New: 98,000+ skills indexed from GitHub repos with 100+ stars · every skill safety-checkedBrowse top skillsTop skills
Esc to closeBrowse all skills
Submit a skillBrowse skills
Submit a skillBrowse skills

Agent skill

Competitor Mapper

by MaxKmet in MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents

Maps the full competitive landscape — direct, indirect, substitute, and emerging competitors — with positioning gap analysis, review mining, and marketinsights-calibrated saturation scoring.

MITAuto-check passedProduct & Project Management

Install Competitor Mapper

skills CLI
$ npx skills add MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents --skill competitor-mapper -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI
$ gh skill install MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents competitor-mapper --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy
$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/skills/competitor-mapper .claude/skills/competitor-mapper && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Facts

Skill name
competitor-mapper
GitHub stars
474
Token cost
~3.3k tokens
SKILL.md length
1,485 words
Files
1
Skills in repo
15
Repo updated
First seen
Licence
MIT

At a glance

Maps the full competitive landscape — direct, indirect, substitute, and emerging competitors — with positioning gap analysis, review mining, and marketinsights-calibrated saturation scoring.

  • Works in 5 steps: Research Checklist by Category → App Store Search Methodology → Review Mining for Positioning Gaps → …
  • Tasks that involve Customer feedback analysis
  • SKILL.md covers Purpose, Input, Competitor Categories and Process, plus 2 more sections
  • Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md

What it does

Competitor Mapper is an agent skill from MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents. Maps the full competitive landscape — direct, indirect, substitute, and emerging competitors — with positioning gap analysis, review mining, and marketinsights-calibrated saturation scoring. Feeds into idea-scoring, cac-modeler, pricing-and-wtp, and tam-sam-som-builder.

Its SKILL.md is about 3.3k tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Product & Project Management, covering Customer feedback analysis, Positioning and messaging and Market sizing. It works with Reddit and TikTok. The repository describes itself as: AI agents that act as your personal venture analyst - from startup idea brainstorming to full validation and go-to-market strategy. Built for developers who'd rather validate in… The licence is MIT.

When your agent uses it

  • Tasks that involve Customer feedback analysis
  • Tasks that involve Positioning and messaging
  • Tasks that involve Market sizing

Example prompts

  • “/competitor-mapper”

Workflow steps

5 steps, taken from the step headings in SKILL.md.

  1. Research Checklist by Category
  2. App Store Search Methodology
  3. Review Mining for Positioning Gaps
  4. Positioning Gap Analysis
  5. Market Saturation Scoring

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 3a4c800. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

  • Tool permissions

    Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.

    From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.

  • Runs code

    No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are json).

    From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.

  • Network

    No URLs in SKILL.md.

    From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.

  • Credentials

    Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.

    From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

Competitor Mapper loads about 3.3k tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 72 tokens; SKILL.md has 1,485 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it
~72
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches
~3.3k

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents at commit 3a4c800, republished under its MIT licence (© MaxKmet). 1,485 words, ~3,264 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/competitor-mapper/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).
name
competitor-mapper
description
Maps the full competitive landscape — direct, indirect, substitute, and emerging competitors — with positioning gap analysis, review mining, and market_insights-calibrated saturation scoring. Feeds into idea-scoring, cac-modeler, pricing-and-wtp, and tam-sam-som-builder.
<!-- version: 0.2.0 | outputs: memory/ideas/<slug>/competitors.json -->

Skill: competitor-mapper

Purpose

Understand what the user is actually competing against — not just other apps, but also spreadsheets, habits, free alternatives, and human services. The goal is not an exhaustive list but a strategic map: who owns the space, where the gaps are, and whether this idea can occupy a position that incumbents can't easily copy.

