skill-analyze

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Competitive landscape research with positioning maps

benbrastmckie By benbrastmckie schedule Updated 5/14/2026
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name: skill-analyze description: Competitive landscape research with positioning maps allowed-tools: Agent, Bash, Edit, Read, Write

Analyze Skill

Thin wrapper that routes competitive analysis research requests to the analyze-agent.

IMPORTANT: This skill implements the skill-internal postflight pattern. After the subagent returns, this skill handles all postflight operations (status update, artifact linking, git commit) before returning.

Context Pointers

Reference (do not load eagerly):

  • Path: .claude/context/formats/subagent-return.md
  • Purpose: Return validation
  • Load at: Subagent execution only

Note: This skill is a thin wrapper. Context is loaded by the delegated agent, not this skill.

Trigger Conditions

This skill activates when:

Direct Invocation

  • User explicitly runs /analyze command with task number
  • User runs /research on a founder task with task_type: "analyze"

Implicit Invocation (during task implementation)

When an implementing agent encounters any of these patterns:

Plan step language patterns:

  • "Analyze competitors"
  • "Competitive landscape"
  • "Map the competition"
  • "Positioning analysis"

Target mentions:

  • "competitive analysis"
  • "competitor profiles"
  • "positioning map"
  • "battle cards"
  • "competitive intelligence"

When NOT to trigger

Do not invoke for:

  • Market sizing (use skill-market)
  • GTM strategy (use skill-strategy)
  • General business research (use skill-researcher)
  • Product feature comparison (not strategic competitive analysis)

Execution Flow

Stage 1: Input Validation

Validate required inputs:

  • task_number - Must be provided and exist in state.json
  • competitors - Optional, comma-separated string or array
  • mode - Optional, one of: LANDSCAPE, DEEP, POSITION, BATTLE
# Lookup task
task_data=$(jq -r --argjson num "$task_number" \
  '.active_projects[] | select(.project_number == $num)' \
  specs/state.json)

# Validate exists
if [ -z "$task_data" ]; then
  return error "Task $task_number not found"
fi

# Extract fields
task_type=$(echo "$task_data" | jq -r '.task_type // "founder"')
status=$(echo "$task_data" | jq -r '.status')
project_name=$(echo "$task_data" | jq -r '.project_name')
description=$(echo "$task_data" | jq -r '.description // ""')

# Extract pre-gathered forcing_data (if present)
forcing_data=$(echo "$task_data" | jq -r '.forcing_data // null')
pre_gathered_mode=$(echo "$forcing_data" | jq -r '.mode // null' 2>/dev/null)

# Validate mode if provided
if [ -n "$mode" ]; then
  case "$mode" in
    LANDSCAPE|DEEP|POSITION|BATTLE) ;;
    *) return error "Invalid mode: $mode. Must be LANDSCAPE, DEEP, POSITION, or BATTLE" ;;
  esac
fi

Stage 2: Preflight Status Update

Update task status to "researching" BEFORE invoking subagent.

Update state.json:

jq --arg ts "$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)" \
   --arg status "researching" \
   --arg sid "$session_id" \
  '(.active_projects[] | select(.project_number == '$task_number')) |= . + {
    status: $status,
    last_updated: $ts,
    session_id: $sid
  }' specs/state.json > specs/tmp/state.json && mv specs/tmp/state.json specs/state.json

Update TODO.md: Use Edit tool to change status marker to [RESEARCHING].

Stage 3: Create Postflight Marker

padded_num=$(printf "%03d" "$task_number")
mkdir -p "specs/${padded_num}_${project_name}"

cat > "specs/${padded_num}_${project_name}/.postflight-pending" << EOF
{
  "session_id": "${session_id}",
  "skill": "skill-analyze",
  "task_number": ${task_number},
  "operation": "research",
  "reason": "Postflight pending: status update, artifact linking, git commit",
  "created": "$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)"
}
EOF

Stage 4: Prepare Delegation Context

Include pre-gathered forcing_data when available:

{
  "task_context": {
    "task_number": N,
    "project_name": "{project_name}",
    "description": "{description}",
    "task_type": "founder",
    "task_type": "analyze"
  },
  "forcing_data": {
    "mode": "{pre_gathered_mode}",
    "product": "{pre_gathered_product}",
    "known_competitors": "{pre_gathered_competitors}",
    "competitive_advantage": "{pre_gathered_advantage}",
    "decision_factors": "{pre_gathered_factors}",
    "gathered_at": "{timestamp}"
  },
  "competitors": ["optional", "competitor", "list"],
  "mode": "LANDSCAPE|DEEP|POSITION|BATTLE or use forcing_data.mode",
  "metadata_file_path": "specs/{NNN}_{SLUG}/.return-meta.json",
  "metadata": {
    "session_id": "sess_{timestamp}_{random}",
    "delegation_depth": 1,
    "delegation_path": ["orchestrator", "analyze", "skill-analyze"]
  }
}

Note: If forcing_data is present from STAGE 0 of /analyze command, pass it to the agent. The agent will use pre-gathered data and only ask follow-up questions for missing details.

Stage 5: Invoke Agent

CRITICAL: You MUST use the Agent tool to spawn the agent.

