merch-connector
Supports Google Gemini as an AI provider for analyzing scraped e-commerce data through the same analysis tools.
Allows local AI models to be used via Ollama for executing analysis tools, providing offline or privacy-focused operation.
Enables OpenAI models (or OpenAI-compatible endpoints) for AI-powered analysis of product listings and storefront data.
Click on "Install Server".
Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state.
In the chat, type
@followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@merch-connectorscrape product listings on example.com"
That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed.
Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
merch-connector
An MCP server that gives AI agents eyes on any e-commerce storefront.
Scrape product listings, extract facets, badges, sort options, and B2B signals; run AI-powered merchandising audits; compare two storefronts side-by-side; detect what changed between visits; and build persistent memory about sites — all through the Model Context Protocol.
Why merch-connector?
E-commerce merchandising analysis is manual, repetitive, and fragmented. A merchandiser might spend hours clicking through competitor sites, checking if filters work, comparing product grids, and noting what's changed. AI agents can do this work — but they can't see storefronts the way shoppers do.
merch-connector bridges that gap. It gives any MCP-compatible AI agent (Claude, custom agents, etc.) the ability to:
Browse any storefront with a stealth headless browser that handles bot protection
Extract structured product data, facets, performance metrics, and page structure
Analyze merchandising quality through five expert personas or a full roundtable debate
Remember site quirks across sessions so the agent gets smarter over time
Track changes across visits — new products, price moves, facet/sort changes
Quick start
npx merch-connectorThe server communicates over stdio and is designed to be launched by an MCP client, not run standalone.
Configuration
Add to your Claude Desktop claude_desktop_config.json or Claude Code .mcp.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"merch-connector": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "merch-connector"],
"env": {
"ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "your_key_here"
}
}
}
}To enable Firecrawl (bypasses bot-protected sites like Ferguson/Akamai) or pass any other env vars, add them to the env block:
"env": {
"ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "your_key_here",
"FIRECRAWL_API_KEY": "fc-..."
}Or install globally: npm install -g merch-connector
Environment variables
Variable | Required | Description |
| One of these | Anthropic Claude API key |
| One of these | Google Gemini API key |
| One of these | OpenAI or OpenAI-compatible API key |
| No | Base URL for OpenAI-compatible endpoint. Defaults to |
| No | Force |
| No | Override default model. Required when using Ollama. |
| No | Set |
| No | Enables Firecrawl as a fallback scraper in |
| No | Custom path for site memory files. Default: |
| No | AI tool timeout in ms. Default: |
| No | Path to NDJSON log file. If set, every server log entry is appended. |
| No | Connect to an external Lightpanda/Chrome CDP endpoint instead of launching Puppeteer's bundled Chromium. Server-side optimization only — standard npx users can ignore this. |
You only need an API key for AI-powered tools (ask_page, merch_roundtable, analyze_products). Scraping tools work without one.
Using Ollama (local models)
{
"mcpServers": {
"merch-connector": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "merch-connector"],
"env": {
"MODEL_PROVIDER": "ollama",
"MODEL_NAME": "qwen2.5:14b",
"OPENAI_BASE_URL": "http://localhost:11434/v1"
}
}
}
}AI analysis tools degrade gracefully if no provider is configured — scraping still works, analysis returns an error instead of crashing.