Input

  • Idea slug
  • memory/ideas/<slug>/idea.md (app concept, key features, differentiator)
  • memory/market_insights/<niche>-*-<YYYY>-<MM>.md (trend analysis files — use all available platform files for this niche)
Using Market Insights

Trend analysis files are a primary research source for competitor mapping. Extract the following:

Platform fileWhat to extract for competitor mapping
Apps (<niche>-apps-*.md)Category rankings, new entrants, top apps by downloads/revenue, review complaint patterns, pricing models in use
Reddit (<niche>-reddit-*.md)Apps and tools users mention by name (both praised and hated), non-software workarounds users describe, recurring complaints about existing solutions
TikTok (<niche>-tiktok-*.md)Apps featured in viral content (free marketing = distribution advantage), creator-promoted tools, "alternatives to X" content trends
Web Search (<niche>-web-search-*.md)Top-ranking apps for category keywords, "best X apps" list winners, SEO-dominant competitors
monetization_evidence (from any platform)Which competitors are actively monetizing (proves the market supports revenue, identifies pricing benchmarks)
trend_velocityRising-fast markets attract new entrants quickly — flag that emerging threats will increase

If no market_insights files exist, note this as a gap and rely on direct research only.

Competitor Categories

CategoryDefinitionWhy it mattersExamples
DirectSame solution, same audienceHead-to-head competition for the same usersApps solving the exact same problem on the same platform
IndirectDifferent solution, same problemUser might choose this instead, even though it works differentlyA meditation app competing with a journaling app for "stress relief"
SubstituteNon-software solution the user currently employsThe real baseline — what happens if the user never installs any appSpreadsheets, pen-and-paper, hiring a person, doing nothing, a WhatsApp group
EmergingNew entrants, beta products, or announced features from incumbentsFuture competitive pressure — the landscape 6–12 months from nowYC-backed startups, Product Hunt launches, Apple/Google adding native features

Process

Step 1 — Research Checklist by Category
Direct competitors (find 3–8)

Search these sources in order:

  1. App Store / Play Store category browse: Search the primary category and 2–3 keyword variations. Record the top 10 results for each search.
  2. "Best X apps" articles: Search Google for best [category] apps 2026. The top 3 listicle results typically capture the market leaders.
  3. Product Hunt: Search the category. Sort by most upvoted. Focus on launches from the past 18 months (recent entrants).
  4. Market insights (Apps file): If <niche>-apps-*.md exists, extract any competitors named in the narrative.
  5. Market insights (Reddit file): If <niche>-reddit-*.md exists, extract apps users mention by name in discussions.
  6. AlternativeTo.net: Search the closest existing app. Lists adjacent competitors you may have missed.

For each direct competitor, record:

  • Name, platform(s), pricing model and price
  • Estimated user base (from App Store ratings count × 50–100, or from market_insights narrative)
  • App Store rating (stars + review count)
  • Last updated date (stale = opportunity)
  • Top 3 features
  • Top 3 complaints (from review mining — see Step 3)
Indirect competitors (find 2–5)

Ask: "What else might someone use to solve the same underlying problem, even if the approach is completely different?"

Sources:

  • Reddit threads where users describe their current workflow for this problem
  • "How to [solve problem]" search results — the solutions that appear ARE the indirect competition
  • Market insights narratives that describe alternative approaches to the same pain
Substitutes (find 2–4)

Ask: "What is the user doing RIGHT NOW, before they know this app exists?"

Common substitute categories:

  • Manual process: Spreadsheet, notes app, pen-and-paper, calendar reminders
  • Human service: Coach, therapist, accountant, personal trainer
  • Social workaround: Group chat, Facebook group, Discord server
  • Inaction: Doing nothing (this is the strongest competitor for low-urgency problems)

Record the estimated cost and friction of each substitute — this is the switching-cost baseline the app must beat.

Emerging threats (find 1–3)

Sources:

  • Product Hunt launches in the past 6 months
  • YC / startup accelerator demo day lists
  • Apple WWDC / Google I/O feature announcements that could obviate the app
  • If trend_velocity = "rising-fast" in market_insights, note that new entrants are likely

Flag any emerging competitor that has raised funding — they have resources to move fast.

Step 2 — App Store Search Methodology

The App Store is the most important research surface for B2C apps. Use this systematic approach:

  1. Primary keyword search: The most obvious term a user would search (e.g., "habit tracker").
  2. Problem keyword search: The problem statement (e.g., "build better habits").
  3. Audience keyword search: The target user + need (e.g., "ADHD planner").
  4. Adjacent keyword search: Related but broader terms (e.g., "daily routine", "productivity").

