--- name: sales-nicheshunter description: "Niches Hunter (nicheshunter.app) platform help — an AI iOS-app-niche discovery tool that tracks 40,000+ App Store apps daily to surface low-competition, high-revenue niches for indie developers, solopreneurs, and vibe coders hunting a mobile app to build. Use when browsing validated iOS niche ideas, running the AI Niche Validator score on an app concept, using Niche Roulette or the Revenue Estimator, judging whether an App Store niche is real demand, comparing it to Pick My Niche or idea catalogs like IdeaBrowser, or wiring its pay-as-you-go Developer API to pull niche data, App Store rankings, and opportunity scores into your own tools. Free tier plus a cheap lifetime plan; the Developer API is REST with API-key auth but endpoint docs are JS-rendered and only partly public. Do NOT use for the tool-agnostic validate-before-building method or comparing validators across the market (use /sales-idea-validation), or building the smoke-test landing page (use /sales-funnel)." argument-hint: "[describe what you need help with in Niches Hunter]" license: MIT version: 1.0.0 tags: [sales, validation, pre-launch, platform] --- # Niches Hunter Platform Help Niches Hunter (**nicheshunter.app**) is an **AI iOS-app-niche discovery tool**: it tracks **40,000+ App Store apps daily** (downloads, revenue estimates, ratings, competition) and surfaces **low-competition, high-revenue niches** ready to build — for indie developers, solopreneurs, and vibe coders looking for a **mobile app** to ship. Its modules: a browsable **validated-niche database**, **Niche Roulette** (random pick), a **Revenue Estimator**, an **AI Niche Validator PRO** (0–100 viability score), a **Workspace** with competitor deep-dive, and a daily newsletter. Unlike the pure-LLM validators, its niches are derived from **real App Store behavior** — but that behavior is the revenue/competition of *existing* apps, **not proof that your app will sell**, and the store estimates are third-party approximations. It's solo-built and young, so treat catalog freshness, pricing, and the API surface as **best-effort — verify on the site**. ## Step 1 — Gather context If `references/learnings.md` exists, read it first for accumulated platform knowledge. Ask only what you can't infer: 1. **What do you want from Niches Hunter?** - A) **Browse / discover** iOS app niches to build a shortlist - B) **Validate** a concept with the AI Niche Validator — what does the 0–100 score mean? - C) Understand **how it sources niches** (40k+ App Store apps daily) and what that signal proves - D) Compare it to other generators/catalogs (Pick My Niche, IdeaBrowser, VentureVault…) - E) **Automate** it — the pay-as-you-go Developer API / export reality 2. **What's the real question — "what should I build?" or "is this niche worth building?"** If it's the go/no-go decision, that's `/sales-idea-validation` (an App Store niche is a market signal, not demand) — route in Step 2. Skip-ahead: if the user wants the validate-before-building *method* or to compare validators across the market, that's a `/sales-idea-validation` question — route immediately. ## Step 2 — Route or answer directly | If the user's question is about… | Route to | |---|---| | The validate-before-building **method**, or the go/no-go decision itself | `/sales-idea-validation {question}` | | Comparing Niches Hunter against other generators/catalogs/validators (Pick My Niche, IdeaBrowser, VentureVault…) | `/sales-idea-validation {question}` | | A **free AI niche generator** for web *and* mobile ideas from Reddit + Google Trends | `/sales-pickmyniche {question}` | | Deep **Reddit demand-signal** discovery / scoring as its own workflow | `/sales-trendseeker {question}` | | Building the smoke-test / fake-door **landing page** to test real demand | `/sales-funnel {question}` | | Growing a pre-launch **waitlist** / capturing real demand | `/sales-audience-growth {question}` | When routing, give the exact command: "This is a {domain} question — run: `/sales-idea-validation {original question}`" Otherwise, answer Niches Hunter-specific questions using Step 3. ## Step 3 — Niches Hunter platform reference **Read `references/platform-guide.md`** for the full reference — the modules and what's UI-only vs API-accessible, best-effort pricing and plan gates, the pay-as-you-go Developer API (auth + credit model, and why endpoint docs are only partly public), the "own the signal" fallback via Apple's public App Store APIs, the data model, and quick-start recipes. For the raw API surface see `references/nicheshunter-api-reference.md`. Answer using only the relevant section — don't dump the full reference. ## Step 4 — Actionable guidance - **Name its signal honestly: App Store data = revenue/competition of *existing* apps, not demand for yours.** Tell the user Niches Hunter derives niches from real App Store behavior (downloads, revenue estimates, ratings) — that's a stronger, more *behavioral* signal than a pure-LLM opinion, but it shows an existing category is lucrative, **not** that anyone will buy *your* app in it. It's a hypothesis to test, not validated demand. - **Treat every revenue/competition number as a third-party estimate.