Tools
Tool | Description | Needs AI key? |
| Primary scraping tool. One-pass audit payload — products, facets, screenshots, performance, trust signals, navigation, data quality, analytics, and PDP samples in a single call | No |
| Run persona analysis on pre-scraped data. Pass a products/facets JSON payload (from | Yes |
| Three expert personas analyze in parallel, then a moderator synthesizes consensus (results stream as each persona completes) | Yes |
| Scrape a page and ask any question about it in plain language | Yes |
| Structured side-by-side diff of two URLs: facet gaps, trust signals, sort options, B2B mode, performance | No |
| Scrape a single product detail page — description fill rate, image count, reviews, spec table, cross-sell modules, CTA text, price | No |
| Sample PDPs from a category page using spread/random/top strategy | No |
| Execute one or more search/click actions in sequence, then extract the result | No |
| Read/write persistent notes and learned data about any domain | No |
| Reset stored cookies and page cache for a domain | No |
| Persist a roundtable run as a structured eval record with convergence score | No |
| Retrieve eval history for a domain or all domains | No |
| Retrieve recent server log entries from the in-memory buffer, filterable by level or tool name | No |
| (Deprecated — use | No |
Examples
acquire
Pull everything needed for a full storefront audit in one call
{
"url": "https://www.zappos.com/women/CK_XARC81wHAAQHiAgMBAhg.zso",
"pdp_sample": 2
}Returns the complete audit payload: products with trust signals, facets, sort, navigation structure, data quality scores, analytics platform detection, performance timings, desktop + mobile screenshots, and 2 sampled PDPs — ready for the plugin to score.
ask_page
"Recommend facet changes for this laptop category page"
{
"url": "https://www.insight.com/en_US/shop/category/notebooks/store.html",
"question": "Recommend facet changes?"
}Brand/Manufacturer — Most glaring omission. 50 products span 6+ brands (HP, Lenovo, Apple, Microsoft, Dell, Crucial). B2B buyers with vendor agreements need this as facet #1.
Price range buckets are misaligned. "Below $50" (2 items) signals category contamination — confirmed by a Crucial RAM stick appearing in laptop results. Clean up category mapping and re-bucket starting at $500.
merch_roundtable
The roundtable scrapes once, then runs three AI analyses in parallel followed by a moderator synthesis:
Floor Walker — reacts as a real shopper ("I can't find Dell laptops without scrolling through 50 products")
Auditor — evaluates Trust/Guidance/Persuasion/Friction ("0% facet detection rate, title normalization at 70%")
Scout — identifies competitive gaps ("every competitor in B2B tech has brand filtering as facet #1")
Moderator — synthesizes consensus, surfaces disagreements, produces prioritized recommendations
B2B Auditor automatically substitutes for Auditor when B2B signals are detected.
Personas
Five expert lenses for merchandising analysis. Use individually via ask_page or merch_roundtable.
Persona | Role | Voice |
Floor Walker | A shopper visiting for the first time | First-person, casual, instinctive — "I don't know what button to click" |
Auditor | Compliance analyst with a framework | Metric-driven, precise — "Fill rate is 82%, 3/10 titles lack brand prefix" |
Scout | VP of Merchandising at a competitor | Strategic, comparative — "This is table-stakes for the category" |
B2B Auditor | Procurement buyer evaluating a vendor | Process-driven — scores steps-to-PO, spec completeness, pricing transparency, self-serve viability |
Conversion Architect | CRO specialist mapping the purchase funnel | Analytical, hypothesis-driven — "checkout button is below the fold on mobile, estimated −8% conversion" |
Each persona returns score (0–100), severity (1–5), findings[] (3–5 concrete observations), and uniqueInsight — the one thing only that lens would catch.
Architecture
MCP Client (Claude, etc.)
|
| stdio (JSON-RPC)
|
merch-connector (Node.js MCP server)
|
+-- acquire.js One-pass audit entry point; Puppeteer-first waterfall (Firecrawl fallback for WAF-blocked sites)
+-- scraper.js Puppeteer + stealth plugin, structure detection, PageFingerprint
+-- analyzer.js Multi-provider AI (Anthropic / Gemini / OpenAI), 5 personas
+-- network-intel.js XHR interception, 35-platform fingerprint, dataLayer/GA4 parsing
+-- site-memory.js Persistent per-domain JSON store + change detection snapshots
+-- eval-store.js JSONL eval index + full run storage, convergence scoring
+-- prompts/ Persona prompt files (floor-walker, auditor, scout, b2b-auditor, conversion-architect)Scraping: Puppeteer with stealth plugin bypasses bot detection. Two-pass heuristic structure detection finds product grids on unknown sites. Extracts products, facets, trust signals (ratings, badges, stock warnings), performance timing, and screenshots. Firecrawl integration (
FIRECRAWL_API_KEY) provides LLM-based extraction as a primary path for bot-protected sites.Network intelligence: Intercepts XHR/fetch during page load to fingerprint the commerce stack (Algolia, Bloomreach, SFCC, Shopify, Elasticsearch, and 30+ more). When a high-confidence match is found, extracts product and facet data directly from the API response — bypassing DOM parsing failures on enterprise storefronts.
