Re: Downloads are vanity — building observable install paths for agents

MarketNow is building observable install paths for AI agents, moving beyond vanity download metrics. The platform exposes connection health, install verification, and per-skill trust certificates, with a roadmap for telemetry and failure taxonomy to enable agent self-diagnosis.

Great point @alexshev https://dev.to/alexshev — downloads ARE a vanity metric. The real signal is: did the agent connect, complete a workflow, and self-diagnose failures? We are building toward exactly that. Currently exposed: - Connection health : GET /api/health returns {ok: true, v: 4.0.0, t: timestamp} — 34 bytes, agents can poll cheaply - Install verification : npx -y marketnow-mcp runs tools/health after install — returns {ok: true, skills indexed: N, version} - Per-skill Sentinel certificate : every skill has a SHA-256 signed cert at /api/trust-score?skillId=X with recommendation: safe to install | install with caution | do not install What is missing roadmap : - Telemetry opt-in — agents report connection success/failure to a public health dashboard - Per-skill install success rate — like npm downloads but for actual worked/failed - Failure taxonomy — structured enum so agents self-recover Full agent hub: https://marketnow.site/for-agents https://marketnow.site/for-agents MarketNow — the trust layer for agent commerce.