Today's Agent Skill: Supplier and Vendor Background Research Report
What It Does
Before signing a contract with a new supplier or vendor, small business owners need to vet them — but a thorough background check used to require hours of manual research across review sites, news archives, and business databases. A poor vendor choice can mean delayed shipments, quality failures, or worse — fraud. An AI skill that compiles a structured vendor research report in minutes gives you the confidence to negotiate or walk away based on facts, not first impressions.
How It Works
The agent takes a vendor or supplier name, their website, and the category of goods or services they provide, then generates a structured research report: business profile basics, publicly available review summaries, notable news or complaint mentions, pricing context for the category, and a ready-made list of vetting questions to ask the vendor directly before signing. It ends with a risk rating — Low, Medium, or High — with a brief justification.
How to Deploy It
Trigger this skill in Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Cursor, or Windsurf by saying "run a vendor background check on [company name], they provide [category]." The skill directs you to specific public sources — BBB, Google Reviews, LinkedIn, industry forums — so you can verify key findings with primary data before the negotiation call. Windsurf users can paste the vendor's website URL to give the agent a starting point.
SKILL.md — Ready to Deploy
## Description
Generates a structured vendor and supplier background research report covering business profile, reputation signals, pricing context, and vetting questions — ending with a risk rating the user can use to decide whether to proceed.
## Trigger
Invoke when the user says "vet this vendor," "do a background check on [company]," "should I work with this supplier," or asks for help researching a new vendor or wholesale source before signing a contract.
## Input
- Vendor or supplier name and website URL
- Category of goods or services (e.g., commercial cleaning, wholesale food packaging, IT support, bookkeeping)
- Approximate contract value or monthly spend (optional, for calibrating risk threshold)
- Specific concerns, if any: reliability, pricing, product quality, customer service, financial stability
## Steps
1. Profile the company: approximate founding date, headquarters location, size signals (team size references, office count), and BBB accreditation status or rating if available.
2. Summarize customer reviews from available sources: Google, Yelp, Trustpilot, G2, or Capterra depending on category. Note overall rating, review volume, and the most common themes in negCopy the full SKILL.md and drop it into your agent's skills directory to activate this skill.