find-and-verify-affiliate-program

Find and Verify Affiliate Program

Find candidate programs in OpenAffiliate, an open registry of affiliate programs, then check each term on the brand's own page. Every term in the report carries a verbatim quote and a URL, or is marked as not published. The registry tells you where to look. The brand's page is what you cite.

affiliate-program-search scores and ranks programs. This skill confirms the terms of the ones you are about to sign up for or write about.

Stage

This skill belongs to Stage S1: Research

When to Use

• The user is about to join a program and wants the current terms
• The user is writing a review, comparison or listicle and needs numbers that will hold up
• A listing is marked unverified, or its last check is old
• Two sources disagree on a commission rate or cookie window
• The user asks whether a brand has an affiliate program at all

Input Schema

{
  query: string            # (required unless program is given) Use case or category, e.g. "email tool for newsletter writers"
  program: string          # (optional) Brand name or OpenAffiliate slug, e.g. "postmark"
  commission_type: string  # (optional) "recurring" | "one-time" | "tiered" | "hybrid"
  max_programs: number     # (optional, default: 3) How many candidates to verify
}

Workflow

Step 1: Find candidates in OpenAffiliate

Use the first access method that works. All three are public, read-only and need no key.

1. MCP (if connected): search_programs with query, category, commission_type, verified_only, then get_program with slug. Endpoint: https://openaffiliate.dev/mcp. To connect in Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http openaffiliate https://openaffiliate.dev/mcp.
2. REST API: GET https://openaffiliate.dev/api/programs?q=<query>&type=<commission_type>&verified=true&limit=10, then GET https://openaffiliate.dev/api/programs/<slug>.
3. Markdown pages: https://openaffiliate.dev/programs/<slug>.md. Category pages are at /categories/<slug>.md and the index is at /llms.txt.