For each search, record:

  • Number of results that are clearly relevant (not spam/unrelated)
  • Rating and review count of the top 3 results
  • Whether the top result has > 50K ratings (signals an entrenched incumbent)
  • Date of last update for top 5 results (stale apps = opportunity to displace)
Step 3 — Review Mining for Positioning Gaps

Competitor reviews are the richest source of positioning gaps. Mine them systematically:

1-star reviews (frustration signals)

These reveal what users hate about existing solutions. Look for patterns:

  • Bugs and reliability complaints (opportunity: "the one that actually works")
  • Missing features that users expected (opportunity: build the feature they want)
  • Pricing complaints (opportunity: better value or different model)
  • Privacy/data concerns (opportunity: privacy-first positioning)
  • UX complexity complaints (opportunity: simpler alternative)
Show full SKILL.md (602 more words)Show less
3-star reviews (unmet expectation signals)

These are often more valuable than 1-star reviews. 3-star reviewers liked the app enough to keep using it but something important is missing:

  • "Great app BUT..." — the "but" is the positioning gap
  • "Would be perfect IF..." — the "if" is the feature opportunity
  • "Works for X but not for Y" — the "Y" is the underserved segment
5-star reviews (what's defensible)

Read competitor 5-star reviews to understand what they do well. These strengths are hard to compete against directly — don't try. Instead, find the orthogonal angle that the incumbent's strength doesn't cover.

Mining process

For each direct competitor (top 3–5):

  1. Read the 20 most recent 1-star reviews
  2. Read the 20 most recent 3-star reviews
  3. Read 10 recent 5-star reviews
  4. Categorize complaints into themes (max 5 themes per competitor)
  5. Identify the most common complaint shared across 2+ competitors — this is the strongest gap signal
Step 4 — Positioning Gap Analysis

A positioning gap is a real user need that no current competitor serves well. Classify each gap:

Gap typeDescriptionDefensibility
Audience gapNo competitor targets this specific user segmentMedium — easy to copy if proven
Feature gapA commonly requested feature that no competitor has builtLow — incumbents can add it
Experience gapExisting solutions work but the UX is painfulMedium — hard for bloated incumbents to simplify
Price gapAll competitors are expensive; a free or cheap alternative would winLow — race to the bottom
Philosophy gapExisting solutions have a fundamentally different worldview (e.g., "gamified" vs. "minimalist")High — incumbents can't pivot their core identity
Platform gapNo good solution exists on a specific platform (e.g., iOS-only need, Apple Watch, visionOS)Medium — temporary, but first-mover advantage is real
Trust gapUsers don't trust existing solutions (privacy, data ownership, ads)High — trust is hard to build retroactively

Prioritize philosophy gaps and trust gaps — these are the hardest for incumbents to copy and the most defensible for an indie developer.

Step 5 — Market Saturation Scoring

Saturation reflects how crowded the space is and how difficult it will be to get noticed.

FactorLow (1 pt)Medium (2 pts)High (3 pts)
Direct competitor count0–2 relevant apps3–6 relevant apps7+ relevant apps
Incumbent dominanceNo app has > 10K ratings1–2 apps have 10K–100K ratingsAn app has > 100K ratings
Funding in spaceNo funded competitors1–2 funded startupsMultiple funded companies or a FAANG player
App Store keyword saturationPrimary keywords show few relevant resultsModerate results, some quality varianceTop results are all high-quality, well-maintained apps
Content saturationFew "best X apps" articles existSome articles, moderate SEO competitionMany SEO-optimized listicles, hard to rank

Total score (5–15 points):

TotalSaturation level
5–7low — Blue ocean. Few competitors, clear opportunity to establish position.
8–11medium — Competitive but gaps exist. Success requires clear differentiation.
12–15high — Red ocean. Dominated by well-funded or well-established players. Indie success requires a genuinely novel angle or underserved niche.

