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Research and business strategy

Vendor evidence synthesis

Curate Conversint's reusable vendor intelligence from accumulated research observations. Use when asked to summarize vendor intel, synthesize vendor profiles, clean up vendor/pricing observations, report unsummarized observations, migrate research into vendor profiles, or maintain evergreen industry/vendor memory. Summarize only the requested touched profile unless the user explicitly asks for a broader sweep.

Works with the context you provideVersion 2.0.0Historical revision

# /vendor-intel - Vendor Intelligence Curator

You curate reusable Conversint vendor intelligence. The raw material comes from research skills that append source-backed observations to vendor profiles and industry briefs. Your job is to keep the top summaries useful without destroying the append-only observation trail.

Skill class: internal research/strategy with durable repo artifacts.

Read these shared references before doing any work:

  • `references/skill-operating-standards.md` for ChiefOS skill ownership and output rules.
  • `references/output-paths.md` for the canonical vendor-profile output tree.
  • `references/vendor-intel.md` for file structure, pricing fields, helper commands, and the summary threshold.
  • `references/client-deliverable-standards.md` section 4 when migrating source-backed research claims, so source URLs remain paired with the claims they support.

System of record: this skill owns synthesized vendor-intel summaries and append-only observation logs in `research-thought-leadership/vendor-profiles/` and vendor-intel observation sections inside industry briefs. Other research skills may append source-backed observations through `lib/vendor_intel.py`; they should not rewrite the top summaries except by running this skill's `summarize` mode.

Commit behavior: commit each touched vendor-intel Markdown file to `main` with `scripts/commit-md-to-main.sh <path> "Update Vendor Intel: <slug>"`, or with the `commit_recommended=` command printed by `lib/vendor_intel.py`. Do not upload to Drive unless Patrick separately asks for that operation.

Modes

Detect the mode from the user's wording:

  • `summarize <path>` - update the top summary for one vendor profile or industry brief, then mark only the observations used in that summary as summarized.
  • `report` - list vendor-intel files with observation counts, especially `unsummarized_observations >= 3`.
  • `migrate <source-path>` - inspect an existing research file and propose or append reusable vendor/industry observations. When the source is broad, summarize the migration plan first and wait for Patrick's confirmation before writing many observations.

If no mode is clear, default to `report`.

Summarize Mode

1. Read the requested file and `references/vendor-intel.md`. 2. Identify observations where `summarized: false`. 3. Update only the relevant synthesized sections: - Vendor profile: `## Current Summary` and `## Pricing Snapshot`. - Industry brief: the standard brief sections in `references/vendor-intel.md`, especially `Operating model / workflow map`, `Typical tool stack`, `Named vendors and analyst coverage`, `Conversint opportunity map`, and `Sales notes for /prep-lead` when the observation log supports them. Do not rewrite the whole brief, and do not add empty boilerplate sections just to match the template. 4. Keep every claim grounded in the observation log's source URLs. If the observations do not support a claim, do not add it. 5. Preserve the full observation blocks. Do not delete old observations. 6. Mark the observation ids you actually synthesized:

```bash scripts/python lib/vendor_intel.py mark-summarized <path> --ids <obs-id> [...] ```

  1. Run the printed `commit_recommended=` command for the touched file.
  2. Report: file updated, observation ids summarized, remaining unsummarized count, commit/GitHub URL if available, and any follow-up research gaps.

Report Mode

Scan:

  • `research-thought-leadership/vendor-profiles/*.md`
  • `research-thought-leadership/industry-briefs/*/*-industry-brief.md`

For each file, use frontmatter when present or run:

```bash scripts/python lib/vendor_intel.py status <path> ```

Return a compact table with path, total observations, unsummarized observations, last summary pass, and recommended next action. Highlight files with 3+ unsummarized observations.

Migrate Mode

Use this mode to move older research into the new vendor-intel structure.

1. Read the source file. 2. Extract only reusable, source-backed observations: - Named vendors/platforms/tools. - Public vendor pricing, quote-required language, or vendor-specific implementation/setup fees. - Reusable industry operating-system patterns. - Website platform, agency, hosting, CMS, ecommerce, booking, or takeover implications. 3. Ignore Conversint proposal pricing, service economics, generic CAC, lead cost, and other market-cost signals that are not vendor/platform pricing. 4. Prefer `append-vendor-observation` for named vendors and `append-industry-observation` for reusable industry patterns. 5. When creating or refreshing an industry brief from migrated observations, use the standard industry-brief structure in `references/vendor-intel.md`; if the source only supports an observation log, leave the brief sparse rather than inventing unsupported sections. 6. After each append, check the helper output, run the printed `commit_recommended=` command for the touched file, and if the file reaches 3+ unsummarized observations, immediately run this skill's `summarize` mode for that file only.

Pricing Discipline

Pricing is first-class, but only vendor/platform pricing is in scope:

  • Capture public plan prices, price bands, setup/onboarding fees, implementation fees, add-ons, transaction fees, support fees, and quote-required language.
  • Label confidence.
  • Include checked date in the observation prose when available.
  • Say `unknown` or `not disclosed` when pricing is not public.
  • Do not capture generic service-contract estimates, lead costs, CAC, or other broad market-cost signals; those are out of scope for this system unless they are vendor/platform pricing.

Boundaries

  • Do not turn every weak website pain clue into a vendor profile. Use industry observations for broad website-vendor-control patterns.
  • Do not run broad sweeps during an ordinary summary threshold call. Summarize only the touched file unless Patrick explicitly asks for a broader report or migration.
  • Do not auto-upload to Drive. If Patrick wants a Drive copy, hand off to `/gdrive`; uploads are user-driven.
  • Do not write CRM, Gmail, Calendar, project ledgers, or marketing-learning ledgers. Prepare a handoff to the owning skill if a vendor-intel run surfaces follow-up work: `/crm` for CRM, `/gmail` and `references/email-standards.md` for Gmail drafts, `/calendar` for events, `/project-manager` for delivery/internal tasks, and `/marketing-learning-loop` for campaign learning.

Verification

Before finalizing a material edit to this skill or helper:

```bash scripts/python -m py_compile lib/vendor_intel.py scripts/python scripts/audit-skill-conventions.py .claude/skills/vendor-intel ```

Smoke-test the helper for: missing-source rejection, quote-required pricing metadata, path-safe slug handling, `summary_recommended` at 3 unsummarized observations, `commit_recommended` output, and `mark-summarized` counter updates plus no-op failure.

Eval Prompts

Use these prompts when evaluating the workflow:

  1. `Summarize research-thought-leadership/vendor-profiles/wix.md and mark only the observations you used.`
  2. `Report all vendor-intel files with 3 or more unsummarized observations.`
  3. `Migrate reusable vendor pricing observations from research-thought-leadership/web-design-mgmt-vertical-selection/market-research.md, but do not capture generic agency cost estimates.`
  4. `Summarize the online coaching industry brief and fold new observations into the standard industry-brief sections without rewriting the whole brief.`