Skill: Product Recommender (/best)

Finds the best products in a category using authoritative review sources across US, EU, and UK.

Trigger

/best [product name] — e.g., /best airfryer, /best wireless earbuds

Sources

Review Aggregators — US

Review Aggregators — UK

Review Aggregators — EU

Price Comparison Sources

Retailers (Availability)

United States

United Kingdom

Germany

France

Italy

Spain

Netherlands

Belgium

Poland

Other EU Markets

Workflow

1. Parse query — extract product category from user input
2. Detect region — default to NL (Ralph is based in the Netherlands). Allow explicit override: /best airfryer de, /best earbuds fr, /best earbuds uk
3. Search sources — query relevant aggregator for top-rated products via web_search (Brave Search API)
4. Filter by region — keep products available in selected region
5. Categorize picks:
• Top Pick — best overall
• Best Value — best performance per dollar/pound/euro
• Budget — solid option under $50/£40/€50
6. Generate output — 3 picks with summary + link
7. Date rule: Always use today's actual date (resolved from the system at runtime). Never copy dates from review pages or search results.
8. Price rule: Show approximate price range from search snippets (e.g., "€120-150"). Use "v.a. €X" for lowest found.
9. Link rule: Use direct Google search link with full product name: https://www.google.[nl|de|co.uk]/search?q=[product-name]. Region defaults to NL.
10. Summary rule: Always include 1-2 sentence summary explaining why it's top pick, best value, or budget in English.
11. Language rule: Always output in the user's language where possible. For NL/BE queries, summaries may be in Dutch or English. For all other regions, use English.
12. Cache — store results for 6 hours in ~/.openclaw/cache/best-products/

Price-Order Validation (MANDATORY — CHECK BEFORE OUTPUT)

After generating picks, validate price ordering:

• Budget ≤ Best Value ≤ Top Pick
• If violated: reorder the categories to match price, or discard the mismatched pick
• Never output a "Budget" pick that is more expensive than Best Value or Top Pick

Example of a price-order violation:

Budget: Ninja Foodi AF300EU — €149  ← WRONG: more expensive than Top Pick
Top Pick: Philips Airfryer XXL — €130  ← WRONG: cheaper than Budget

Fix: Either swap the category labels to match actual prices, or replace the Ninja with a genuinely cheaper option.

Price-Sanity Checks (MANDATORY — CHECK BEFORE OUTPUT)

Before presenting any pick, verify:

1. Budget is genuinely budget for the region (NL: ≤ €90, UK: ≤ £75, DE: ≤ €90)
2. Best Value is cheaper than Top Pick
3. Budget is cheaper than Best Value
4. All three picks have real prices — never output "unknown" or leave price blank

If any check fails: do not output that pick. Find a cheaper/different alternative or flag the draft as needing review.

If prices cannot be verified: output with a note: "⚠️ Prijzen niet live geverifieerd — check voor publicatie."

Region Detection

Default: NL (Netherlands) — can be overridden per query.

Output Format

🎯 /best [product]

📍 [US/UK/DE/FR/IT/ES/NL/BE/PL] — [today's date, e.g. "maart 2026" or "March 2026"]

🏆 TOP PICK
[Product Name]
€[price range] • [Retailer]
[1-sentence summary why]
🔗 https://www.google.[nl|de|co.uk]/search?q=product+name

💎 BEST VALUE
[Product Name]
€[price range] • [Retailer]
[1-sentence summary why]
🔗 https://www.google.[nl|de|co.uk]/search?q=product+name

💶 BUDGET
[Product Name]
€[price range] • [Retailer]
[1-sentence summary why]
🔗 https://www.google.[nl|de|co.uk]/search?q=product+name

Caching

• Location: ~/.openclaw/cache/best-products/
• Format: {product}-{region}.json (e.g., earbuds-nl.json)
• TTL: 6 hours
• Check: Always check cache first; if stale/missing, fetch fresh data
• To disable/clear: rm -rf ~/.openclaw/cache/best-products/ — cache is optional, not required
• Privacy note: Cached data is only product names and prices, no personal information

Link Verification (MANDATORY)

CRITICAL: All output URLs MUST be working Google search links. No exceptions.

Verification workflow:

1. Search reviews → get exact product names
2. Construct Google search URL with full product name
3. Verify the product name is accurate from trusted sources (Consumentenbond, Which?, etc.)
4. Output Google search link — user can click to see current prices

External Endpoints

No personal data, credentials, or API keys are sent to external services.

Privacy & System Access

• Search queries: Product search terms only → Brave Search API (via OpenClaw's built-in web_search tool). This is the same as typing a product query into a search engine.
• Google Search URLs: Product names embedded in links → Google (opens search results in browser)
• Cache: Writes to ~/.openclaw/cache/best-products/ for 6 hours. Optional — can be disabled by clearing that folder.
• Timezone detection: Reads system timezone to default to NL. Can be overridden per query (e.g., /best earbuds de).
• No credentials required: Uses OpenClaw's built-in web_search and web_fetch tools only.
• No PII: No user identifiers, emails, or personal information processed.

Trust Statement

This skill uses publicly available review data from trusted sources (Wirecutter, RTINGS, Which?, Tweakers, Consumentenbond, etc.) and price data from major retailers (Amazon, Best Buy, MediaMarkt, Coolblue, etc.). No personal data is collected or sent to third parties beyond standard search queries.

Model Invocation Note

This skill can be invoked autonomously when the user types /best [product]. Users can opt out by disabling this skill in their OpenClaw configuration.