Output

Write to memory/ideas/<slug>/competitors.json:

json
{
  "direct_competitors": [
    {
      "name": "",
      "platform": "",
      "estimated_users": "",
      "app_store_rating": 0,
      "review_count": 0,
      "last_updated": "",
      "pricing": "",
      "pricing_model": "",
      "top_features": [],
      "top_complaints": [],
      "complaint_themes": [],
      "distribution_channels_observed": []
    }
  ],
  "indirect_competitors": [
    {
      "name": "",
      "approach": "",
      "why_users_choose_it": ""
    }
  ],
  "substitutes": [
    {
      "description": "",
      "cost": "",
      "friction_level": "low | medium | high",
      "switching_cost_to_app": ""
    }
  ],
  "emerging_threats": [
    {
      "name": "",
      "stage": "beta | launched | announced",
      "funded": false,
      "threat_level": "low | medium | high",
      "notes": ""
    }
  ],
  "review_mining_summary": {
    "most_common_complaint_across_competitors": "",
    "strongest_gap_signal": "",
    "competitors_mined": 0
  },
  "positioning_gaps": [
    {
      "gap_type": "audience | feature | experience | price | philosophy | platform | trust",
      "description": "",
      "defensibility": "low | medium | high",
      "evidence": ""
    }
  ],
  "saturation_score": {
    "direct_competitor_count": 0,
    "incumbent_dominance": 0,
    "funding_in_space": 0,
    "keyword_saturation": 0,
    "content_saturation": 0,
    "total": 0
  },
  "market_saturation": "low | medium | high",
  "differentiation_opportunities": [],
  "market_insights_sources_used": []
}

Notes

  • The most_common_complaint_across_competitors from review mining is one of the highest-signal data points in the entire validation system. If the same complaint appears in 3+ competitor review sets, it's a validated pain point — the market is telling you what to build.
  • distribution_channels_observed for each competitor helps downstream skills (distribution-analysis, cac-modeler) understand which channels actually work in this category.
  • If market_insights show trend_velocity = "rising-fast", note in emerging_threats that the competitor landscape will shift quickly. Rising markets attract builders.
  • Substitutes with friction_level = "low" are the hardest to displace — if doing nothing or using a spreadsheet is easy enough, the app must provide dramatically more value to justify the download.

© MaxKmet, MIT. Rendered from Markdown: HTML in the file is shown as text, images as links, and headings moved down two levels. Raw file

Files

Just SKILL.md in skills/competitor-mapper of MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 3a4c800

Compare with similar skills

Competitor Mapper next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

Competitor Mapper compared with similar skills
SkillStarsUsed inTokensAuto-checkLicenceRepo updated
Competitor Mapper this skillMaxKmet/idea-validation-agents474—~3.3kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Customer ResearchNexus-JPF/note-companion8706 repos~3.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Ideal Customer Profilephuryn/pm-skills27k—~1.5kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Startup Designferdinandobons/startup-skill1.2k—~8.1kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Replica EntrepreneurJakeschincariol/replica-skill908—~1.2kAutomated safety check: PassMIT
Product Strategistnicepkg/auto-company1921 repos~2.4kAutomated safety check: PassNone

Similar skills

  • Customer Research

    Nexus-JPF/note-companion

    When the user wants to conduct, analyze, or synthesize customer research.

    870 GitHub starsUsed in 6 repos~3.2k tokens
    Marketing & SEOAuto-check passed

  • Ideal Customer Profile

    phuryn/pm-skills

    Identify the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) from research data with demographics, behaviors, JTBD, and needs.

    27k GitHub stars~1.5k tokensUpdated 23 days ago
    Marketing & SEOAuto-check passed

  • Startup Design

    ferdinandobons/startup-skill

    Design, validate, and plan a startup from scratch. An agent skill from ferdinandobons/startup-skill.

    1.2k GitHub stars~8.1k tokensUpdated 3 mo ago
    Marketing & SEOAuto-check passed

  • Replica Entrepreneur

    Jakeschincariol/replica-skill

    Researches the app being cloned and reads what its real users say in public reviews (App Store, Google Play, G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, Reddit, Hacker News, its own feature-request board), then ranks…

    908 GitHub stars~1.2k tokensUpdated 5 days ago
    Sales & SupportAuto-check passed

  • Product Strategist

    nicepkg/auto-company

    Expert product strategy covering market analysis, competitive positioning, go-to-market planning, and product-led growth.