Analysis: Three-provider AI — Anthropic uses
tool_choiceforcing for structured JSON; Gemini usesresponseSchema; OpenAI-compatible uses function calling with a JSON-prompt fallback. Dynamic imports load only the needed SDK.ask_pageuses Haiku-class models for fast Q&A; persona analysis uses Sonnet-class.Personas: Five expert lenses.
merch_roundtableruns Floor Walker, Auditor, and Scout in parallel then passes results to a moderator that synthesizes consensus and disagreements. B2B Auditor auto-substitutes for Auditor when B2B mode is detected.Memory: Auto-learns site patterns on every scrape. Normalized snapshots enable change detection across visits — price moves, new/removed products, facet/sort changes. Manual notes persist across sessions.
Evals: Two-tier storage — compact JSONL index (100 runs/domain) + full run JSON (10/domain). Convergence score (0–100) measures inter-persona agreement. Dedup hashing prevents double-saves.
Development
git clone https://github.com/grahamton/merchGent.git
cd merchGent
npm install
cp .env.example .env # fill in at least one AI API keyRunning tests
npm test # scrape-only (no API key needed)
npm run test:audit # full merchandising audit
npm run test:persona # single persona (floor_walker)
npm run test:roundtable # all 3 personas + moderator
node test/smoke.js --b2b # B2B validation: Insight.com laptops + b2b_auditor
node test/smoke.js --ask "question" # ask anything about a page
node test/smoke.js --url https://... # override default URL
node test/protocol.js # MCP protocol compliance (no browser/API key needed)MCP Inspector
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector -- node bin/merch-connector.jsOpens a browser UI where you can call any tool interactively.
Tool reference
acquire
One-pass audit payload. The primary tool in v2 — replaces the multi-step scrape_page + analysis workflow. Returns everything the audit pipeline needs in a single call.
Parameter | Required | Description |
| Yes | Full URL to acquire |
| No | Number of PDP samples to include (0–5, default 2). Auto-selects median-priced + premium (80th percentile) products. |
Returns:
page— title, metaDescription, pageType, breadcrumb, h1commerce— mode (B2B/B2C/Hybrid), platform, priceTransparency, loginRequiredproducts[]— normalized with trust signals, B2B/B2C indicators, description qualityfacets[],sort— filter panel and sort statenavigation— hasFilterPanel, filterPanelPosition, hasStickyNav, breadcrumbPresenttrustSignals— ratingsOnCards, freeShippingPromised, returnPolicyVisible, urgencyMessagingdataQuality— descriptionFillRate, ratingFillRate, priceFillRateanalytics— platform detection, GTM containers, ecommerce tracking status, productImpressionsFiringperformance— fcp, lcp, cls, domContentLoaded, loadCompletepdpSamples[]— sampled PDP detail pagesscreenshots— desktop + mobile base64 JPEGwarnings[]— structured quality flags with severityscraper—"firecrawl"or"puppeteer"(which path was used)
scrape_page
(Deprecated — use acquire) Raw structured extraction. Returns products (title, price, stock, CTA, description, B2B/B2C signals, trust signals), facets/filters, sort options, B2B mode + conflict score, page metadata, performance timing, data layers, interactable elements, and PageFingerprint. On repeat visits, also returns a changes diff.