Required Tool Invocation:

Tool: Agent (NOT Skill, NOT Plan)
Parameters:
  - subagent_type: "analyze-agent"
  - prompt: [Include task_context, forcing_data, competitors, mode, metadata_file_path, metadata]
  - description: "Competitive analysis research with positioning data"

The agent will:

  • Use pre-gathered forcing_data if available (skip already-answered questions)
  • Present mode selection only if not pre-selected
  • Identify and categorize competitors (using known_competitors as starting point)
  • Use forcing questions for per-competitor analysis
  • Gather positioning dimensions
  • Create research report at specs/{NNN}_{SLUG}/reports/
  • Write metadata file
  • Return brief text summary

Stage 5b: Self-Execution Fallback

CRITICAL: If you performed the work above WITHOUT using the Agent tool (i.e., you read files, wrote artifacts, or updated metadata directly instead of spawning a subagent), you MUST write a .return-meta.json file now before proceeding to postflight. Use the schema from return-metadata-file.md with the appropriate status value for this operation.

If you DID use the Agent tool, skip this stage -- the subagent already wrote the metadata.

Postflight (ALWAYS EXECUTE)

The following stages MUST execute after work is complete, whether the work was done by a subagent or inline (Stage 5b). Do NOT skip these stages for any reason.

Stage 6: Read Metadata File

padded_num=$(printf "%03d" "$task_number")
metadata_file="specs/${padded_num}_${project_name}/.return-meta.json"

if [ -f "$metadata_file" ] && jq empty "$metadata_file" 2>/dev/null; then
    status=$(jq -r '.status' "$metadata_file")
    artifact_path=$(jq -r '.artifacts[0].path // ""' "$metadata_file")
    artifact_type=$(jq -r '.artifacts[0].type // ""' "$metadata_file")
    artifact_summary=$(jq -r '.artifacts[0].summary // ""' "$metadata_file")
else
    status="failed"
fi

Stage 7: Update Task Status (Postflight)

If status is "researched", update state.json and TODO.md.

Update state.json:

jq --arg ts "$(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ)" \
   --arg status "researched" \
  '(.active_projects[] | select(.project_number == '$task_number')) |= . + {
    status: $status,
    last_updated: $ts
  }' specs/state.json > specs/tmp/state.json && mv specs/tmp/state.json specs/state.json

Update TODO.md: Use Edit tool to change status marker to [RESEARCHED].

Stage 8: Link Artifacts

Add artifact to state.json with summary.

IMPORTANT: Use two-step jq pattern to avoid escaping issues.

if [ -n "$artifact_path" ]; then
    # Step 1: Filter out existing research artifacts (use "| not" pattern)
    jq '(.active_projects[] | select(.project_number == '$task_number')).artifacts =
        [(.active_projects[] | select(.project_number == '$task_number')).artifacts // [] | .[] | select(.type == "research" | not)]' \
      specs/state.json > specs/tmp/state.json && mv specs/tmp/state.json specs/state.json

    # Step 2: Add new research artifact
    jq --arg path "$artifact_path" \
       --arg type "$artifact_type" \
       --arg summary "$artifact_summary" \
      '(.active_projects[] | select(.project_number == '$task_number')).artifacts += [{"path": $path, "type": $type, "summary": $summary}]' \
      specs/state.json > specs/tmp/state.json && mv specs/tmp/state.json specs/state.json
fi

Update TODO.md: Link artifact using count-aware format.

Apply the four-case Edit logic from @.claude/context/patterns/artifact-linking-todo.md with field_name=**Research**, next_field=**Plan**.

Stage 9: Git Commit

git add -A
git commit -m "task ${task_number}: complete research

Session: ${session_id}

Stage 10: Cleanup

rm -f "specs/${padded_num}_${project_name}/.postflight-pending"
rm -f "specs/${padded_num}_${project_name}/.postflight-loop-guard"
rm -f "specs/${padded_num}_${project_name}/.return-meta.json"

Stage 11: Return Brief Summary

Competitive analysis research completed for task {N}:
- Mode: {mode}, {questions_asked} forcing questions completed
- Direct competitors: {list}
- Indirect competitors: {list}
- Positioning axes: {axis1}, {axis2}
- Pre-gathered data used: {yes/no}
- Research report: specs/{NNN}_{SLUG}/reports/01_{short-slug}.md
- Status updated to [RESEARCHED]
- Changes committed
- Next: Run /plan {N} to create implementation plan

Return Format

Brief text summary (NOT JSON).

Expected successful return:

Competitive analysis research completed for task 234:
- Mode: POSITION, 7 forcing questions completed
- Direct competitors: Stripe, Square, Adyen
- Indirect competitors: Spreadsheets, legacy bank integrations
- Positioning axes: enterprise vs SMB, API-first vs integrated
- Pre-gathered data used: yes (4 questions from STAGE 0)
- Research report: specs/234_competitive_analysis_fintech/reports/01_competitive-analysis.md
- Status updated to [RESEARCHED]
- Changes committed with session sess_1736700000_abc123
- Next: Run /plan 234 to create implementation plan

Error Handling

Input Validation Errors

Return immediately if task not found.

Metadata File Missing

Keep status as "researching" for resume.

User Abandonment

Return partial status with progress made.

Git Commit Failure

Non-blocking: Log failure but continue.

Install via CLI
npx skills add https://github.com/benbrastmckie/nvim --skill skill-analyze
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