How to use the Competitor Analysis agent skill

What is an agent skill and what does this one do?

An agent skill is a folder containing a SKILL.md file with instructions that an AI agent reads when a task matches the skill's description. This one is part of the pm-market-research collection in the phuryn/pm-skills project and is licensed under MIT.

When the skill applies, the agent works out the market scope for your product or market, uses web search to identify five direct competitors, and profiles each one on strengths, weaknesses, pricing, and go-to-market approach. It then summarises gaps and opportunities and suggests a positioning recommendation.

• Market scoping: defines the market, industry, and addressable customer base.
• Competitor identification: finds five primary direct competitors using web search.
• Competitor profiles: strengths, weaknesses, pricing, and go-to-market strategy.
• Differentiation mapping and a positioning recommendation, including 12-18 month risks and opportunities.

How do you install the Competitor Analysis skill?

You can install the skill in one of three ways. Download the ZIP file from this page and unzip it into your personal skills folder, ~/.claude/skills/, so it is available across your projects. Alternatively, unzip it into a project's .claude/skills/ folder so it applies only to that project.

If you use the Claude apps, you can instead upload the skill under Settings → Capabilities → Skills.

• Personal install: unzip into ~/.claude/skills/
• Project install: unzip into the project's .claude/skills/ folder
• Claude apps: Settings → Capabilities → Skills, then upload the skill

How do you trigger the skill with a natural request?

You do not need a special command. The skill's description tells the agent when to use it: competitive research, preparing a competitive brief, or finding differentiation opportunities. Describe your product or market in plain language and say what you want.

Including the market segment helps, because the skill's instructions refer to a market or industry segment when one is specified.

• "Do a competitor analysis for a project management tool for small construction firms."
• "Prepare a competitive brief for our invoicing app against its rivals."
• "Find differentiation opportunities for a meal-planning app in the UK market."
• "Map the competitive landscape for AI note-taking tools."

What do the outputs contain?

The skill asks the agent to organise its findings into a fixed structure. You get a market overview, a competitive set summary with five direct competitors, and a profile for each competitor covering its strengths, weaknesses, business model and pricing, and threats to your product.

The final sections cover differentiation opportunities and a positioning recommendation, including which segments to target or avoid and which threats to monitor.

• Market Overview & Definition
• Competitive Set Summary (five direct competitors plus notable adjacent ones)
• Per-competitor profiles: product strengths, weaknesses and gaps, business model and pricing, threats and advantages
• Differentiation Opportunities
• Competitive Positioning Recommendation

Can you use your own competitor data?

Yes. If you paste in your own competitor data, pricing sheets, feature comparisons, or customer feedback, the skill tells the agent to read and analyse those directly and combine them into the competitive view. This is useful when you have internal research and want the agent to structure it, or when public web sources are thin.

Give the agent the material in the conversation and say what it is, for example "here is our pricing sheet for three rivals".

What does the skill need, and what are the safety notes?

The skill needs web search access so the agent can research current competitors. It does not run scripts, but it does use the network, because the web research it asks for requires it. Check that your agent environment allows web search before you rely on the output.

Treat the output as strategic opinion, not verified fact. The skill asks for estimates of market share and positioning, and the agent may not be able to confirm them. Web sources can also be outdated or wrong. Validate any figure you intend to use in a board paper, pitch, or contract.

• Requires web search access.
• Runs scripts: no.
• Uses network: yes.
• Do not use it for legal or regulatory decisions.
• Do not rely on it for verified market share or financial figures.

Tips for better competitive research

Give the agent a specific product, market, and customer. A narrow scope produces more useful competitors than a broad category. Ask for the output in the form you need, such as a brief for a meeting or a list of positioning options.

Check the competitors it names. The skill asks the agent to distinguish direct competitors from adjacent alternatives, but you should confirm that the five chosen are the ones your customers actually compare you with.

• Name the specific customer segment and geography.
• Add your own pricing sheets or customer feedback for a grounded analysis.
• Verify competitor names, prices, and launches against their own websites before publishing.