Parameter | Required | Description |
| Yes | Full URL to scrape |
| No | Pagination pages to follow (1–5, default 1) |
| No | Max products per page (default 10) |
| No | Include base64 JPEG desktop screenshot (default false) |
| No | Also capture a 390×844 (iPhone 14) mobile screenshot (default false) |
Trust signals per product: star rating, review count, sale badge + text, best seller flag, stock warning ("Only 3 left"), sustainability label, raw badge texts.
compare_storefronts
Scrape two URLs concurrently and return a structured diff. No AI call — pure structural analysis.
Parameter | Required | Description |
| Yes | First URL (your site or baseline) |
| Yes | Second URL (competitor or variant) |
| No | Max products per page (default 10) |
Returns: product count delta, facet gap analysis (onlyInA / onlyInB / shared count), trust signal coverage per site, sort option gaps, B2B mode + conflict score for each, performance delta (FCP + full load).
interact_with_page
Execute one or more search/click actions in sequence, then extract the resulting page.
Parameter | Required | Description |
| Yes | Full URL to load |
| One of these | Array of |
| One of these | Single action shorthand: |
| Depends | CSS selector (required for click) |
| Depends | Text to type (required for search) |
| No | Include screenshot of result |
Multi-step example: [{ "action": "search", "value": "laptop" }, { "action": "click", "selector": ".filter-in-stock" }]
ask_page
Scrape + AI Q&A. The model sees full product data, facets, performance, and a screenshot. Supports Anthropic (Haiku), Gemini, and OpenAI-compatible providers.
Parameter | Required | Description |
| Yes | Full URL to scrape and ask about |
| Yes | Plain language question |
| No | Pagination pages (default 1) |
| No | Max products per page (default 10) |
merch_roundtable
Multi-persona analysis with moderator synthesis. Floor Walker, Auditor, and Scout run in parallel — each result is streamed as a notifications/message as it completes. B2B Auditor auto-substitutes for Auditor when B2B signals are detected.
Parameter | Required | Description |
| Yes | Full URL to analyze |
| No | Pagination pages (default 1) |
| No | Max products per page (default 10) |
Returns: perspectives (each persona's typed result), debate.consensus, debate.disagreements, debate.finalRecommendations (with impact + endorsing personas).
site_memory
Persistent per-domain memory. Auto-accumulates on every scrape.
Parameter | Required | Description |
| Yes |
|
| Depends | Any URL on the domain (required for read/write/delete) |
| No | Text note to append (with write) |
| No | Custom field name (with write) |
| No | Value for the field (with write + key) |
clear_session
Reset cookies and cached page data for a domain.
Parameter | Required | Description |
| Yes | Any URL on the domain to clear |
save_eval
Persist the most recent roundtable or audit run as a structured eval record. Reads from the session persona cache — no data round-trip through the model. Must call merch_roundtable on the same URL first.
Parameter | Required | Description |
| Yes | URL of the run to save (must match a cached session) |
| No | Optional free-text annotation |
Returns: eval ID, convergence score (0–100 inter-persona agreement), top concerns per persona, moderator summary excerpt, dedup hash.
list_evals
Retrieve eval history for a domain or all domains.
Parameter | Required | Description |
| No | Filter to a specific domain. Omit to return all domains with eval history. |
get_logs
Retrieve recent server log entries from the in-memory circular buffer (500 entries).
