ProductScout

Scout smarter deals, instantly

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Inspiration

  • Make online shopping easier: Help people quickly understand products without reading long pages.
  • Use on-device AI: Try Chrome’s new built-in AI to analyze products fast and privately.
  • Compare across sites: Find availability and options on different stores in one place.

What it does

  • Detects product pages on Amazon, eBay, Walmart, and Target.
  • Extracts details like title, price, rating, reviews, images, and description.
  • Analyzes with AI to give recommendations, pros/cons, and key insights.
  • Checks availability on other sites so you can compare options.
  • Shows a small widget you can drag around, with a quick view of the AI’s thinking.
  • Works in English and French, and logs helpful debug info.

How we built it

  • Chrome Extension with a background service worker, content script, and popup UI.
  • Agent-based workflow coordinates detection, extraction, AI analysis, and availability checks.
  • Chrome Built-in AI (Prompt API) for on-device analysis; Translator API for EN/FR.
  • Modular structure with agents/ (detect/extract), ai/ (orchestrator, analysis, translator, availability), and ui/ (widget).

Challenges we ran into

  • AI availability and timing: Handling cases where the on-device model isn’t ready yet.
  • Website changes: Keeping selectors stable as e-commerce pages evolve.
  • Consistent AI outputs: Tuning prompts to reduce variability in summaries and advice.
  • Orchestrating parts: Coordinating background scripts, content scripts, and the UI smoothly.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Reliable product detection and high data completeness.
  • Fast end-to-end flow: Detection <500ms, extraction <2s, AI analysis ~3–5s.
  • Clear, helpful UI widget with agent reasoning visualization.
  • Cross-site availability checks that surface alternatives quickly.

What we learned

  • Prompt design matters: Small prompt changes affect clarity and reliability.
  • Resilience wins: Retries, fallbacks, and good logging make the system robust.
  • On-device AI trade-offs: Great for speed/privacy, but requires careful readiness checks.

What's next for PriceScout

  • Price tracking and alerts for historical trends and drops.
  • Side-by-side comparisons for multiple products.
  • More languages like Spanish and German.
  • Smart notifications for deals and availability updates.

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