# Supplier Research > Use to research supplier feasibility for a promising candidate via legitimate web research, then record the human-confirmed result via hunt supplier-set. Never fabricates MOQ/pricing/certifications. - Skill: `zaidadaqqa/supplier-research` (Agent Skill) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add zaidadaqqa/supplier-research` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/zaidadaqqa/supplier-research/raw - Safety review: pending - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Research & Search - Author: zaidadaqqa (https://skillmd.com/u/zaidadaqqa) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/zaidadaqqa/supplier-research --- # Supplier Research Researches whether a candidate product can actually be sourced, then records the outcome via `hunt supplier-set` — the **only** mechanism in the engine that can move the supplier hard gate off its default `UNKNOWN` state. Full vocabulary and human-origination rules live in `references/supplier-ip.md`; read it before using this Skill. ## When to use this For a promising candidate (typically at `COMPETITOR_ANALYSIS` or later — supplier feasibility matters most once a candidate has survived earlier, cheaper filters; see `time-budget-controller.md`) where sourcing feasibility is still unknown. ## Step 1 — Check what's already recorded ``` hunt supplier-show ``` `NOT_YET_VALIDATED` means nothing is recorded yet. Otherwise, review the existing record before deciding whether new research is warranted (`time-budget-controller.md` Rule 2). ## Step 2 — Legitimate research approaches Treat manufacturer directories (Alibaba, Global Sources, similar B2B marketplaces), trade-show listings, and direct manufacturer/brand websites as **research targets** — sources to search and read, the same way any web search works. This is not scraping and not automated data extraction; it is using a browser or search tool to find publicly available supplier listings, MOQs, and stated pricing, the same way a human sourcing manager would. Useful signals to look for: - Whether multiple suppliers appear to manufacture this product category at all (a complete absence of any listed manufacturer is itself a finding). - Stated MOQ, unit pricing ranges, and lead times as published by the supplier (these are the supplier's own claims, not verified facts, until a human actually engages and confirms them). - Stated certifications relevant to the category (e.g. FDA, CPSIA, CE) — note what's claimed, but do not treat a claimed certification as confirmed without evidence. ## Step 3 — What counts as which status Per `references/supplier-ip.md` SUP-01, only these four literal values are valid for `--supplier-status`: | Status | When it applies | |---|---| | `UNKNOWN` | Default — no assessment recorded, or research inconclusive | | `MANUAL_SOURCING_REQUIRED` | Sourcing looks plausible in principle (suppliers exist, no confirmed dead end) but has not been validated with an actual quote/confirmed terms yet | | `VALIDATED` | A human has an actual, confirmed supplier quote/terms they are willing to stand behind | | `CONFIRMED_IMPOSSIBLE` | Sourcing has been genuinely ruled out — e.g. every identifiable supplier has confirmed they cannot produce it, or a confirmed regulatory/manufacturing blocker exists | `CONFIRMED_IMPOSSIBLE` is the status that fires the supplier hard gate — it must be reserved for genuinely confirmed dead ends, never for "sourcing looks hard" or "I couldn't find many suppliers in a quick search," which is `MANUAL_SOURCING_REQUIRED` territory instead. ## Step 4 — The hard rule: human confirmation required before recording `hunt supplier-set` must only ever be called with a status value that: 1. **A human explicitly told this Skill to record** ("I got a quote, mark it VALIDATED"), or 2. **Claude Browser found in a verifiable primary source AND the human then explicitly confirmed that finding as accurate.** Claude Browser research alone — however thorough, however confident the findings look — is **never sufficient by itself** to call `hunt supplier-set` with `VALIDATED` or `CONFIRMED_IMPOSSIBLE`. Present the research findings to the human first, and only record the status after the human has confirmed it. This is because `supplier_status` is the single lever that can move the supplier hard gate (`references/supplier-ip.md` SUP-03), and no pipeline stage — including this Skill — is permitted to infer it on its own authority. ``` hunt supplier-set \ --supplier-status \ [--supplier-name ...] [--unit-cost-quoted ...] [--moq ...] \ [--lead-time-days ...] [--certifications ...] [--supplier-notes ...] ``` Never fabricate `--unit-cost-quoted`, `--moq`, `--lead-time-days`, or `--certifications` — these must be the actual figures a supplier stated (and ideally a human confirmed), never a plausible estimate for the category. ## What this Skill must never do - Never call `hunt supplier-set` with a status inferred solely from its own research judgment. - Never invent MOQ, unit pricing, lead times, or certifications not actually observed from a real source. - Never treat "I couldn't quickly find a supplier" as `CONFIRMED_IMPOSSIBLE` — that requires a genuinely confirmed dead end, not an inconclusive search. - Never scrape, bypass access controls, or attempt automated data extraction from supplier sites — this is legitimate research (searching, reading, relaying), not automated harvesting. See `references/supplier-ip.md` for the full vocabulary, the documented `SUPPLIER_UNKNOWN`/`UNKNOWN` naming mismatch (use the code's actual `UNKNOWN`), and the rule-preservation table.