Parameter | Required | Description |
| No | Filter by level: |
| No | Filter by tool name (e.g. |
| No | Max entries to return (default 50) |
History
v2.0.14 — Ollama local provider support + graceful no-AI degradation
Ollama support:
MODEL_PROVIDER=ollamaroutes through the OpenAI-compatible API athttp://localhost:11434/v1— no API key required;MODEL_NAMEselects the local modelGraceful degradation:
ask_pageandmerch_roundtablenow return raw scrape data + a setup hint when no AI provider is configured, instead of throwinghasProvider()export: callers can gate on AI availability before invoking analysisDocs:
.env.exampleandCLAUDE.mdupdated with Ollama configuration examples
v2.0.13 — Layered data quality model + Firecrawl schema refinement
Data quality model:
acquirenow returnsdataQuality.overall.usabilityTier(full/degraded/minimal/failed) anddataQuality.dimensionswith graded description tiers (empty,spec,thin,rich), separating extraction confidence from site qualityCommerce-mode-aware warnings:
generateWarnings()uses B2C/B2B/Hybrid threshold maps; new codes:LOW_DESCRIPTION_FILL_CRITICAL,DESCRIPTIONS_SPEC_ONLY,RATINGS_ABSENT,PRICING_INCONSISTENT,EXTRACTION_CONFIDENCE_LOW,FACETS_MINIMALFirecrawl schema:
description→cardSubtitleinternally with visual hierarchy cues + few-shot examples; remapped back todescriptionin the payload (no breaking change)Fixed: Puppeteer
extractionConfidencefalse positive whenstructureConfidenceis null — now falls back to product-count + priceFillRate signals
v2.0.12 — MCP-026: stabilize Firecrawl product description extraction
MCP-026:
descriptionfield in FirecrawlEXTRACT_SCHEMAnow carries a JSON Schema annotation explaining what to look for (subtitle text, attribute summaries, model/color/finish specs visible on the card);acquireWithFirecrawl()also passes an explicitpromptto the extract call — eliminates non-deterministic empty-description runs caused by the LLM not knowing category cards carry spec text rather than marketing copy
v2.0.11 — MCP-020/023/024/025: breadcrumb heuristic, Hybrid detection, star rating guard, PDP timeout
MCP-024:
starRatingguard added — values above 5 are discarded (review count bleed);ratingElnow preferscontentattribute (schema.org) before falling back toaria-label/innerTextMCP-020:
getBreadcrumb()gets two new fallback passes —data-testidbreadcrumb variants (React/Next.js), then a URL-depth heuristic overnav a/header aelements to recover multi-level paths like Ferguson's 4-level hierarchyMCP-023:
PRO_TRADE_PATTERNextended withare you a pro,pro login,become a pro;hasProTradeCta()now checkspageText,page.h1, andpage.title; Firecrawl path falls back to testing fullraw.contentwhen nav items are sparseMCP-025: Per-PDP
AbortSignal.timeout(12000)added to Firecrawl PDP path — 12s cap per PDP keeps totalacquirewall time under 60s (Claude Desktop client limit); timed-out PDPs fall through to Puppeteer fallback
v2.0.10 — MCP-017–023: data extraction gaps and Firecrawl routing
MCP-017: PDP sub-scrapes now route through Firecrawl first (bypasses WAF/Akamai); fall back to Puppeteer per-URL;
PDP_SAMPLES_BLOCKEDwarning emitted when all PDPs failMCP-018/023:
freeShippingPromisednow checkstrustBadges[]in addition tob2cIndicators;commerce.modeupgraded B2C→Hybrid when Pro/Trade pricing CTAs are detected in page interactables or nav itemsMCP-019/021: New warnings —
FACETS_INCOMPLETEwhen Firecrawl returns fewer than 4 facets;PERFORMANCE_UNAVAILABLE(info) when Firecrawl is active scraperMCP-020/022: Breadcrumb selector expanded to capture
span/li/schema.org elements with dedup + separator filtering;ratingFillRatenow requiresrating > 0(zero-star no longer counted as filled)
v2.0.9 — Bot-block resilience: blocked/blockType/fallbackSuggestions
