Build vs Buy Analyzer is a skill that walks an AI agent through a structured, 8-point evaluation framework to determine whether an engineering team should build a capability in-house, purchase a third-party service, or pursue a hybrid approach. Each of the eight criteria is scored from 1 to 5, covering dimensions such as core competency alignment, total cost of ownership, time-to-market, and vendor lock-in risk.
The skill produces a Decision Record as its output. That record includes a 3-year TCO model that accounts for engineering hours, maintenance overhead, infrastructure costs, and licensing fees. It also surfaces the top three risks for each path — for example, IP reputation concerns on the build side or vendor price increases on the buy side — and pairs each risk with a mitigation approach.
The Decision Record concludes with three concrete next steps to move from the decision to implementation. The format is designed to be inserted directly into Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), shared with stakeholders, or posted to a team communication channel.
This skill is appropriate when an engineering team needs a repeatable, documented rationale for a build-vs-buy choice rather than an informal discussion. It is not a general-purpose cost-estimation or procurement tool, and it does not integrate with external pricing APIs or vendor catalogs to fetch live cost data.