competitor-teardown

Overview

What the competitor-teardown skill does

The competitor-teardown skill is a structured workflow for running in-depth competitor analysis using the inference.sh CLI. It guides you through a repeatable teardown process that combines:

• Product and UX review (via screenshots and hands-on testing)
• Feature and pricing comparison
• Positioning and messaging analysis
• Review and social proof mining
• SWOT-style insights and market landscape summaries

Instead of collecting unstructured notes, competitor-teardown helps you organize research into clear deliverables like feature matrices, teardown summaries, and positioning insights that you can reuse in product strategy, sales enablement, and investor materials.

Who this skill is for

Use competitor-teardown if you are:

• Product managers and founders validating differentiation and roadmap priorities
• Marketing and content teams preparing competitive pages, decks, and campaigns
• Sales and GTM teams needing sharp competitive battlecards and messaging
• Analysts and operators doing market research or benchmarking new entrants

It is especially useful when you need to repeatedly compare multiple products in the same category and keep your analysis structured.

When competitor-teardown is a good fit

This skill is a good fit when:

• You already use, or are willing to install, the inference.sh CLI (infsh)
• You want a framework-driven teardown instead of ad-hoc notes
• You care about screenshots and visual evidence from competitor sites
• You need to cover multiple dimensions: features, pricing, positioning, and reviews

It is less of a fit if you only need a quick one-sentence summary of a competitor, or if you are not able to run CLI tools and browser-based research from your environment.

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How to Use

Prerequisites

Before using competitor-teardown, make sure you have:

• A working terminal environment (macOS, Linux, or WSL on Windows)
• The inference.sh CLI (infsh) installed and authenticated
• Network access to the websites and resources you intend to research

The skill relies on infsh to:

• Run web research apps (for example, search assistants)
• Control an agent browser for screenshots and page review

Installation steps

1. Install or update the inference.sh CLI

Follow the official CLI install instructions from the repository:

1. Open the CLI install URL:
   https://raw.githubusercontent.com/inference-sh/skills/refs/heads/main/cli-install.md
2. Follow the platform-specific steps to install infsh.
3. Log in from your terminal:

infsh login

You should be able to run infsh help without errors before continuing.

2. Add the competitor-teardown skill

If you are using a skills-aware environment that supports npx skills, add the skill directly from the inferen-sh/skills repo:

npx skills add https://github.com/inferen-sh/skills --skill competitor-teardown

This pulls in the competitor-teardown definition and related guides from:

https://github.com/inferen-sh/skills/tree/main/guides/product/competitor-teardown

If your setup uses a different mechanism for registering skills, point it at the same repo path and load the SKILL.md definition from that directory.

Core workflow: running a competitor teardown

1. Start the teardown session

Begin by logging into inference.sh and confirming CLI access:

infsh login

Then open the SKILL.md and related guide files in the guides/product/competitor-teardown directory to understand the recommended flow and teardown layers.

2. Research the competitor landscape

Use the CLI to run a search assistant that maps out key competitors, categories, and market share. For example:

infsh app run tavily/search-assistant --input '{
  "query": "top project management tools comparison 2024 market share"
}'

You can adapt the query to your category (e.g., CRM, data observability, AI platforms) and time frame.

3. Capture competitor website screenshots

Use the agent browser to capture visual evidence from each competitor site, such as homepage hero, pricing, and feature pages:

infsh app run infsh/agent-browser --input '{
  "url": "https://competitor.com",
  "action": "screenshot"
}'

Repeat this for each key competitor and for important subpages (pricing, product overview, integrations, etc.). Store these screenshots in a folder tied to the teardown so you can reference them while filling out your analysis.

4. Work through the teardown framework

The skill’s documentation describes a multi-layer analysis (for example, product, pricing, positioning, traction, and more). Use that structure to:

• Extract feature sets and map them into a comparison grid
• Analyze pricing models, tiers, and hidden costs
• Capture messaging and positioning (taglines, ICP, core promise)
• Note UX observations from the screenshots and trial usage
• Summarize strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats

As you move, keep the outputs structured so they can be reused in reports and battlecards.

5. Turn findings into deliverables

Based on the framework and raw research, generate practical outputs such as:

• Feature matrix and parity gaps
• Pricing comparison table
• Positioning and messaging summary
• A concise 1–2 page teardown per competitor
• A high-level market landscape overview

The skill is designed so you can plug these outputs into product specs, sales decks, or investor updates with minimal rework.

Recommended file path references

When navigating the inferen-sh/skills repository for this skill, focus on:

• SKILL.md – core definition and description of competitor-teardown
• guides/product/competitor-teardown/ – supporting guides and teardown framework materials (such as analysis layers and research guidance)

Use these as your source of truth for how the workflow is intended to run.

Customizing the workflow

You can adapt competitor-teardown to your own environment by:

• Swapping in different search apps or data providers with infsh app run ...
• Changing queries to match your niche or target segment
• Adding your own steps for customer interviews or internal data

The key idea is to keep the structured teardown format while tailoring the research sources and deliverables to your organization.

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FAQ

What is competitor-teardown in practical terms?

competitor-teardown is a structured competitor analysis skill that runs on top of the inference.sh CLI. It does not just scrape data; it provides a repeatable teardown framework that combines web research, screenshots, and guided analysis so teams can produce consistent, high-quality competitive reports.

How do I install competitor-teardown?

1. Install the inference.sh CLI using the instructions at:
   https://raw.githubusercontent.com/inference-sh/skills/refs/heads/main/cli-install.md

2. Log in with:

   infsh login
   

3. Add the skill from the inferen-sh/skills repository:

   npx skills add https://github.com/inferen-sh/skills --skill competitor-teardown
   

If your environment uses a different skills loader, point it at the guides/product/competitor-teardown path and import SKILL.md.

What tools does competitor-teardown depend on?

According to the skill definition, competitor-teardown is allowed to use Bash via the inference.sh CLI (infsh *). In practice, that means it relies on:

• infsh itself
• Apps callable via infsh app run, such as tavily/search-assistant and infsh/agent-browser

No external desktop apps are required beyond a terminal and network access.

Can I use competitor-teardown without inference.sh?

The workflow and frameworks described in the guides can inspire a manual process, but the skill itself is built around the inference.sh CLI and its apps. For full functionality, especially automated research and screenshots, you should install and use infsh.

Is competitor-teardown suitable for SEO and content marketing research?

Yes. While competitor-teardown is framed as a broad competitive analysis skill, the outputs—feature matrices, positioning maps, pricing comparisons, and review insights—are highly useful for:

• SEO landing pages and comparison content
• Category and alternative-to pages
• Sales enablement and product marketing collateral

You can use the teardown results to identify gaps, angles, and proof points for your content strategy.

How many competitors can I analyze with this skill?

There is no hard-coded limit in the skill itself. The practical limit depends on your time, CLI usage limits, and how detailed you want each teardown to be. The framework scales from a single deep-dive teardown to a broader multi-competitor landscape review.

What if I only need a quick competitor overview?

If you just need a fast snapshot—such as basic positioning or product summary—competitor-teardown may be more structured than you need. It shines when you want comprehensive, multi-layer analysis. For a quick pass, you might still reuse individual steps (like running a search assistant or agent browser) without walking through the entire framework.

Where can I see the full documentation for competitor-teardown?

Open the inferen-sh/skills repository and navigate to:

• SKILL.md
• guides/product/competitor-teardown/

These files contain the official description, teardown framework, and detailed guidance that the competitor-teardown skill follows.