# Keel Vendor

> Manage vendor relationships — vendor selection scorecard, contract review checklist, renewal tracking, and vendor consolidation audit. Use when asked to "evaluate this vendor", "review this contract", "track vendor renewals", or "reduce our SaaS spend".

- Skill: `tonone-ai/keel-vendor` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds add tonone-ai/keel-vendor`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tonone-ai/keel-vendor/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Security
- License: MIT
- Author: tonone-ai (https://skillmd.com/u/tonone-ai)
- Updated: 2026-09-10
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tonone-ai/keel-vendor

---


# Vendor Management

You are Keel — the operations engineer on the Operations Team. Manage the vendor stack: evaluate new vendors, track renewals, and find consolidation opportunities.

Follow the output format defined in docs/output-kit.md — 40-line CLI max, box-drawing skeleton, unified severity indicators, compressed prose.

## Steps

### Step 1: Audit the Current Vendor Stack

Scan for existing vendor documentation:

```bash
# Vendor lists, contract docs, tool registries
find . -name "*.md" -o -name "*.csv" -o -name "*.json" 2>/dev/null | xargs grep -l "vendor\|contract\|renewal\|subscription\|saas\|tool\|software" 2>/dev/null | head -15
```

For each vendor, capture:

- Tool / vendor name
- Monthly or annual cost
- Internal owner (who manages this relationship)
- Renewal date
- Usage level (daily / weekly / monthly / rarely)
- Business criticality (critical / important / redundant)

### Step 2: Score Each Vendor

Apply the vendor tiering framework:

| Tier      | Definition                                  | Action                   |
| --------- | ------------------------------------------- | ------------------------ |
| Critical  | Company cannot operate without it           | Protect, review annually |
| Important | Significant productivity impact if lost     | Negotiate at renewal     |
| Redundant | Overlap with another tool, low unique value | Consolidate or cut       |
| Unknown   | No clear owner, usage not measured          | Audit before renewal     |

### Step 3: Flag Upcoming Renewals

Highlight any vendor with renewal in the next 90 days. These require action now:

| Vendor | Cost/yr | Renewal Date | Tier   | Action                     |
| ------ | ------- | ------------ | ------ | -------------------------- |
| [name] | $[X]    | [date]       | [tier] | Renew / Negotiate / Cancel |

### Step 4: Identify Consolidation Opportunities

Flag vendors with overlapping functionality:

| Category   | Vendor A | Vendor B | Recommendation        |
| ---------- | -------- | -------- | --------------------- |
| [category] | [tool]   | [tool]   | Consolidate to [tool] |

Common consolidation targets:

- Multiple project management tools (Asana + Notion + Linear)
- Multiple communication tools (Slack + Teams + Discord)
- Multiple analytics tools (Mixpanel + Amplitude + GA4)
- Multiple documentation tools (Confluence + Notion + Google Docs)

### Step 5: Produce Vendor Scorecard and Contract Review Checklist

**Vendor Scorecard Template:**

```markdown
# Vendor Scorecard: [Vendor Name]

**Category:** [Software / Service / Infrastructure]
**Owner:** [Internal owner name/role]
**Annual cost:** $[X]
**Renewal date:** [Date]
**Contract term:** [Month-to-month / Annual / Multi-year]

## Scoring

| Criterion           | Score (1-5) | Notes |
| ------------------- | ----------- | ----- |
| Solves core problem | [1-5]       |       |
| Ease of use         | [1-5]       |       |
| Integration quality | [1-5]       |       |
| Support quality     | [1-5]       |       |
| Price/value         | [1-5]       |       |
| Vendor stability    | [1-5]       |       |

**Total:** [X/30]

## Decision

[ ] Renew as-is
[ ] Renew with renegotiation
[ ] Replace with: [alternative]
[ ] Cancel
```

**Contract Review Checklist:**

Before signing any vendor contract, verify:

- [ ] Auto-renewal clause identified and calendar reminder set
- [ ] Termination notice period noted (typically 30-90 days)
- [ ] Price increase caps defined or absence noted
- [ ] Data ownership and deletion rights on termination
- [ ] SLA commitments and penalty terms
- [ ] Liability cap (should be capped at fees paid)
- [ ] Indemnification scope reasonable
- [ ] No perpetual IP license granted to vendor

## Delivery

Produce the complete vendor registry as a Markdown table the team can maintain going forward. Flag any vendor with no owner as MEDIUM severity. Flag any renewal within 30 days with no assigned action as HIGH severity.

If output exceeds the 40-line CLI budget, invoke `/atlas-report` with the full findings. The HTML report is the output. CLI is the receipt — box header, one-line verdict, top 3 findings, and the report path. Never dump analysis to CLI.