> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.agentlinkops.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Compare competitor inventories

> Build an approved competitor set, freeze dated inventory evidence, and compare dataset-qualified gaps without claiming whole-web coverage.

Competitor research compares selected saved inventories. It can identify publishers to investigate; a missing inventory row cannot establish that a competitor or your site lacks a link.

[Current availability](/capability-status) distinguishes accepted private-staging owned-corpus work from supplier admission and your connected environment. This workflow needs an accessible project and configured discovery lane.

## Approve the comparison

1. Use [create\_competitor\_set](/reference/commands/create_competitor_set) to record one customer and up to ten approved competitors.
2. Save the set and revision identifiers. Read [get\_competitor\_set](/reference/commands/get_competitor_set) before changing membership.
3. For each selected member, use [request\_competitor\_inventory](/reference/commands/request_competitor_inventory). This asks the configured owned corpus for candidates.
4. Read the bound discovery run until it is terminal, then use [capture\_competitor\_inventory](/reference/commands/capture_competitor_inventory) to freeze that evidence.

Registration does not buy discovery or check links. Capturing stored evidence preserves its source dates. A later capture date cannot make an old corpus observation fresh.

## Inspect the comparison

[List inventories](/reference/commands/list_competitor_inventories) and choose the exact ones to compare. Use [get\_competitor\_gap\_report](/reference/commands/get_competitor_gap_report) to group by exact page or source host. Inspect a group's contributing rows before adding a publisher to your shortlist. Keep coverage and missing-data labels in exported notes.

To filter a view, [preview exclusions](/reference/commands/preview_competitor_exclusions) first. Save a reviewed rule set with its expected revision; select that exclusion revision explicitly when requesting the report. Exclusions change the view, while saved evidence remains available.

## Decide the next action

Inspect the publisher's audience, cited resource and reason for linking. [Verify selected candidates](/guides/import-and-verify) when fresh placement evidence would affect the decision. Prepare a [campaign brief](/campaign-workflows) with evidence and open questions. Your agent owns any separately authorized communication.

If you configure [recurring refresh](/reference/commands/configure_competitor_refresh), read its current cycle before requesting more work. Provider refusal or incomplete coverage belongs in the result; it cannot become a zero count. See [troubleshooting](/guides/troubleshooting).