acquirenow surfaces block state explicitly: top-levelblocked(bool) andblockType(WAF|TIMEOUT|EMPTY_RENDER) are set wheneverFIRECRAWL_FAILED,LOW_CARD_CONFIDENCE, orNO_PRODUCTS_FOUNDwarnings are present — skill layer can branch without parsingwarnings[]fallbackSuggestions[]: three pre-computed search strings (site:, keyword,cache:) derived from the input URL, ready to pass to a search fallback workflowBlocked responses skip the cache — retries after stealth changes or a different entry point always get a fresh scrape attempt
v2.0.8 — MCP-002: facet extraction for Shopify/Allbirds filter patterns
Strategy 2 expanded: candidate selector list now includes
form[action*="filter"],[class*="FilterPanel"],[class*="filter-panel"]and similar patterns that Headless Shopify storefronts use — previously missed because filters weren't insideaside/nav/sidebarelementsStrategy 3 added: dedicated
<details>-based extractor for Shopify filter groups (Allbirds and similar) where each facet is a standalone<details>with a<summary>label and checkbox inputs — no shared sidebar container required
v2.0.7 — MCP-016: acquire silent timeout fix + progress logging
Silent hang fixed: Firecrawl mobile screenshot call had no timeout — bot-blocked URLs caused the entire
acquirehandler to freeze indefinitely with zero log output; addedtimeout: 30000to the mobile scrape callProgress logging:
acquirenow emitssendLogentries at every major step (Firecrawl start/complete, Puppeteer start/complete, PDP sampling start/complete, cache hit) so timeouts are diagnosable fromget_logssendLogwired into acquire: passed viasessionOpsfromindex.js— no circular dependency, no architectural change
v2.0.6 — Fix acquire screenshot crash when using Firecrawl
Root cause: Firecrawl returns
screenshotas a CDN URL, not base64; the MCP SDK's base64 validator rejected it, crashing everyacquirecall whenFIRECRAWL_API_KEYis setFix:
acquirehandler now detects URL-format screenshots, fetches and converts to base64 before sending as MCP image content items
v2.0.5 — Fix dotenv stdout corruption on startup
MCP JSON-RPC broken by dotenv v17: dotenv v17.3+ prints a
[dotenv@17.x]banner to stdout by default; on a stdio transport this corrupted the JSON-RPC stream before the first message was parsedFix: Added
quiet: trueto the user config fallbackloadEnvcall inindex.js— both dotenv calls are now silent on startup
v2.0.4 — Fix acquire field truncation
Root cause of missing fields: Screenshot base64 was included in the JSON text payload AND as a separate image content item — the duplicate filled the MCP token budget before
performance,trustSignals,analytics,navigation,dataQuality,pdpSamples, andwarningsappeared in the serialized outputFix: Screenshots are now stripped from the JSON text and sent only as image content items; all 7 structured fields are now fully visible to the MCP client on every acquire call
v2.0.3 — MCP-013 API key fix + user config fallback
MCP-013 root cause:
plugin.jsonwas explicitly settingANTHROPIC_API_KEY=""andFIRECRAWL_API_KEY="", overriding system env vars before they reached the server — fixed in plugin v0.5.1User config fallback: Server now loads
~/.merch-connector/.envas a fallback for any env var that is absent or empty, so API keys survive npx cache clears and work regardless of how the launcher passes env varsDeduped imports: Merged
fsimport consolidation inindex.jsstartup block
v2.0.2 — MCP-014 acquire field fixes
trustSignals.avgRating: Renamed fromavgRatingAcrossProductsto match the field name the plugin audit command expects — was causing silent scoring failures on every acquire callWarning severity values: Remapped from
"high"/"medium"/"low"to"error"/"warn"across allwarnings[]entries to match the plugin's expected enum
v2.0.1 — Model alias fix + full multi-provider ask_page
MCP-013: Replaced retired
claude-3-5-sonnet-latestalias withclaude-sonnet-4-6across all Anthropic calls — fixesask_page,merch_roundtable, and all persona analysis tools that were returning 404 errorsask_page multi-provider: Added full Gemini and OpenAI-compatible implementations (were placeholder stubs). Anthropic path now uses Haiku-class model for fast, cost-effective Q&A; all persona analysis continues to use Sonnet.
