AI Competitive Research Assistant (NitroStack MCP)

Hackathon Edition: An end-to-end AI agent & interactive widget platform built on NitroStack MCP for automated startup competitive intelligence, web discovery, feature matrix comparison, and strategic market gap analysis.

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🌟 Overview

The AI Competitive Research Assistant takes a raw startup or product idea and automatically executes a 7-step competitive research pipeline over the Model Context Protocol (MCP):

1. understand_idea: Analyzes the idea into category, core problem, target audience, value prop, and search terms.
2. discover_competitors: Performs deterministic web search (Tavily) to discover real competitors.
3. extract_competitor_profiles: Gathers deep company profiles (pricing, features, tech stack, funding, strengths/weaknesses, USP).
4. compare_competitors: Builds comparative feature matrix tables and identifies market leaders.
5. market_gap_analysis: Identifies unaddressed customer problems and whitespace opportunities.
6. innovation_scoring: Calculates an Innovation Potential Index score across 4 key dimensions.
7. generate_report: Synthesizes a C-level executive strategy report.

All 7 steps are orchestratable via a single master tool: run_competitive_research!

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🏗️ Architecture

 ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │            End User / LLM (NitroStudio / MCP)          │
 └───────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────┘
                             │
                             ▼
 ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │           run_competitive_research (Orchestrator)      │
 └───────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────┘
                             │
     ┌───────────────────────┼───────────────────────┐
     ▼                       ▼                       ▼
┌───────────────┐   ┌────────────────┐   ┌──────────────────────┐
│  IdeaService  │   │ TavilyClient   │   │  GeminiService       │
│  (NLP Parsing)│   │ (Live Search)  │   │  (Structured Output) │
└───────────────┘   └────────────────┘   └──────────────────────┘
     │                       │                       │
     └───────────────────────┼───────────────────────┘
                             │
                             ▼
 ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │           NitroStack UI Widgets (@Widget SDK)          │
 │  - /idea-summary           - /competitor-list           │
 │  - /competitor-profile     - /competitor-comparison    │
 │  - /pipeline-progress                                  │
 └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

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🚀 Quick Start

1. Prerequisites

• Node.js: v18 or higher
• npm: v9 or higher

2. Environment Variables Setup

Create a .env file in the root directory:

GEMINI_API_KEY=your_gemini_api_key_here
TAVILY_API_KEY=your_tavily_api_key_here

(Note: If TAVILY_API_KEY is omitted or set to a placeholder, the system gracefully uses high-quality simulated competitor search data).

3. Installation

npm install

4. Build Workspace

npm run build

5. Run Development Server with Widgets

npm run dev

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🛠️ MCP Tools Reference

Tool Name	Input Schema	Interactive Widget	Description
run_competitive_research	{ idea, industry?, geography?, targetAudience? }	/pipeline-progress	Master orchestrator tool executing the entire 7-step pipeline.
understand_idea	{ idea, industry?, geography?, targetAudience? }	/idea-summary	Deconstructs startup idea into structured components.
discover_competitors	{ idea, category?, coreProblem?, valueProposition?, keywords? }	/competitor-list	Live web search (Tavily) to discover competitors.
extract_competitor_profiles	{ competitors, ideaAnalysis? }	/competitor-profile	Extracts pricing, features, tech stack, funding, strengths/weaknesses.
compare_competitors	{ profiles }	/competitor-comparison	Generates feature comparison table, winner badges, and market leader rankings.

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📂 Project Structure

c:\Nitroooo\
├── src/
│   ├── api/                  # External API clients (TavilyClient with retry logic)
│   ├── modules/              # MCP Tool Controllers (@Tool & @Widget decorators)
│   ├── services/             # Core Business Logic & AI Pipeline Services
│   ├── types/                # Strict Zod Schemas & TypeScript interfaces
│   ├── widgets/              # Next.js 14 Interactive Frontend Widgets
│   │   ├── app/
│   │   │   ├── idea-summary/
│   │   │   ├── competitor-list/
│   │   │   ├── competitor-profile/
│   │   │   ├── competitor-comparison/
│   │   │   └── pipeline-progress/
│   │   ├── widget-manifest.json
│   │   └── next.config.js
│   ├── app.module.ts         # Root AppModule
│   └── index.ts              # Server Entry Point
├── dist/                     # Compiled Production Server
├── package.json
└── README.md

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🧪 Testing in NitroStudio

1. Download & open NitroStudio (https://nitrostack.ai/studio).
2. Connect to local project (c:\Nitroooo).
3. Select run_competitive_research under Tools.
4. Enter input:

   {
     "idea": "An AI-powered interview prep platform with live mock interviews and feedback"
   }
   

5. Click Execute Tool to view the live 7-step progress tracker and synthesized executive report widget!

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📜 License

MIT License. Built for the NitroStack MCP Hackathon.