agent-business-canvas — Claude Code skill
Walks an AI agent product through seven dimensions of its business model and returns a structured canvas. Built for founders and investors.
npx skills add harperreed/dotfiles --skill agent-business-canvas -a claude-codeWhat agent-business-canvas does
The skill takes an agent product apart along seven dimensions: context economics, pricing architecture, model routing, cost trajectory, memory and switching cost, unit economics, and distribution versus optimization. Each one starts with a blunt position, then asks what your situation actually looks like and pushes back with data.
It opens by asking whether you are building the product or judging someone else's, since that sets the lens for everything after. Then it pulls current market data with whatever research tools are available and folds those findings into each dimension rather than parking them in a separate section. The run ends with a synthesis and a verdict.
General SaaS pricing is out of scope, and so are non-agentic AI products such as chatbots or copilots that keep no state. Pure architecture review belongs elsewhere too. The canvas will not start until you answer both opening questions, so have a short product description ready: what the agent does, who uses it, and how it is priced today.
What it helps with
- split compute cost per session from cost per message
- test whether flat pricing survives your heaviest users
- justify running more than one model in production
- vet an agent company before writing a check
- project margin a year out as compute prices fall
Example prompts for the agent
- Run agent-business-canvas on my agent product, I'm the founder
- Pressure-test the unit economics of my agent: we charge per message and power users blow the budget
- Evaluate this agent company with the investor lens and flag the red flags
How to install agent-business-canvas
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add harperreed/dotfiles --skill agent-business-canvas -a claude-code2Manually: put the files in place
~/.claude/skills/agent-business-canvas/SKILL.mdCopy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/agent-business-canvas/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add harperreed/dotfiles --skill agent-business-canvas -a codex2Manually: put the files in place
.agents/skills/agent-business-canvas/SKILL.mdFor all projects use ~/.agents/skills/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add harperreed/dotfiles --skill agent-business-canvas -a cursor2Manually: put the files in place
.cursor/skills/agent-business-canvas/SKILL.mdCursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/
1GitHub CLI
gh skill install harperreed/dotfiles agent-business-canvas2Manually: put the files in place
.github/skills/agent-business-canvas/SKILL.md1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add harperreed/dotfiles --skill agent-business-canvas -a gemini-cli2Platform CLI
gemini skills install https://github.com/harperreed/dotfiles --path .claude/skills-archive/agent-business-canvasManually: put the files in place
.devin/skills/agent-business-canvas/SKILL.mdThe legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works
Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add harperreed/dotfiles --skill agent-business-canvas -a opencodeClaude.ai
Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills
Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to install skills in Claude Code: five ways
Questions about agent-business-canvas
How do I install agent-business-canvas in Claude Code?
Run npx skills add harperreed/dotfiles --skill agent-business-canvas -a claude-code. The skill lands at ~/.claude/skills/agent-business-canvas/SKILL.md.
What does agent-business-canvas do?
It runs an agent product's business model through seven dimensions, challenges the assumptions behind each, and produces a canvas document with a verdict. The framing shifts depending on whether you are a founder or an investor.
When should I not use this skill?
Skip it for ordinary SaaS pricing with no agent-specific cost dynamics, for non-agentic AI products like stateless chatbots, and for a purely technical architecture review.
