speckitresearch

name	speckit.research
description	Conduct market and competitive research for a clarified feature spec. Use after /speckit.clarify to gather external context before evaluation.

Speckit Research

Purpose: Gather market intelligence, competitive analysis, and best practices to inform feature evaluation.

When to Use

• After Phase 3 (Clarify) is complete
• Before Phase 3.6 (Evaluate)
• When spec status is clarified

Prerequisites

• Spec exists at .github/speckit/specs/{feature-name}.md
• Spec status is clarified
• User has approved the clarified spec

Execution

1. Launch Research (Background)

Use librarian agent to conduct research:

background_task(
  agent="librarian",
  description="Market research for {feature-name}",
  prompt="Conduct market and competitive research for this feature:

  **Feature**: {feature-name}
  **Spec Summary**: {brief description from spec}
  **Target Users**: {from spec}
  **Core Problem**: {from spec}

  Research and report on:

  ## 1. Competitive Analysis
  Find 3-5 similar solutions/competitors:
  - Product name and URL
  - Their approach to solving this problem
  - Key features they offer
  - Strengths and weaknesses
  - Pricing model (if applicable)

  ## 2. Market Trends (2025)
  - Current industry trends in this space
  - Emerging technologies or approaches
  - User expectations and demands

  ## 3. Best Practices
  - Industry standards for this type of feature
  - Common patterns and conventions
  - UX/UI expectations

  ## 4. Potential Differentiators
  - Gaps in competitor offerings
  - Underserved user needs
  - Innovation opportunities

  ## 5. Risks and Pitfalls
  - Common implementation mistakes
  - User complaints about existing solutions
  - Technical challenges to watch for

  Format as structured markdown report."
)

2. Wait for Completion

• Research typically takes 1-3 minutes
• System will notify when complete

3. Present to User

Show research findings and ask:

• "Are any of these competitors irrelevant to your use case?"
• "Any trends or practices you want to ignore?"
• "Anything missing you want me to research further?"

4. Save Research

Save to: .github/speckit/specs/{feature-name}/research.md

5. Proceed to Evaluate

After user acknowledges research:

• Proceed to Phase 3.6 (Evaluate)
• Pass research.md path to evaluation

Output Format

# Market Research: {Feature Name}

**Generated**: {date}
**Spec**: {spec path}
**Status**: Complete

## 1. Competitive Analysis

### Competitor A: {Name}
- **URL**: {url}
- **Approach**: {description}
- **Key Features**: {list}
- **Strengths**: {list}
- **Weaknesses**: {list}

### Competitor B: {Name}
...

## 2. Market Trends

- {trend 1}
- {trend 2}
- {trend 3}

## 3. Best Practices

- {practice 1}
- {practice 2}

## 4. Potential Differentiators

- {differentiator 1}
- {differentiator 2}

## 5. Risks and Pitfalls

- {risk 1}
- {risk 2}

---
*Research conducted by librarian agent*

Handoff

After research is saved and user acknowledges:

• Next step: /speckit.evaluate
• Pass: spec path + research.md path