MCP-015 docs:
FIRECRAWL_API_KEYdocumented in README and CLAUDE.md; configuration example updated with env passthrough pattern
v2.0.0 — acquire tool: one-pass v2 architecture
New
acquiretool: Single call replaces the 6–8 stepscrape_page+ analysis workflow — returns products, facets, screenshots, performance, trust signals, navigation, data quality, PDP samples, analytics, andwarnings[]in one payloadFirecrawl integration: LLM extraction via Firecrawl as primary scraper with automatic Puppeteer fallback;
scraperfield reports which path was used and any fallback reasonaudit_storefrontretired: Returns a hard error directing callers toacquire;scrape_pagemarked deprecated with log warningProtocol tests updated: 34/34 passing;
acquirein tool list,audit_storefrontabsent,scrape_pagedeprecation asserted
v1.9.2 — MCP-002 & MCP-005 fixes, roundtable refactor, B2B persona routing
MCP-002: Restored
extractFacetsGenericfallback +hasFacetStructurestructural scoring bonus (+20); added nested wrapper key support (response.*,data.*) and wired generic extraction as a fallback inextractFromBestApi— "Unknown Facet" no longer appears when XHR data is availableMCP-005: Mobile screenshots now dismiss OneTrust, Cookiebot, and TrustArc consent overlays before capture; blank-image threshold raised to 20 KB to reliably reject consent-blocked frames
Roundtable refactor: Collapsed per-provider per-persona duplicates into generic dispatch functions (~1000 lines removed);
merch_roundtableauto-substitutes the B2B auditor persona when B2B signals are detected
v1.9.1 — Bug fixes from Cowork plugin QA sweep
CSS selector safety:
compare_storefrontsno longer crashes on Tailwind JIT arbitrary-value class names — all class-to-selector conversions now useCSS.escape()Paint timing: FCP and first-paint captured via pre-navigation
PerformanceObserver— no longer returns 0 on SPA category pagesMobile screenshot: renders in a fresh browser page with UA + viewport set before navigation, fixing blank white screen on UA-gated SPAs
PDP
pageType: URL pattern signals (/product/,/p/,/buy/product/,/pdp/) now take priority over DOM product-count heuristics, fixing misclassification on PDPs with related-product carouselsAI timeout resilience:
audit_storefrontandmerch_roundtablecap the product payload sent to AI at 20 items, reducing prompt size and inference timescrape_pdpprice extraction: falls back to CTA button text when no dedicated price element is found;hasReviewsandspecTable.presentnow require count > 0Facet resolution: "Unknown Facet" placeholders replaced with real names from intercepted XHR when a search API is detected
get_category_sample: error response now includesreasonandsuggestionwhen no product URLs are found
v1.9.0 — PDP sampling, smarter facets, B2B fingerprint depth
scrape_pdptool: dedicated PDP scraper returning description fill rate, image count, review schema, spec table, cross-sell modules, CTA text, and primary/sale prices — purpose-built for single product pagesget_category_sampletool: scrapes a category page and runsscrape_pdpin parallel on a spread/random/top selection of products — one call for a multi-PDP spot checkFacet detection hardened: Strategy 1 now skips parent containers that wrap multiple filter groups (fixes the "all filters collapsed into one facet" bug on obfuscated-class sites like Zappos); Strategy 2 replaced with heading-to-heading tree walker so filter groups segment correctly regardless of CSS class names
B2B fingerprint depth: three new fingerprint fields —
contractPricingVisible,loginRequired,accountPersonalization;audit_storefrontnow uses a dedicatedAUDIT_TIMEOUT_MS(default 240s); PageSpeed Insights Core Web Vitals available viainclude_pagespeed: trueonscrape_page
v1.8.0 — Persona architecture v2
PA-2 Fingerprint context injection: every persona now receives a
