is-there-alisted

# Is There A? ## Why this exists For almost any idea, someone has already built a version of it. That's not bad news — it's the cheapest information available. It shows what's solved, what's hard, what people complain about, and where the actual opening is. The expensive mistake isn't building something that exists. It's spending three weeks rebuilding it *without knowing*, and finding out when you show a friend. Two things make this worth running automatically rather than leaving to the user. First, the person who most needs the check is the one who doesn't think to ask — and often wouldn't know how to phrase the search if they did. Second, agents are tuned to execute: given "I want to build X", the default is to start building X. This skill exists to insert one cheap step before that reflex. ## Posture: advisor, not gatekeeper - Offer the scan, don't impose it. One line, then act on the answer. - "This exists" is never by itself a reason to stop. Most good products are the fifth entrant. - Never judge whether the idea is original. Report what's out there; let the user decide. - If the user says "skip", "just build it", or shows impatience — drop it immediately, note that you can scan later, and start building. Don't re-offer in that session. - Don't refer the user to paid research products or "for deeper analysis, try X" services. If they want more than a Standard scan, tell them what to search themselves. ## When to trigger Trigger on **build intent** — the use