** App Store download/revenue figures (Niches Hunter's and every competitor's) are **modeled approximations**, not Apple's actuals — verify order-of-magnitude before betting on a niche, and never quote them as fact. - **Read the AI Niche Validator's 0–100 score as directional.** It's an LLM opinion (GPT-5.2) trained on App Store data — keep its structured output (competitors, keyword angle, strengths/weaknesses) to sharpen the pitch, and discard the number as the decision. - **Flag "low competition" as a double edge.** A niche with no strong incumbents can mean an untapped gap **or** a category users won't pay for — have the user check *why* it's empty (weak demand? hard to build? Apple restrictions?) before treating emptiness as opportunity. - **Present pricing as best-effort and point to nicheshunter.app/pricing.** Don't hard-quote a number — say Free tier + a cheap one-time lifetime (or monthly) Pro, and a pay-as-you-go Developer API, and tell the user to confirm current tiers on the site. - **For automation, be honest about the API's state and give the durable fallback.** There *is* a pay-as-you-go **Developer REST API** (API-key auth, load credits, $1 free to start) returning niche data / App Store rankings / scores — but the **endpoint paths and schemas are not fully published** (the docs page is JS-rendered), so tell the user to grab the exact routes from their developer dashboard and **do not invent endpoints**. For a stable, free pipeline, **reconstruct the signal from Apple's own public APIs** — the **iTunes Search API** and **App Store RSS chart feeds** are exactly the raw material Niches Hunter processes. Note each Niches Hunter API call **spends pay-as-you-go credits**, and Apple's public feeds return **metadata and ratings but not downloads/revenue** (so those stay estimates). See `references/platform-guide.md`. - **Anchor the go/no-go on real behavior.** A shortlisted niche → a smoke-test landing page + real install intent, not the browse. Route the real test to `/sales-idea-validation` and `/sales-funnel`. If you discover a gotcha or tip not in `references/learnings.md`, append it there with today's date. ## Gotchas *Best-effort from research (2026-07) — Niches Hunter is a young, solo-built tool with a JS-rendered site and no public review coverage; verify pricing, features, niche freshness, and the API surface on nicheshunter.app.* - **An App Store niche is a market signal, not demand for your app.** The data shows a category is lucrative for *existing* apps — not that anyone will buy *yours*. Follow it with a real demand test (smoke test / install intent); the go/no-go is a stranger taking an action. - **Revenue and competition numbers are third-party estimates.** Downloads/revenue are modeled, not Apple's actuals — verify magnitude, never quote as fact. - **The AI Niche Validator score is an LLM opinion.** GPT-5.2 over App Store data; a high score isn't demand. Keep the competitor/keyword breakdown, drop the number. - **"Low competition" can mean "no market."** An empty niche may be untapped or unwanted — check *why* before building. - **Pricing is best-effort.** Free + a cheap lifetime/monthly Pro + a pay-as-you-go Developer API — confirm current tiers on nicheshunter.app/pricing; the Validator PRO and Workspace are paid-plan-gated. - **The Developer API is real but under-documented.** REST + API-key auth + pay-as-you-go credits, but endpoint paths/schemas aren't fully public (JS-rendered docs). Pull exact routes from your dashboard; don't assume undocumented endpoints. No webhooks / Zapier / MCP were found. - **iOS/mobile only.** It's App-Store-native — for web/SaaS ideas or a Reddit+Trends generator, that's `/sales-pickmyniche` or the catalogs; for the tool-agnostic method, `/sales-idea-validation`. - **Name collision — "niche finder" is a crowded label.** Many unrelated "AI niche generator" tools exist; this skill is specifically **nicheshunter.app** (not pickmyniche.com or the ASO tools like AppFigures). ## Related skills - `/sales-idea-validation` — The tool-agnostic validate-before-building method + the full validator/discovery landscape (use this to actually decide build-or-not; an App Store niche is a market signal, not demand) - `/sales-pickmyniche` — Pick My Niche platform help (the closest sibling — a **free** AI niche generator for **web and mobile** ideas from **Reddit + Google Trends**; Niches Hunter is the iOS/App-Store-data-native counterpart with an actual API) - `/sales-ideabrowser` — IdeaBrowser platform help (the paid market-leader idea catalog — Reddit + search-trend + YouTube signals into pre-researched, scored SaaS ideas; the web/SaaS analog to Niches Hunter's App Store focus) - `/sales-venturevault` — VentureVault platform help (a free browsable *catalog* of AI-scored startup ideas — the catalog analog to Niches Hunter's App Store niche database) - `/sales-trendseeker` — Reddit-based demand discovery + evidence scoring (a real-signal sibling that scores Reddit demand as its own workflow) - `/sales-funnel` — Build the smoke-test / fake-door landing page the real demand test runs on - `/sales-audience-growth` — Grow a pre-launch waitlist and capture real demand - `/sales-do` — Not sure which skill to use? The router matches any sales objective to the right skill. Install: `npx skills add sales-skills/sales --skill sales-do -a claude-code` ## Examples ### Example 1: "I want to build an iOS app but don't know what — is Niches Hunter good for finding a niche?" **User says**: "I'm a solo dev who can ship a small iOS app. Will Niches Hunter give me something worth building?" **Skill does**: Positions Niches Hunter as a **discovery** tool — browse its App-Store-data-derived niches (low competition / high revenue) to build a shortlist — while naming the signal honestly: it reflects the revenue and competition of **existing** apps, not demand for *yours*, and the numbers are third-party estimates to sanity-check. Then insists the go/no-go comes from a real demand/install test, routing the decision to `/sales-idea-validation` and the smoke test to `/sales-funnel`. **Result**: The user gets a candidate shortlist to test, not a false sense that a browsed niche equals demand. ### Example 2: "The AI Niche Validator gave my idea 82/100 — should I start building?" **User says**: "It scored my app concept 82 with 'low competition.' Good enough to commit?" **Skill does**: Reframes the 0–100 score as an LLM opinion (GPT-5.2 over App Store data), not demand — keeps the structured parts (competitor list, keyword angle, weaknesses) to sharpen the concept, and flags that "low competition" can mean untapped **or** unwanted, so check *why* the niche is empty. Recommends earning the real signal with a smoke test / pre-order via `/sales-idea-validation` before building. **Result**: The maker pressure-tests the score instead of over-trusting a number. ### Example 3: Can I pull Niches Hunter's niche data into my own dashboard via the API? (developer/automation) **User says**: "I want to script Niches Hunter and pull niche scores + App Store rankings into my own tool." **Skill does**: Confirms there **is** a pay-as-you-go **Developer REST API** (API-key auth, load credits, $1 free to start) that returns niche data / rankings / opportunity scores — but warns the **endpoint paths and schemas aren't fully published** (JS-rendered docs), so tell the user to copy the exact routes and auth header from their developer dashboard and **not to assume undocumented endpoints**. Then gives the durable fallback: **reconstruct the signal from Apple's public APIs** — the **iTunes Search API** and **App Store RSS chart feeds** are the raw material Niches Hunter processes — with working code in `references/platform-guide.md`. **Result**: The user wires up the real API safely and has a stable, free fallback pipeline. ## Troubleshooting ### Every niche looks like a winner / how do I know it's real? **Symptom**: The niches Niches Hunter surfaces all show high revenue and low competition. **Cause**: They're derived from **App Store estimates** for *existing* apps and framed as opportunities — that's a market signal (and modeled numbers), not audited demand for *your* app. **Solution**: Use the output to *rank and shortlist*, not to decide. Verify the revenue magnitude and scan the actual top apps in the category yourself (via the App Store or the iTunes Search API), confirm *why* competition is low, then run a real demand test (smoke test / pre-order / install intent) via `/sales-idea-validation`. ### I want to automate it / the API docs are missing endpoints **Symptom**: Want to script Niches Hunter but the `/developer` page doesn't show endpoint paths or schemas. **Cause**: There's a real pay-as-you-go Developer REST API (API-key auth, credit-based), but the docs page is **JS-rendered**, so the routes/response shapes aren't reliably public. **Solution**: Generate your API key in the developer dashboard and copy the exact endpoint paths, auth header, and response examples from there — don't guess undocumented routes. For a stable, free pipeline, reconstruct the signal from **Apple's own public APIs** (iTunes Search API + App Store RSS chart feeds) — see the recipes in `references/platform-guide.md`. No webhooks / Zapier / MCP were found. ### What does it cost, and how is it different from Pick My Niche? **Symptom**: Can't pin down pricing, or confused it with another niche generator. **Cause**: Pricing is best-effort (Free + a cheap lifetime/monthly Pro + a pay-as-you-go Developer API), and "AI niche generator" is a crowded label. **Solution**: Treat any tier/cost as **best-effort — confirm on nicheshunter.app/pricing**. Niches Hunter is **iOS/App-Store-data-native** (mobile apps, real store data, has an API); **Pick My Niche** is a **free** generator for **web and mobile** ideas from **Reddit + Google Trends** and is UI-only. Pick Niches Hunter for App-Store-grounded mobile niches; route web/SaaS ideas or the tool-agnostic method elsewhere.