shopping-hunter - SKILL.md Agent Skill

name: shopping-hunter description: Deep shopping research skill for finding products similar to a reference link or image, benchmarking global pricing, comparing quality/provenance, and creating a reusable buying dossier with links, per-item prices, shipping notes, and value-focused recommendations.

Shopping Hunter

Use this skill when the user wants to find, benchmark, compare, or source products similar to a reference item, image, aesthetic, material, maker, or buying goal. The default mode is deep global shopping research with Australia prioritized, AUD-normalized pricing, and a documented dossier.

Default operating mode

Produce all of the following:
- A buying dossier.
- A concise shortlist of the best buys.
- A market benchmark showing cheap, mid-market, premium, and high-end pricing.
Prioritize Australia first, then global sources.
Normalize prices to AUD primary, while preserving original currency and set size.
Be value-focused: call out bargains, fair pricing, overpricing, provenance premiums, hidden shipping risk, and “cheap but not equivalent” alternatives.
Prefer actual purchasable product links over inspiration-only pages.
Include official brand/maker sites, marketplaces, local retailers, boutiques/design stores, secondhand/vintage listings, high-end benchmarks, and wholesale/B2B leads when relevant.
Search deeply: use regional/source passes, price-tier passes, terminology/source-origin research, exact-source tracing, and high-end benchmarks.

Required intake questions

Before starting, ask for the missing items from this list. If the user already provided some, only ask for the missing/high-impact ones.

Reference link(s) and/or image(s).
What they like about the reference: colours, shape, material, finish, dimensions, provenance, vibe, brand, price, etc.
Budget or price bands to benchmark.
Must-have traits vs nice-to-have traits.
Regions to prioritize, with Australia as the default priority.
Whether vintage/used/one-off listings are acceptable.
Whether wholesale/B2B/MOQ sources are acceptable.
Quantity needed and whether sets are preferred.
Deal-breakers: materials, countries, shipping, lead times, ethics, returns, fragility, defects.
Whether to create a Markdown dossier file; default is yes.

If the user says “don’t hold back,” “deep search,” or similar, proceed with a deep multi-pass workflow and do not over-ask beyond truly missing constraints.

Research workflow

1. Parse the target

Extract a target profile:

Product category and functional use.
Visual traits.
Materials and construction.
Dimensions/capacity if relevant.
Likely origin/provenance clues.
Search vocabulary and synonyms.
Known brand/source clues from the reference page.

Separate:

Exact match: same brand/product/source.
Close match: same material/process/aesthetic, different maker.
Adjacent: same vibe, different process or quality.
Budget lookalike: visually similar but materially different.
Premium benchmark: higher-end equivalent for price context.

2. Run parallel research passes

When available, use parallel subagents or independent searches by scope. Good default passes:

Exact-source tracing: same product, same brand, resellers, wholesale clues.
Australia/NZ retailers.
Etsy/global marketplace alternatives.
Official brand/maker sites.
US homeware/boutique sources.
UK/EU homeware/boutique sources.
Budget marketplace and mass-market alternatives.
Wholesale/B2B/source-origin pass.
High-end/designer/artisan benchmark.
Search-terms/provenance map.

Do not duplicate work already delegated to an agent. Wait for required research before final synthesis when feasible.

3. Verify and normalize

For each candidate, capture:

Product name.
Merchant/seller.
URL.
Price as listed.
Currency.
Set size / quantity.
Calculated per-item price.
Approximate AUD per item.
Shipping to Australia or availability notes.
Materials and process.
Origin/provenance.
Dimensions/capacity.
Similarity rating.
Recommendation tier.
Risk notes: blocked page, unverified price, vintage defect, MOQ, sold out, surface coating vs material colour, import/customs risk.

Never invent prices. If a price is from a snippet, archive, search result, or blocked page, label it clearly as unverified or partially verified.

4. Build the dossier

If the user wants a file, create a Markdown dossier in the session files folder unless they explicitly request a repository path. If the user explicitly asks for a repo file, create it where requested.

Recommended dossier structure:

Executive verdict.
Price bands / market map.
Best shortlist.
Exact-source findings.
Local/Australia options.
Global alternatives by region.
Budget/mass-market benchmarks.
Premium/high-end benchmarks.
Wholesale/source-origin leads.
Search terms and sourcing vocabulary.
Buying guidance.
Research limitations and unverifiable leads.

Use dense tables for product comparisons. Keep a short chat summary after creating the dossier and include the file path.

Recommendation style

Be direct and opinionated:

Say which option is the best exact match.
Say which option is the best value.
Say which option is cheapest but materially different.
Say which option is premium and why.
Say whether the reference price looks fair, inflated, or unusually cheap.
Explain when provenance, material, handmade process, or shipping justifies a higher price.

Quality rules

Prefer current, live product pages, but include archived/snippet data when clearly labeled.
Include sold-out/vintage listings only when useful for benchmarking or search vocabulary.
Distinguish colour-in-glass from sprayed/painted/electroplated finishes.
Distinguish handmade, mouth-blown, machine-made, pressed, molded, and studio-art products.
Distinguish retail price from landed cost; shipping can dominate international purchases.
Flag fragile/shipping-sensitive categories.
Do not treat marketplace SEO claims as proven provenance without corroborating text.

Final response pattern

Lead with the outcome:

“Created the dossier: <path>”
“Best exact match: ...”
“Best value: ...”
“Price verdict: ...”

Keep the chat response concise; the dossier carries the detail.