Your First Smart Match
Last updated: 2026-05-18
Your First Smart Match Session
Smart Match is a short conversational session that returns a ranked set of tools with a written brief. You describe what you need, it asks a few follow-up questions, and you get a recommended stack. This page walks through how it works from start to finish.
How to Get There
Click Smart Match in the sidebar (the sparkles icon) or go to /hub/smart-match. On mobile it's under the Match tab.
Starting the Session
You land on the Briefing screen. You'll see a text input and a few Quick Start cards (AI Coding Stack, Marketing Stack, Audit My AI Spend). You can either type your own situation or click a card to get started with a preset prompt.
The more specific you are at this stage, the better. "AI for coding" gives Smart Match less to work with than "AI for code completion and PR review, solo developer, around $50/month."
The Conversation
After your first message, Smart Match may ask follow-up questions — one at a time, up to 5 turns total. It's trying to confirm:
- Budget — under $50/mo, $50-200, $200-500, or enterprise
- Scale — solo, small team, or larger
- Role — developer, marketer, sales, content, support, etc.
- Preferences — open-source, no-code, API-first, or something else
You can type your answers or click the option chips when they're offered. As the session progresses you'll see context pills appear at the top showing what it's inferred (budget, role, team size).
The Output
When Smart Match has enough context, or after 5 turns, it switches to the Dossier view. You get:
1. Strategy Brief — Two sentences. Your situation and why this stack fits.
2. Insights — Short tags describing the stack's character (Budget-optimized, API-first, etc.).
3. Ranked tools — Tool cards in order of fit. Each shows the name, vendor, pricing, a fit score out of 100, and a one-sentence reason.
4. Cost estimate — A rough monthly total based on the tools in the stack.
Every tool in the stack links to its full profile in the directory. Nothing is invented.
What to Do Next
From the Dossier screen you can add any tool directly to My Stack by clicking Add to Stack. Use the Copy button to save the Strategy Brief and stack to your clipboard. Click New Session to start over with different requirements.