Competitor Analysis

Competitor Analysis Skill

You are performing a comprehensive competitor analysis. This skill uses WebSearch to research competitors, analyze real user feedback, and produce a structured markdown report identifying market gaps and strategic opportunities.

Argument Handling

This skill expects three arguments in the format:

/competitor-analysis "ProductName" "product type" "target audience"

Examples:

• /competitor-analysis "Figma" "design tool" "UI/UX designers"
• /competitor-analysis "Linear" "project management tool" "engineering teams"
• /competitor-analysis "Auto Claude" "autonomous coding tool" "software developers"

If any arguments are missing or unclear, use AskUserQuestion to collect them before proceeding. All three are required:

1. Product Name — The product being analyzed (your product or a product you're researching)
2. Product Type — The category/market (e.g., "design tool", "CI/CD platform", "note-taking app")
3. Target Audience — Who uses this type of product (e.g., "frontend developers", "product managers")

Parse the arguments from the user's input. If the user provides them inline (e.g., /competitor-analysis "Slack" "team messaging" "remote teams"), extract them directly. If ambiguous, ask.

Research Procedure

Execute these four phases sequentially. Use WebSearch for all research. Make parallel WebSearch calls within each phase where possible to maximize efficiency.

Phase 1 — Identify Competitors

Goal: Find 3-5 direct competitors in the same market category.

Run 3-4 WebSearch calls (in parallel):

1. "{product type} alternatives 2026" — finds alternative products
2. "best {product type} tools" — finds top-rated products in the category
3. "{product type} vs" — finds common comparison queries
4. "{product name} competitors" — finds direct competitor mentions

After collecting results:

• Select the 3-5 most relevant, direct competitors
• Prioritize competitors that serve the same target audience
• Exclude tangentially related products (e.g., if analyzing a "design tool", exclude general project management tools unless they directly compete)
• If fewer than 3 competitors are found, broaden search terms (e.g., search for the broader category)

Output to yourself: List of competitors with a one-line description of each.

Phase 2 — Research User Feedback

Goal: For each competitor, find real user pain points, complaints, and missing features.

For each competitor, run 2-3 WebSearch calls (parallelize across competitors):

1. "{competitor name} reviews complaints problems" — general review sentiment
2. "{competitor name} reddit issues site:reddit.com" — Reddit discussions and complaints
3. Choose one based on product type:
   • For developer tools: "{competitor name} issues site:github.com" — GitHub issues and bug reports
   • For consumer/SaaS products: "{competitor name} app store reviews complaints" — app store feedback
   • For B2B tools: "{competitor name} G2 reviews problems" — enterprise review sites

For each competitor, extract:

• Pain points — What do users consistently complain about?
• Missing features — What do users wish the product had?
• UX complaints — What's frustrating about the user experience?
• Performance issues — Speed, reliability, scalability problems
• Pricing complaints — Cost concerns, value perception

Cite sources — For each pain point, note where it came from (Reddit, GitHub, review site, forum, etc.).

Phase 3 — Market Gap Analysis

Goal: Cross-reference pain points to find patterns and opportunities. No additional searches needed.

Analyze the collected data:

1. Cross-reference pain points — Which complaints appear across multiple competitors?
2. Identify unserved needs — What problems does no competitor solve well?
3. Find differentiation opportunities — Where could a new entrant or the analyzed product stand out?
4. Assess severity — Rank gaps by how frequently and passionately users mention them
5. Map to audience — Which gaps matter most to the target audience?

Classify each gap as:

• Critical — Mentioned by many users across multiple competitors, high frustration
• Significant — Common complaint but workarounds exist
• Emerging — Growing concern, mentioned in recent discussions

Phase 4 — Generate Report

Write a comprehensive markdown report following the template below. Save it to specs/competitor-analysis-report.md (creating the specs/ directory if it doesn't exist) using the Write tool.

After writing, inform the user that the report has been saved and provide a brief summary of the key findings.

Report Template

Use this exact structure for the output report:

# Competitor Analysis: {Product Name}

**Date:** {current date}
**Product Type:** {product type}
**Target Audience:** {target audience}

---

## Executive Summary

{2-3 paragraph overview of the competitive landscape. Include: number of competitors analyzed, the most critical market gaps found, and the single biggest opportunity for differentiation. This should be actionable — a product leader should be able to read just this section and understand the key takeaway.}

---

## Competitor Profiles

### {Competitor 1 Name}

**Overview:** {1-2 sentence description of what they do and their market position}

**Strengths:**
- {strength 1}
- {strength 2}
- {strength 3}

**User Pain Points:**

| Pain Point | Severity | Source | Opportunity |
|-----------|----------|--------|-------------|
| {description} | Critical/Significant/Emerging | {Reddit/GitHub/G2/etc.} | {how this could be addressed} |
| {description} | ... | ... | ... |

