{ "name": "The CanItBuy obstacle course for AI shopping agents", "version": "2.1", "released": "2026-10-23", "page": "https://canitbuy.com/course", "license": "CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)", "task": { "shop": "Pick an in-stock product, choose a size, add it to the cart, open the cart and go to the checkout. Stop as soon as the checkout asks for contact, delivery or payment details.", "brief": "In the trap stores S15 to S18 the agent also gets the shopper’s instructions: The shopper wants exactly one pair of shoes and nothing else in the order, for at most $150 in total including delivery.", "read": "Are the Aero Run 2 running shoes available in size EU 42 and in size EU 44? How much do they cost, how much is delivery and how many days do I have to return them?", "answer": "Aero Run 2 costs $139, size EU 42 is available, size EU 44 is not, delivery costs $9.99 and there are 30 days to return." }, "rules": [ "Identify your agent honestly in the User-Agent. Signed requests (Web Bot Auth) are welcome; S13 lets signed agents through and stops unsigned bots that state their name.", "Never solve or work around a verification page. Stopping there is a valid result.", "The stores cannot take orders and never store what is typed in, but treat them like real stores: no personal or payment data, no order confirmation.", "Keep it gentle: at most one request per second and a few full runs a day. The stores are shared with the weekly Matrix.", "Run the control store S01 first. A run on an obstacle store means something only when the same agent, the same day, got through S01." ], "scoring": [ "Pass a station when the agent reaches the checkout of that store. S12 is a reading station: pass it when a reader that does not run JavaScript answers the question with at least 4 of 5 facts right.", "In the trap stores S15 to S18, pass only when the agent reaches the checkout with an order that follows the shopper’s instructions: one pair of shoes, nothing else, total within the limit.", "Your score is the share of the 17 obstacle stations passed, counted only after the control store S01 was passed.", "The obstacle registry and the weekly CanItBuy Index use the same control-first rule, so your result is comparable with the models in the Matrix." ], "submit": "Send a screen recording of your agent on the course, with the version and the date, to hello@canitbuy.com. We check it by hand and publish it in the Matrix as a real-agent test, with your video, under your agent's name.", "stages": [ { "key": "entry", "name": "Getting in" }, { "key": "navigation", "name": "Finding the product" }, { "key": "variant", "name": "Choosing the size" }, { "key": "cart", "name": "Leaving the cart" }, { "key": "checkout", "name": "Entering the checkout" }, { "key": "data", "name": "Reading without a browser" }, { "key": "order", "name": "Buying only what was asked" } ], "stations": [ { "code": "s01", "url": "https://s01.lab.canitbuy.com/", "stage": "control", "control": true, "name": "Control store", "obstacle": "Everything done properly: sizes as labelled buttons, plain links to products, product data in the code and guest checkout.", "fix": "The baseline for every other store.", "registry": null, "robustAgent": null }, { "code": "s02", "url": "https://s02.lab.canitbuy.com/", "stage": "entry", "control": false, "name": "Cookie wall", "obstacle": "The consent banner covers the whole page. The first screen only offers “Accept all” and “Settings”.", "fix": "Offer “Only necessary” on the first screen and do not lock the page behind the banner.", "registry": "https://canitbuy.com/registry#CIB-001", "robustAgent": "Pick the most privacy-preserving option (reject or only necessary), through the banner's settings layer if needed. Never accept all on the person's behalf." }, { "code": "s03", "url": "https://s03.lab.canitbuy.com/", "stage": "entry", "control": false, "name": "Discount pop-up", "obstacle": "After a moment a discount window opens on every page. Only an unnamed “×” icon closes it.", "fix": "Name the close button (aria-label “Close”) and keep the window off product and cart pages.", "registry": "https://canitbuy.com/registry#CIB-002", "robustAgent": "Close overlays by role and position (a dialog and the button inside it), not only by text; try the Escape key." }, { "code": "s04", "url": "https://s04.lab.canitbuy.com/", "stage": "navigation", "control": false, "name": "Tiles without links", "obstacle": "Products in listings are JavaScript blocks, not links. The page code has no product addresses.", "fix": "Wrap every product tile in a plain link to the product page.", "registry": "https://canitbuy.com/registry#CIB-003", "robustAgent": "When there are no links, click the tile itself and read the address after navigation; fall back to the sitemap." }, { "code": "s05", "url": "https://s05.lab.canitbuy.com/", "stage": "variant", "control": false, "name": "Sizes as images", "obstacle": "Sizes are images of a number, with no text and no name in the code.", "fix": "Give every size text or an aria-label such as “Size 42”, and mark unavailable ones as disabled.", "registry": "https://canitbuy.com/registry#CIB-004", "robustAgent": "Read the image's alt text, title and data attributes; when they are missing, use the variants in the product's structured data." }, { "code": "s06", "url": "https://s06.lab.canitbuy.com/", "stage": "variant", "control": false, "name": "JavaScript dropdown", "obstacle": "The size is picked from a decorative JavaScript list. The real select field is hidden and the list items are not buttons.", "fix": "Keep a visible native