    192 GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~2.4k tokens
    Marketing & SEOAuto-check passed

  • Sentiment Analysis

    agiprolabs/claude-trading-skills

    Market sentiment extraction from social media, news, and on-chain data including mention velocity, fear and greed indices, and influencer tracking

    410 GitHub stars~2.4k tokensUpdated 1 mo ago
    Backend & APIsAuto-check passed

More from MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents

All 15 skills in this repo

  • Cac Modeler

    MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents

    Models LTV, CAC by channel, LTV:CAC ratios, and payback period for an indie developer.

    474 GitHub stars~3.3k tokensUpdated 3 mo ago
    Auto-check passed

  • Decision Memo

    MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents

    Writes a concise, human-readable decision brief summarizing the full validation analysis — including score, verdict, RAT experiment, pre-mortem, and tier-appropriate next actions.

    474 GitHub stars~2k tokensUpdated 3 mo ago
    Auto-check passed

  • Desire Evaluator

    MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents

    Scores the strength of core human desire motivations (survival, status, belonging, control, curiosity) for a given app idea to predict user pull and retention potential.

    474 GitHub stars~551 tokensUpdated 3 mo ago
    Auto-check passed

  • Distribution Analysis

    MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents

    Evaluates organic reach potential, paid feasibility, platform distribution advantages, creator economy fit, and founder edge for a B2C app idea.

    474 GitHub stars~3.1k tokensUpdated 3 mo ago
    Auto-check passed

  • Idea Scoring

    MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents

    Aggregates all dimension scores into a final idea score (0–100) and issues a verdict.

    474 GitHub stars~3.2k tokensUpdated 3 mo ago
    Auto-check passed

  • Pivot Engine

    MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents

    Generates structured pivot options for a scored idea based on weak dimensions, marketinsights signals, and founder constraints.

    474 GitHub stars~4.7k tokensUpdated 3 mo ago
    Auto-check passed

Works with

Categories

Questions about Competitor Mapper

What does Competitor Mapper do?

Maps the full competitive landscape — direct, indirect, substitute, and emerging competitors — with positioning gap analysis, review mining, and marketinsights-calibrated saturation scoring. Competitor Mapper is an agent skill from MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents. Maps the full competitive landscape — direct, indirect, substitute, and emerging competitors — with positioning gap analysis, review mining, and marketinsights-calibrated saturation scoring.

When should I use Competitor Mapper?

Competitor Mapper fits situations like: tasks that involve Customer feedback analysis; tasks that involve Positioning and messaging; tasks that involve Market sizing.

How do I install Competitor Mapper in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents --skill competitor-mapper -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/competitor-mapper in MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents) into .claude/skills/competitor-mapper in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install Competitor Mapper in Codex?

Run `npx skills add MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents --skill competitor-mapper -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (skills/competitor-mapper in MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents) into .agents/skills/competitor-mapper in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use Competitor Mapper in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents --skill competitor-mapper -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/competitor-mapper, .gemini/skills/competitor-mapper, .github/skills/competitor-mapper and .opencode/skills/competitor-mapper in your project.

What does Competitor Mapper need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: Competitor Mapper is instructions for the agent only.

Does Competitor Mapper access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is Competitor Mapper safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does Competitor Mapper use?

Competitor Mapper is published under the MIT licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does Competitor Mapper use?

About 3.3k tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 13k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to Competitor Mapper?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with Competitor Mapper: Customer Research (Nexus-JPF/note-companion, 870 stars), Ideal Customer Profile (phuryn/pm-skills, 27k stars), Startup Design (ferdinandobons/startup-skill, 1.2k stars) and Replica Entrepreneur (Jakeschincariol/replica-skill, 908 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains Competitor Mapper?

MaxKmet (a GitHub user) maintains it in MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents, which has 474 GitHub stars. The repository holds 15 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on June 16, 2026.

Source: MaxKmet/idea-validation-agents on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.