Compare Prices

Search for a product across retailers in parallel using a hidden window, save pricing data incrementally to disk, and deliver a clean HTML comparison report with direct links to every product page.

When to Apply

Activate when the user asks to compare prices for a product, find the cheapest option, check if a price is good, or shop across multiple stores.

Workflow

Phase 1 — Clarify

Confirm with the user before searching:

• Product name — exact model, variant, size, or color if applicable
• Retailer preferences — any stores to include or exclude
• Region / currency — defaults to user's locale

Phase 2 — Set Up & Search

Step	Tool	Detail
Create output directory	evaluate_script	Create compare-<product-slug>/ in your working directory with a raw/ subfolder
Open hidden window	create_hidden_window	Dedicated workspace — keeps the user's browsing undisturbed
Open parallel tabs	new_hidden_page	Open up to 10 tabs concurrently, one per retailer/search

Default search targets (adjust based on product type and user's region):

Tab	Target
1	Google Shopping — https://www.google.com/search?tbm=shop&q=<product>
2	Amazon — https://www.amazon.com/s?k=<product>
3	Walmart — https://www.walmart.com/search?q=<product>
4	Best Buy — https://www.bestbuy.com/site/searchpage.jsp?st=<product>
5	Target — https://www.target.com/s?searchTerm=<product>
6	eBay — https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=<product>
7–10	Additional retailers relevant to the product category (Newegg for tech, Home Depot for tools, etc.)

Phase 3 — Extract & Save

For each tab, extract pricing data and save immediately:

Step	Tool	Detail
Navigate	navigate_page	Go to the search URL
Read results	get_page_content	Extract the search results page as markdown
Find best match	navigate_page	Click through to the most relevant product listing
Extract pricing	get_page_content	Pull the product page content — price, availability, shipping, seller
Save raw data	evaluate_script	Write to raw/<retailer>.json with all extracted fields (see format below)
Close tab	close_page	Free the tab after saving

Never hold all retailer data in memory. Save each retailer's data to its own file immediately after extraction.

Raw Data Format (raw/<retailer>.json)

{
  "retailer": "Amazon",
  "product_name": "Product Title as Listed",
  "product_url": "https://www.amazon.com/dp/...",
  "price": 299.99,
  "original_price": 349.99,
  "currency": "USD",
  "shipping": "Free",
  "availability": "In Stock",
  "seller": "Amazon.com",
  "condition": "New",
  "rating": "4.5/5",
  "notes": "Prime eligible",
  "extracted_at": "2025-03-11T10:30:00Z"
}

Phase 4 — HTML Report

After all retailers are processed, read the saved raw/*.json files and generate a self-contained report.html:

Requirement	Detail
Theme	Light background (#ffffff), clean sans-serif typography, generous whitespace
Header	Product name, search date, number of retailers checked
Best Deal banner	Highlighted card at the top showing the lowest total price with a direct link to the product page
Comparison table	All retailers sorted by total price (lowest first) with columns: Retailer, Price, Shipping, Total, Stock, Seller, Rating, Link
Product links	Every retailer name and a "View Deal" button must be a clickable <a href> linking to the actual product page URL
Price highlights	Lowest price in green, highest in muted gray. Show discount percentage if original price differs.
Self-contained	All styles in a <style> block — no external CSS or JS
Responsive	Readable on desktop and mobile
Footer	"Generated by BrowserOS Compare Prices" with date

Use evaluate_script to write report.html to the output directory.

Phase 5 — Open & Notify

Step	Tool	Detail
Close hidden window	close_window	Clean up the research workspace
Open report	new_page	Open file://<path>/report.html in the user's active window
Notify user	—	Tell the user the comparison is complete, highlight the best deal, and provide the report path

Tool Reference

Category	Tools Used
Window management	create_hidden_window, close_window
Tab management	new_hidden_page, close_page, new_page
Navigation	navigate_page
Content extraction	get_page_content
Data & file I/O	evaluate_script

Tips

• Always compare total price (product + shipping), not just the listed price.
• Note the seller — marketplace third-party sellers may have different return policies than the retailer itself.
• Mention membership discounts (Prime, Walmart+) as a note, not as the default price.
• If the product has variants (sizes, colors), ensure every retailer is quoting the same variant.
• If a retailer blocks scraping or returns no results, skip it and note the gap in the report.
• For used/refurbished listings, separate them from new-condition results.