User request: $ARGUMENTS

Before running any commands, read references/nimble-playbook.md for Claude Code constraints (no shell state, no &/wait, sub-agent permissions, communication style).

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Instructions

Step 0: Preflight

Follow the transport selection + standard preflight from references/nimble-playbook.md — pick CLI or MCP at session start, then run the standard preflight calls (date calc, today, profile, memory index) in parallel.

From the results:

• CLI missing or API key unset → references/profile-and-onboarding.md, stop
• Tag all nimble CLI calls: nimble --client-source skill-competitor-intel . MCP path: not yet supported — see references/nimble-playbook.md for status.
• Profile exists → read ~/.nimble/memory/competitors/index.md to identify which

competitor files exist and their last-updated dates. If the index doesn't exist (first run or upgrade), fall back to reading all ~/.nimble/memory/competitors/*.md directly — the index is an optimization, not a gate. Then load the relevant competitor files for known signals (used for dedup in Steps 3 + 5). Follow cross-references ([[path/entity]] links) to load related context. Determine mode using smart date windowing from references/nimble-playbook.md:

• Full mode: first run OR last run > 14 days ago
• Quick refresh: last run "What's your company's website domain? (e.g., acme.com)"

Verify — make two Bash calls simultaneously:

• nimble search --query "[domain]" --include-domain '["[domain]"]' --max-results 3 --search-depth lite
• nimble search --query "[domain] company" --max-results 5 --search-depth lite

Prompt 2 — confirm company + choose competitor method (use AskUserQuestion):

> I found that [Company] ([domain]) is [brief description]. > Is this right? And how should I find your competitors? > - Yes — find competitors for me > - Yes — I'll list them myself > - Wrong company — let me clarify

If "find competitors", make three Bash calls simultaneously:

• nimble search --query "[Company] competitors" --max-results 10 --search-depth lite
• nimble search --query "[Company] vs" --max-results 10 --search-depth lite
• nimble search --query "[Company] alternatives" --max-results 5 --search-depth lite

Propose the list. Once the user confirms, create the profile and start Steps 2+3. When creating the profile, also ask for or infer each competitor's domain and the user's industry keywords. See references/profile-and-onboarding.md for the full profile schema (company, competitors with domains/categories, industry_keywords, integrations, preferences).

Step 2: WSA Discovery

For each competitor domain and the user's domain, discover available WSAs:

nimble agent list --search "{domain}" --limit 20

Run one search per domain simultaneously. From the results, filter for WSAs with entity_type matching SERP or PDP, prefer managed_by: "nimble", and validate each with nimble agent get --template-name {name}. Cache discovered WSA names + params for the run. Use discovered WSAs alongside nimble search in Steps 3-4 for richer data. If no WSAs found, continue with nimble search alone.

Step 3: Research the User's Company

Use --include-domain to avoid noise from generic company names. Make two Bash calls:

• nimble search --query "product updates OR changelog OR releases" --include-domain '["[company-domain]"]' --start-date "[start-date]" --max-results 5 --search-depth lite
• nimble search --query "[UserCompany] news" --focus news --start-date "[start-date]" --max-results 5 --search-depth lite

**Fallback if 14 days since last) — structured briefing:

• TL;DR — 3-5 P1 signals, most recent first, every one dated with source
• Per competitor — "Recent" and "Older Context" subsections, "Where They Win

vs. Where You Win" table, "What This Means" (1-2 sentences)

• Industry Trends — signals from industry searches
• Your Company Update — releases/news from Step 2
• Cross-Competitor Patterns — converging trends
• What This Means for [Company] — strategic implications + suggested actions

Quick refresh mode (last run Next steps: > - Run competitor-positioning to analyze how competitors present themselves online > - Run company-deep-dive for a full 360 profile on any competitor from this report > - Run meeting-prep if you're meeting with someone at a competitor

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Agent Teams Mode (Dual-Mode)

Check at startup: echo $CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS

Team mode (flag set): Spawn full teammates instead of sub-agents:

• Lead (you): Assign competitors, synthesize the final briefing
• One teammate per competitor: Uses references/competitor-agent-prompt.md with discovered WSAs —

teammates can message each other when they find overlapping signals

• Devil's Advocate (optional): Challenges findings, looks for blind spots
• Lead synthesizes a cross-validated briefing with higher confidence

Solo mode (flag not set): Standard sub-agent flow from Step 3.

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Error Handling

See references/nimble-playbook.md for the standard error table (missing API key, 429, 401, empty results, extraction garbage). Skill-specific errors:

• Search 500: Retry once without --focus flag. If still failing, retry with a

simplified query (shorter terms, no date filter). Log the failure but don't skip the competitor.

• Search timeout: Retry once, then skip that call and continue — consistent with

the playbook's timeout policy.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: Nimbleway
• Source: Nimbleway/agent-skills
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://www.nimbleway.com

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.