The MerchantFlow Skill File

The MerchantFlow Skill file is an optional download that teaches your AI assistant how to think about ecommerce data, which tool to pick for each question, and how to format answers. It's the v1 MerchantFlow differentiator - most MCP servers just ship tools and hope the AI figures things out; we ship curated guidance so your assistant speaks ecommerce fluently from day one.

What's in it?

• Identity primer - teaches the AI its role as a financial co-pilot
• Mental model - the ecommerce P&L waterfall and key metric definitions (MER, contribution margin, payback period, SDE multiple)
• Tool selection cheatsheet - which tool to pick for each type of question
• 20+ question-to-tool routing examples - few-shot examples that dramatically improve tool-calling accuracy
• Anti-patterns - things the AI should never do (like computing margins from revenue breakdowns, or repeatedly polling the same tool)
• Output style guide - formatting rules that match what DTC operators actually want to read
• Privacy reminders - PII handling rules

Before and after

Without the skill file, ask "how are my ads doing?" and you'll get a generic response like: "Let me check your ad performance. Your Meta ads spent $X with Y clicks..."

With the skill file: "Your blended MER dropped from 3.2 to 2.7 this week - down 15%. The driver is Meta (MER fell from 4.1 to 2.8 after your new UGC creative launched Tuesday). Google is flat at 2.9. Recommendation: pause the Tuesday creative test and compare the next 48 hours of MER to decide whether to kill it permanently."

Same data, same tools, dramatically better answer.

Download

Pick the format that matches your AI client:

You can also find these downloads in your MerchantFlow Settings → MCP Server page under "Make your AI 10x smarter".

Installing in each client

Claude Desktop

1. Download the Claude format
2. Open Claude Desktop -> Projects
3. Create a new Project called "MerchantFlow" (or reuse an existing one)
4. Upload the downloaded file as a Project knowledge item
5. All chats in that Project now benefit from the skill

Alternatively, paste the contents as the Project's custom instructions.

Cursor

1. Download the Cursor format
2. Save as .cursorrules in your project root (or ~/.cursor/.cursorrules for global effect)
3. Cursor automatically reads it on next chat

Windsurf

1. Download the Windsurf format
2. Save as .windsurfrules in your workspace root
3. Cascade reads it on next session

VS Code / Copilot

1. Download the VS Code format
2. Save as .github/copilot-instructions.md in your repo
3. Copilot reads it automatically for every chat in that repo

Versioning

The skill file is versioned via frontmatter (skill_version: 1.0.0). When we update it, your MerchantFlow settings page will show an "Update available" badge. Re-download and replace your local copy to stay current.

Privacy

The skill file contains no tenant-specific data - it's generic guidance shared by all MerchantFlow users. Downloading it doesn't expose anything about your store.