Product & Materials Research

The problem

Interior designers spend hours manually collecting product data — browsing vendor sites, copying dimensions and pricing into spreadsheets, downloading images, normalizing inconsistent formats. Data ends up scattered across browser bookmarks, email attachments, PDF catalogs, and half-filled spreadsheets with mismatched columns.

How it works

One master Google Sheet with a 33-column schema. Multiple ways to get products in — research briefs, browser clipping, URL batches, PDF catalogs. Every entry is structured the same regardless of source. Utility skills handle normalization, scheduling, and image processing.

Data flow

 DISCOVER                    STRUCTURE                   DELIVER
 ─────────                   ─────────                   ───────

 /product-research ─┐
                    │
 /product-match ────┤                                  /product-data-import
                    │                                  (formatted schedule)
 /product-pair ─────┼──→  Master Sheet  ──→  /product-data-cleanup
                    │     (33 columns)  ──→  /product-enrich
 /product-spec-     │          │        ──→  /product-image-processor
   bulk-fetch ──────┤          │
                    │          ▼
 /product-spec-     │
   pdf-parser ──────┘    /csv-to-sif ──→ .sif (to dealer)
                         /sif-to-csv ←── .sif (from dealer)

Products flow left to right: discover them through research, clipping, or extraction → structure them in the master sheet with cleanup and enrichment → deliver as formatted schedules or processed images.

Skills

Skill	Type	Description
/master-schedule	Setup	Connect a product library Google Sheet to the project (auto-runs before other skills)
/product-research	Discover	Give a brief, get curated candidates with specs and reasoning
/product-spec-bulk-fetch	Discover	Batch-extract specs from product page URLs
/product-spec-pdf-parser	Discover	Extract specs from PDF catalogs, price books, and spec sheets
/product-data-cleanup	Structure	Normalize casing, categories, dimensions, materials, language
/product-image-processor	Structure	Download, resize, and remove backgrounds from product images
/product-enrich	Structure	Auto-tag products with categories, colors, materials, and style tags
/product-data-import	Deliver	Import raw product data into the master schedule from any format
/product-match	Discover	Find similar products from an image, name, or description
/product-pair	Discover	Suggest complementary products that pair well with a given item
/csv-to-sif	Deliver	Convert CSV product lists to SIF format for dealer systems
/sif-to-csv	Deliver	Convert SIF files from dealers into readable spreadsheets

Master schema

All skills write to a shared 33-column Google Sheet:

Section	Columns
Product Identity (A–K)	Category, Brand, Vendor, Thumbnail, Product Name, Designer, Indoor/Outdoor, Description, SKU, Link, Collection
Dimensions (L–Q)	W, D, H, Seat H, Unit, Weight
Materials & Finish (R–T)	Materials, Colors/Finishes, Selected Color/Finish
Pricing (U–W)	List Price, Sale Price, Currency
Logistics (X–AA)	Lead Time, Warranty, Certifications, COM/COL
Meta (AB–AC)	Clipped At, Image URL
Research (AD–AG)	Tags, Notes, Status, Source

Install

Claude Desktop:

1. Open Customize → Browse plugins
2. Click + → Add marketplace from GitHub
3. Enter AlpacaLabsLLC/skills-for-architects
4. Install the Materials Research plugin

Claude Code (terminal):

claude plugin marketplace add AlpacaLabsLLC/skills-for-architects
claude plugin install 06-materials-research@skills-for-architects

Manual:

git clone https://github.com/AlpacaLabsLLC/skills-for-architects.git
ln -s $(pwd)/skills-for-architects/plugins/06-materials-research/skills/product-research ~/.claude/skills/product-research