Discover and validate product ideas, analyze markets, scope MVPs, and optimize app store presence for iOS/macOS apps. Use when user asks to discover, validate, assess, scope, or analyze product ideas, market opportunities, or when they mention "product agent", "app idea validation", "should I build this", "MVP", "market analysis", or "ASO".
Product Agent validates iOS/macOS app ideas by analyzing problems, markets, and competition. It provides honest, structured assessments to help you decide whether to build.
Use this Skill when the user wants to:
This skill performs structured product analysis using reasoning and web research. No external tools required — Claude analyzes the idea directly and researches the market via WebSearch/WebFetch.
When the user provides an app idea, perform the Problem Discovery Analysis below and present the results.
If the user hasn't provided enough detail, ask:
For each idea, analyze and produce these fields:
One-sentence description of the core problem the app solves.
Who experiences this problem most acutely? Be specific about demographics, roles, and context.
List 4-8 specific, concrete pain points users experience today. Each should be observable and verifiable.
Rate how painful this problem is:
How often do target users encounter this problem? Daily problems are stronger than weekly ones.
Research existing alternatives using WebSearch. For each competitor:
Assess the opportunity using one of: WEAK, MODERATE, STRONG, EXCELLENT. Include reasoning about market saturation, differentiation potential, and timing.
The most important field. Provide an honest verdict:
Include:
Present results as structured JSON for easy consumption by other skills:
{
"problem_statement": "One-sentence core problem",
"target_users": "Who experiences this problem",
"pain_points": ["List of specific pain points"],
"severity_score": "N/10",
"frequency": "How often users encounter this",
"current_solutions": ["Existing alternatives and their limitations"],
"opportunity": "WEAK|MODERATE|STRONG|EXCELLENT — reasoning",
"recommendation": "Honest verdict with detailed reasoning"
}
Follow the JSON with a human-readable summary highlighting the key takeaway.
recommendationThis is the most important field. It contains:
The analysis is brutally honest — if it says "don't build", there's usually a good reason.
Look for keywords:
User provides an idea. Run the full analysis and focus on the recommendation and severity_score.
Decision framework:
Run analysis on each idea, then compare:
If initial analysis says "don't build", explore pivots:
Re-run analysis for each pivot and look for improving severity and opportunity scores.
After running discovery, use these specialized Skills for deeper analysis:
When discovery shows potential and you need to understand competition in detail:
When discovery shows potential and you need to size the opportunity:
Workflow:
1. product-agent → Quick validation (problem discovery)
2. If promising, use deep-dive Skills:
- competitive-analysis → Understand players
- market-research → Size opportunity
3. Make go/no-go decision with full data
User asks: "Should I build a password manager for the Apple ecosystem?"
You research and analyze, then present:
{
"problem_statement": "Users need secure password management that seamlessly integrates across Apple devices without relying on third-party services.",
"target_users": "Apple ecosystem loyalists who own multiple Apple devices and prioritize privacy and native integration.",
"pain_points": [
"Existing password managers prioritize cross-platform over deep Apple integration",
"Third-party managers don't fully integrate with iOS autofill and Face ID",
"Subscription fatigue from cross-platform services they don't need",
"UIs that don't follow Apple Human Interface Guidelines"
],
"severity_score": "3/10",
"frequency": "Daily, but existing solutions work adequately",
"current_solutions": [
"iCloud Keychain - Free, deeply integrated, improving rapidly. Limited organization.",
"1Password - Polished, $36-48/year, cross-platform focused",
"Bitwarden - Open source, cheaper, generic UI"
],
"opportunity": "WEAK - Highly saturated market with Apple's own iCloud Keychain as dominant free incumbent. Any differentiating feature risks being absorbed by Apple in the next OS update.",
"recommendation": "DO NOT BUILD. Apple's iCloud Keychain is free, pre-installed, and continuously improving. The differentiation window is tiny, willingness to pay for marginal improvements is low, and one security breach would be catastrophic for an indie developer. Consider instead: tools that augment iCloud Keychain, niche password management (API keys for developers), or a different underserved problem in the Apple ecosystem."
}
Summary: This is not recommended. iCloud Keychain dominates as a free, deeply-integrated solution. Unless you have a truly novel approach or serve a specific underserved niche, the market is too saturated.
Remember: This analysis is brutally honest. If it says "don't build", listen. It's saving you months of wasted effort on weak ideas.