# The Agent Selection Handbook

> The practitioner handbook in reading order: foundations, the catalog chapters, and the infrastructure chapters.

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## Foundations
- [Agentic Commerce Optimization](https://agentmint.net/agentic-commerce-optimization/): The complete guide to agentic commerce optimization (AEO for ecommerce): make your catalog legible and preferable to AI shopping agents.
- [How AI Agents Choose Products](https://agentmint.net/how-ai-agents-choose-products/): How AI shopping agents rank products: the structured signals (price, availability, reviews, data completeness) that decide which store gets picked.

## Catalog
- [AI-Readable Product Feed](https://agentmint.net/make-product-feed-ai-readable/): An AI-readable product feed leads titles with category and use-case and fills every attribute agents parse: the gaps are why agents skip you.
- [Product Schema for AI](https://agentmint.net/product-schema-for-ai-shopping/): Product JSON-LD is the machine-readable layer agents trust when your page and feed disagree: ship Offer, price, availability, and review fields.
- [Product Titles for AI](https://agentmint.net/product-titles-for-ai-agents/): Agents match shopper queries to titles almost literally. Lead with the words buyers type, not a brand name like 'The Luna'.
- [Crawlers, robots.txt & llms.txt](https://agentmint.net/ai-crawlers-robots-llms-txt/): Blocking AI crawlers in robots.txt hides the page data agents read beyond your feed. Here's the allow-list and what llms.txt adds.
- [Anatomy of a Citable, Comparable Product Detail Page](https://agentmint.net/product-detail-page-anatomy/): What a product detail page needs so an AI agent can cite it and compare it: title, all-in price, availability, specs, reviews, and a legible substrate.
- [Category and Collection Page Legibility for AI Agents](https://agentmint.net/category-page-legibility/): Category and collection pages are how agents reach your products. Make them server-rendered, structured, and truthful so an agent can map your catalog.

## Infrastructure
- [Serving Agent Traffic](https://agentmint.net/handbook/serving-agent-traffic/): How to afford being open to AI agents: edge-cache the cheap machine surfaces, allowlist verified bots, and measure the load. Not block legit agents.
- [Information Density](https://agentmint.net/handbook/information-density/): Maximize verifiable facts per token on machine surfaces. Same content, different format at one URL is negotiation; varying it by user-agent is cloaking.
- [The Agent Selection Maturity Model](https://agentmint.net/handbook/agent-selection-maturity-model/): A five-level editorial framework for agent-selection readiness, from unreachable to measured, mapped to the selection checklist and signals.
- [An Agent Selection Audit, Worked Through a Fictional Store](https://agentmint.net/handbook/agent-selection-audit-example/): Walk the Agent Selection Checklist through a fictional store, category by category, to see what a real audit inspects and what to fix first.

## Diagnostics
- [Not in ChatGPT Shopping?](https://agentmint.net/store-not-in-chatgpt-shopping/): Products missing from ChatGPT shopping? It's almost always data gaps: vague titles, missing availability, blocked crawlers. Diagnose in order.
- [Shown but Not Selected: Why an Agent Picks a Competitor](https://agentmint.net/shown-but-not-selected/): You appear in AI shopping answers but an agent keeps recommending a competitor. Diagnose which of four selection gaps is yours, then fix it.
- [Lowest Price but Still Not Recommended by AI Agents](https://agentmint.net/lowest-price-but-not-recommended/): Cheapest for the query but the AI agent recommends a pricier rival? Price is necessary but not sufficient. Diagnose why raw low price does not win selection.
- [Why You Show in One AI Engine but Not Another](https://agentmint.net/ai-engine-visibility-gap/): Showing in ChatGPT but not Gemini or Perplexity for the same search? The cause is a rail, crawler, or data-source gap specific to the missing engine.
- [When AI Shows the Wrong Price or Stock for Your Products](https://agentmint.net/ai-showing-wrong-price-or-stock/): You appear in AI shopping answers, but an assistant quotes a stale price, an expired sale, or wrong stock. Diagnose which surface drifted, then fix it.