---

### {Competitor 2 Name}
{same structure as above}

---

### {Competitor 3 Name}
{same structure as above}

---

{Continue for each competitor analyzed}

---

## Market Gaps

{Overview paragraph explaining the gap analysis methodology and key patterns.}

### Gap 1: {Gap Title}

- **Description:** {what's missing or broken across the market}
- **Affected Competitors:** {which competitors have this problem}
- **Severity:** Critical / Significant / Emerging
- **User Evidence:** {specific quotes or paraphrased feedback with sources}
- **Opportunity Size:** High / Medium / Low
- **Suggested Approach:** {brief idea for how to address this gap}

### Gap 2: {Gap Title}
{same structure}

### Gap 3: {Gap Title}
{same structure}

{Continue for each identified gap}

---

## Strategic Insights

### Top Pain Points by Frequency
1. {most common pain point across all competitors} — mentioned by {X} competitors
2. {second most common} — mentioned by {X} competitors
3. {third most common} — mentioned by {X} competitors

### Key Differentiators to Pursue
- **{differentiator 1}:** {why this matters and how to execute}
- **{differentiator 2}:** {why this matters and how to execute}
- **{differentiator 3}:** {why this matters and how to execute}

### Market Trends
- {trend 1 observed from research}
- {trend 2 observed from research}
- {trend 3 observed from research}

### Recommended Next Steps
1. {actionable recommendation 1}
2. {actionable recommendation 2}
3. {actionable recommendation 3}

---

## Research Metadata

**Queries Used:**
{list all WebSearch queries executed during research}

**Sources Consulted:**
{list key URLs and sources referenced}

**Limitations:**
{note any gaps in research — limited results for certain competitors, paywalled content, regional bias, etc.}

**Methodology:**
Competitive analysis performed via web research using Claude Code's WebSearch tool. User feedback sourced from public forums, review sites, and developer communities. Pain points validated by cross-referencing across multiple independent sources.

Edge Cases

Handle these scenarios gracefully:

No Competitors Found

If searches return no clear competitors:

• Frame this as a first-mover opportunity
• Search for adjacent categories or broader market segments
• Look for indirect competitors (different approach to the same problem)
• Note this in the report's Executive Summary

Limited Search Results

If search results are sparse for a competitor:

• Document the limitation in the report
• Continue analysis with available data
• Note confidence level for that competitor's analysis (Low/Medium/High)
• Try alternative search queries before giving up

Internal/Niche/Developer Tools

For tools that aren't widely reviewed:

• Search GitHub issues and discussions: "{tool} site:github.com"
• Search StackOverflow: "{tool} site:stackoverflow.com"
• Search Hacker News: "{tool} site:news.ycombinator.com"
• Search for comparison blog posts and technical reviews

Partial Search Failures

If some WebSearch calls fail or return errors:

• Continue with successful results
• Note which searches failed in Research Metadata
• Do not halt the entire analysis — partial data is still valuable

Very Crowded Markets

If there are many competitors (>10 found):

• Focus on the top 5 by market presence and relevance to the target audience
• Mention additional competitors briefly in the Executive Summary
• Prioritize competitors the target audience is most likely using

Important Guidelines

• Be objective — Report facts from user feedback, not opinions. Cite sources.
• Be specific — "Users complain about slow performance" is weak. "Multiple Reddit threads report 10+ second load times for large projects (r/competitor, 2025)" is strong.
• Prioritize recency — Weight recent feedback (2024-2026) more heavily than older complaints that may be resolved.
• Include positive signals — Note what competitors do well, not just their failures. Understanding strengths is as important as finding gaps.
• Stay in scope — Research the product type and audience specified. Don't expand scope without asking.
• Always save the report — The final deliverable is specs/competitor-analysis-report.md.

Post-Report: Update CLAUDE.md

After the report is saved, update the project's CLAUDE.md file (create it if it doesn't exist) with a Market Research section. This ensures the competitive insights are discoverable and linked for future reference.

Steps:

1. Read the existing CLAUDE.md in the project root (if it exists).
2. If a ## Market Research section already exists, update it. Otherwise, append the section to the end of the file.
3. Write the following section:

## Market Research

- [Competitor Analysis: {Product Name}](specs/competitor-analysis-report.md) — {one-sentence summary of key finding or biggest opportunity} ({current date})

4. If multiple analyses have been run, append new entries as additional list items under the existing ## Market Research section rather than replacing previous entries.

Important:

• Do not overwrite other sections in CLAUDE.md — only add or update the ## Market Research section.
• Preserve all existing content in the file.
• Inform the user that CLAUDE.md has been updated with a link to the report.