# competitor-tracking

A skill that structures competitor research for developer tools: features, pricing, positioning, content and community sentiment. Useful when sales needs a battlecard.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · ★ 87
- Author: jonathimer
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/jonathimer/devmarketing-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/competitor-tracking/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-03-03
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/jonathimer-competitor-tracking

## What it does

This skill lays out a repeatable way to study competitors in the developer tools space. It starts by sorting them into four buckets: direct, adjacent, DIY and platform-native services from cloud providers. Then it lists what to watch — release notes, price changes, homepage copy, blog topics, GitHub activity and community mentions.

The sentiment section is the most concrete part. The skill tells you which phrases to hunt for: people saying they are leaving a competitor, praising one, or asking for a feature it lacks. That feeds a battlecard covering where you win, where you lose, and the objections you will hear.

It is a framework, not a scraper. Nothing is pulled in automatically — you bring the data from newsletters, release feeds and social listening. If you have no alerts set on competitor mentions, the sentiment part stays empty.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add jonathimer/devmarketing-skills --skill competitor-tracking -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/competitor-tracking/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/competitor-tracking/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add jonathimer/devmarketing-skills --skill competitor-tracking -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/competitor-tracking/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add jonathimer/devmarketing-skills --skill competitor-tracking -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/competitor-tracking/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install jonathimer/devmarketing-skills competitor-tracking
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/competitor-tracking/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add jonathimer/devmarketing-skills --skill competitor-tracking -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/jonathimer/devmarketing-skills --path skills/competitor-tracking
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/competitor-tracking/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add jonathimer/devmarketing-skills --skill competitor-tracking -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/jonathimer/devmarketing-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/competitor-tracking/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- sort competitors into direct, adjacent, DIY and platform groups
- compare pricing tiers and spot upgrade triggers
- build a battlecard for the sales team
- catch churn signals from a competitor's users
- notice when a competitor rewrites its homepage positioning

## Example prompts
- Run a competitor analysis for our CI/CD tool
- Build a battlecard for competitor X: where we win and where we lose
- What churn signals are competitors showing lately?

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: d10087eee4b83a16.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE d10087eee4b83a16
```text
---
name: competitor-tracking
description: |
  Systematic competitor analysis for developer tools. Track features, pricing, positioning,
  content strategy, and community sentiment for direct and indirect competitors.

  Trigger phrases: "competitor analysis", "track competitors", "competitive intelligence",
  "competitor research", "what are competitors doing", "competitive landscape", "competitor features",
  "competitor pricing", "battlecard", "competitive battlecard", "compete against", "vs [competitor]"
metadata:
  version: 1.0.0
---

# Competitor Tracking

Systematic framework for tracking competitors in the developer tools space, from identification through ongoing monitoring and battlecard creation.

## Overview

Competitor tracking for developer tools requires monitoring multiple dimensions: product features, pricing, developer sentiment, content strategy, community growth, and funding/trajectory. Unlike consumer products, developer tools compete on technical merit, documentation quality, and community trust.

Effective competitor tracking helps you:
- Understand your competitive positioning
- Anticipate competitor moves
- Arm sales and marketing with accurate battlecards
- Identify market gaps and opportunities
- Learn from competitor successes and failures

## Competitor Identification

### Types of Competitors

**Direct Competitors:**
- Same category, same target developer
- Solve the same core problem
- Would appear in the same "best X tools" lists
- Example: If you're a CI/CD tool, other CI/CD tools

**Indirect Competitors:**
- Adjacent categories that overlap with your use case
- Might be expanding into your space
- Developers might use instead of your category
- Example: GitHub Actions competing with standalone CI tools

**DIY Alternatives:**
- Open source tools developers self-host
- Custom scripts and internal tooling
- "Just use bash scripts" or "build it yourself"
- Often your biggest competitor by volume

**Platform Alternatives:**
- Cloud provider native services (AWS, GCP, Azure equivalents)
- All-in-one platforms that include your functionality
- Enterprise suite solutions

### Competitive Landscape Mapping

Create a competitive landscape document with:

1. **Competitor profiles** - Company, product, target market, positioning
2. **Feature matrix** - Core features compared across competitors
3. **Pricing comparison** - Tiers, pricing model, enterprise pricing signals
4. **Strengths/weaknesses** - Honest assessment of each competitor
5. **Trajectory** - Funding, growth signals, strategic direction

## What to Track

### Product and Features

**Track weekly/monthly:**
- Changelog and release notes
- New feature announcements
- Pricing changes
- Integration announcements
- API changes
```
END THIRD-PARTY FILE d10087eee4b83a16

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---
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