opportunity-tool-selection

Opportunity Tool Selection

Purpose

Use this skill when an opportunity workflow needs a clear decision about whether to use web search, browser automation, MCP/API tools, local files, or ordinary chat reasoning.

This skill is generic. It applies to jobs, apartments, programs, vendor research, marketplaces, registrations, and similar search-then-act workflows.

Tool Modes

Chat-only reasoning

Use chat-only reasoning when:

• The user asks for a plan, rubric, schema, checklist, or critique.
• The answer can be produced from already loaded context.
• The task is conceptual and does not require live facts, authenticated data, or page interaction.

Do not use chat-only reasoning for current listings, prices, availability, deadlines, company facts, or database state.

Normal web search

Use normal web search when:

• Finding public pages through search engines.
• Reading static company, listing, funding, event, or documentation pages.
• Collecting citations for public facts.
• Comparing sources before deciding where browser automation is needed.

Prefer original source pages over aggregators once a promising result is found.

Browser or agent mode

Use browser automation when:

• A site is JavaScript-rendered and static fetch/search does not show the real content.
• The workflow requires clicking filters, expanding cards, paging, scrolling, or screenshots.
• A form, portal, dashboard, or listing UI must be inspected visually.
• The task needs a handoff point before CAPTCHA, login, payment, legal acceptance, identity verification, or final submission.

Use browser automation for interaction and extraction. Do not use it to edit a structured system of record when an MCP/API tool is available.

MCP or API tools

Use MCP/API tools when:

• Reading, creating, or updating records in Notion, Google Sheets, Linear, Slack, Gmail, GitHub, or another connected system.
• Checking whether a record already exists.
• Updating statuses, schema, properties, comments, logs, or relations.
• Querying authenticated data that should not be scraped through the browser UI.

Prefer MCP/API access over browser UI for systems of record. Browser UI is more fragile and easier to confuse with source extraction.

Local files

Use local files when:

• The workflow depends on private profile data, document manifests, answer policies, logs, resumes, PDFs, or exported trackers.
• The user wants a diffable artifact.
• The data should remain private and not be copied into a public repository.

Never publish private local data into reusable skills or public examples.

Decision Order

1. Identify the system of record.
2. If a connected MCP/API exists for that system, use it for reads and writes.
3. Use web search for public discovery.
4. Use browser automation only for dynamic extraction or form/page interaction.
5. Use local files for private policies, documents, and durable logs.
6. Use chat-only reasoning for planning, synthesis, and schema design.

Boundaries

Do not use automation to bypass:

• CAPTCHA or bot checks
• MFA, OTP, or login walls
• Payment
• Legal acceptance
• Identity verification
• Terms or access restrictions

When a task crosses one of these boundaries, stop and hand control back to the user with the exact blocker and next action.

Output

Return:

• selected tool mode
• reason
• fallback mode
• system of record
• read/write boundary
• blocker risks