## Page Intelligence (pre-scan)block prepended to its prompt — pageType, platform, commerceMode, trust signal inventory, top risks, and recommended personas — so the AI orients before reading raw product dataPA-4 Unified base schema: all personas return
score(0–100),severity(1–5),findings[](3–5 observations),uniqueInsight— enabling structured cross-persona comparisonPA-5 Smart auto-selection:
audit_storefrontacceptspersona: "auto"—selectPersonas(fingerprint)picks the best-fit lens based on pageType and commerceModePA-6 Conversion Architect: new CRO persona maps funnel stages, catalogs friction inventory, identifies top drop-off risk, generates A/B hypotheses with estimated lift ranges
Perf: roundtable log entries no longer embed full result objects —
get_logspayload reduced ~95% for cached re-runs
v1.7.0 — PageFingerprint + synchronous moderator
PA-3 Synchronous moderator:
merch_roundtablenow awaits the moderator synthesis before returning —debate.consensusanddebate.finalRecommendations[]are guaranteed in the tool responsePA-1 PageFingerprint: every scrape result now includes a
fingerprintfield with no extra AI call —pageType,platform,commerceMode,priceTransparency,trustSignalInventory,discoveryQuality,funnelReadiness,topRisks[],recommendedPersonas[]Category contamination detector:
scrape_pagereturnscontamination: { detected, suspectCount, suspects[] }when off-category products appear in resultsget_logstool + file logging: retrieves recent server log entries from an in-memory buffer (500 entries), filterable by level and tool name; setMERCH_LOG_FILEfor NDJSON file logging
v1.6.4
save_eval now works with all tool types, not just merch_roundtable. Convergence score returns null (not 0) for single-persona runs. Auto-detects toolName from whichever persona cache slots are populated.
v1.6.3 — Eval store
Two new tools (save_eval, list_evals) add persistent run tracking. Convergence score (0–100) measures inter-persona agreement on top concerns. Two-tier storage: compact JSONL index (100/domain) + full run JSON (10/domain). Dedup hashing prevents double-saving identical runs.
v1.6.2
Roundtable personas now run in parallel via Promise.all, cutting wall-clock time from ~90s to ~30s. Persona results are written to cache the moment each resolves, so a retry after a timeout picks up where it left off.
v1.6.0 — Network Intelligence Layer
Every scrape_page call now intercepts XHR/fetch responses and fingerprints the commerce stack from 35 platform signatures: Elasticsearch, Algolia, Coveo, Lucidworks Fusion, Bloomreach, Searchspring, SFCC, SAP Hybris, Shopify, Bazaarvoice, and more. When a high-confidence API match is found (≥70%), products and facets are extracted directly from the API response. Deep dataLayer/digitalData parsing surfaces GA4 events, GTM container IDs, A/B experiment assignments, and user segments. Discovered API endpoints are persisted to site memory so the discovery pass only runs once per domain.
v1.5.0 — Scraper expansion
Per-product trust signals (ratings, badges, stock warnings), sort order detection, b2bMode + b2bConflictScore, change detection on repeat visits. New compare_storefronts tool. Multi-step interact_with_page actions array. Optional mobile screenshot. Roundtable streams each persona result as it completes.
v1.4.0
10-minute in-memory page cache. ask_page, audit_storefront, and merch_roundtable reuse recent scrape results, cutting latency in half. Configurable TOOL_TIMEOUT_MS.
v1.3.0
OpenAI-compatible provider support (OpenAI, Groq, Together AI, any OpenAI-compatible endpoint). OPENAI_VISION=true for multimodal models.
v1.2.0
Complete rewrite — lean MCP server replacing the original React + Express UI. Four expert personas, roundtable mode, persistent site memory, dual AI provider support (Anthropic + Gemini).
v1.0.0
Original React + Express application with Gemini-powered merchandising analysis.
License
MIT
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