should-i-buy

Preferences

On startup, use Read to load ~/.claude/skills/should-i-buy/preferences.md. If missing, treat as first-run (see First-time detection below).

Defaults when no preferences exist:

• output-root: ~/Desktop/should-i-buy/ (confirmed on first run)
• currency: USD
• budget-style: value (value / premium / bargain — shapes the verdict weighting)
• tone: friendly-cli (terse, direct, warm — like a friend who actually knows the category)
• open-report: true (auto-open the HTML report when done)
• verdict-style: decisive (decisive / balanced — decisive means I pick one and say why; balanced lays out the trade-off)

Also load ~/.claude/skills/should-i-buy/feedback-journal.md if present — it contains thumbs-up/down on past verdicts. Summarize its signal (e.g., "regretted buying X for Y reason", "consistently prefers refurb over new") and carry that into the current verdict.

Context

On startup, use Bash to detect: today's date (date +%Y-%m-%d), and whether the output-root folder exists (ls or absence). Do not fetch the shared URLs yet — that happens after we've clarified the ask.

Command routing

Check $ARGUMENTS:

• help → show help, stop
• config → run config flow, stop
• reset → delete preferences + feedback journal, confirm, stop
• feedback → collect thumbs-up/down on the most recent decision (see Feedback section), stop
• history → list recent decision folders with titles and dates, stop
• setup or preflight → run the Chrome extension setup/onboarding flow (see Setup section), stop
• anything else (one or more URLs, optionally with flags) → run the skill (starts with a preflight check — see Step 0)

Help

should-i-buy — Paste links, get a verdict with a 2026-aesthetic comparison report

Usage:
  /should-i-buy <url> [more urls...]                 One or more product links
  /should-i-buy [...] --for <context>                Who/what this is for (e.g., "me, daily driver")
  /should-i-buy [...] --budget <range>               Budget constraint (e.g., "under $200")
  /should-i-buy [...] --use <use-case>               How you'll actually use it
  /should-i-buy [...] --deadline <when>              "by Friday", "this month" — affects wait-for-sale advice
  /should-i-buy [...] --notes <text>                 Constraints, dealbreakers, leanings
  /should-i-buy config                               Set preferences
  /should-i-buy reset                                Clear preferences + feedback journal
  /should-i-buy feedback                             Rate the last verdict (teaches the skill)
  /should-i-buy history                              List past decision folders
  /should-i-buy setup                                Walk through Chrome extension setup
  /should-i-buy help                                 This help

Examples:
  /should-i-buy https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0XXXXXX https://www.rei.com/product/123
    --for "me, weekend hiking" --budget "under $180"
  /should-i-buy https://bestbuy.com/... --use "home office, 2 monitors" --notes "USB-C PD required"
  /should-i-buy https://apple.com/shop/buy-mac/mac-mini --deadline "before WWDC"

Output:
  {output-root}/{YYYY-MM-DD}-{kebab-title}/
    ├── report.html              ← modern 2026 single-file report with verdict
    ├── data.json                ← structured data (options, scores, verdict)
    ├── options/
    │   ├── {slug-1}/
    │   │   ├── hero.png         ← product image
    │   │   ├── page.png         ← screenshot of listing (best-effort)
    │   │   └── notes.md
    │   └── ...
    └── sources.md               ← URLs visited + reasoning trail

Current preferences:
  (loaded from preferences.md)