Pick a gift
pick_giftReturns up to 5 gift ideas from a fixed bank of 255 checked gift ideas, matched to who the gift is for, a budget band, interests, and an optional gift style. Each pick has a one-line description, a why-line explaining the fit, one buying note, its budget band, a link that opens that exact idea on thepresentpicker.com, and a photo link to the picture on that idea's page. Some picks carry a good_to_know line: a plain handling fact the bank states for that idea, such as the weight of a cast iron skillet, present only where the bank states one. The result also carries lead_pick — the top pick at full bank depth, with its buying notes (what to look for and what to avoid) and a care-and-pairing tip — more_ideas with the remaining picks under the heading 'More ideas if that one misses', and answer_text, that focused answer formatted as text: it opens by naming who the gift is for, in the caller's words, and how the top pick fits them. Recipient and budget band are hard filters. A style, when given, is a hard filter too: every pick carries the style, and the result reports total_matches and, on a style call, style_matches. Interests narrow the pool, and picks matching more interests rank first. keyword names a specific item the buyer asked for: picks matching every keyword word rank first inside the same filtered pool, carry their full bank detail, and the result reports keyword_matches (a miss is stated in the note, and a miss carries no lead_pick). exclude names an item the person already has: matching picks are dropped before ranking, and the result notes the drop. A recipient-only call (no budget, interest, style, or keyword) returns a spread across all budget bands, led by a mid-band pick and never by the $100+ band — a starting sampler, not a tailored list. A 'teen' recipient maps to the kid pool and carries a recipient_note explaining how teen picks are drawn from that pool. A 'coworker' recipient draws on the bank's coworker shelf — picks tagged for coworkers, ranked ahead of the general pool — and when a mix returns none of them, recipient_note says so plainly. A relation the bank has no shelf for (a sister, an aunt, an in-law, a cousin) is filed under the closest shelf, and recipient_note states the filing plainly. Ideas are generic product types: the bank names no brands, no stores, and no exact prices. When fewer than 5 ideas fit the exact mix, the result says so.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| style | No | Optional gift style: 'practical', 'fun', 'sentimental', or 'experience'. When given, every pick carries this style. | |
| budget | No | Optional budget band: 'under $25', '$25-$50', '$50-$100', or '$100+'. Omit to search every band. | |
| exclude | No | Optional: an item the user says the person already has, in plain words, e.g. 'cast iron skillet'. Picks matching it are dropped and the drop is disclosed in the note. | |
| keyword | No | Optional: the specific item the buyer named, in plain words, e.g. 'plant pot', 'bookmark', 'board game', 'star map'. When the bank holds that item for this recipient and budget, it ranks first. | |
| interests | No | Optional: what they are into. Bank interests: cooking, outdoors, tech, books, fitness, cozy, music, games, gardening, travel, science. | |
| recipient | Yes | Who the gift is for: 'mom', 'dad', 'partner', 'grandparent', 'friend', 'kid', 'coworker', or 'other'. Plain words work too, e.g. 'my wife', 'grandma', 'my son', 'my colleague'. 'teen' and 'teenager' map to 'kid' and carry a note explaining how teen picks are drawn from the kid pool. Relations the bank has no shelf for, like 'my sister' or 'my aunt', are filed under the closest shelf and the result notes the filing. |