Confidence Levels

PKP uses confidence levels to indicate the reliability of product data. Every data block can have source attribution and verification timestamps.

Why Confidence Matters

In the world of product data:

• Manufacturer specs are authoritative
• Retailer data may be outdated or incomplete
• AI-generated data needs verification
• Scraped data may contain errors

PKP makes this explicit so AI agents can make informed decisions.

Confidence Sources

Level	Source	Description	Trust
1	manufacturer	Official manufacturer data	Highest
2	retailer-feed	Authorized retailer feeds	High
3	community	User contributions	Medium
4	ai-generated	AI-extracted data	Low
5	scraped	Web-scraped data	Lowest

PRODUCT.md Format

confidence:
  specs:
    source: manufacturer
    verified_at: "2025-01-15"
  price:
    source: retailer-feed
    verified_at: "2025-01-20"
  summary:
    source: ai-generated
    verified_at: "2025-01-18"

Field-Level Confidence

You can specify confidence for individual fields or groups:

confidence:
  # Group confidence
  specs:
    source: manufacturer
    verified_at: "2025-01-15"

  # Individual field confidence
  price:
    source: retailer-feed
    verified_at: "2025-01-20"

Precedence Rules

When merging data from multiple sources, higher confidence wins:

manufacturer > retailer-feed > community > ai-generated > scraped

Example Conflict Resolution

If manufacturer says RAM is 12GB but a scraped source says 16GB, the 12GB value is used because manufacturer has higher confidence.

Best Practices

For Data Publishers

1. Always include source: Be transparent about where data comes from
2. Update verified_at: Keep timestamps current when you verify data
3. Use appropriate level: Don't claim manufacturer for scraped data

For AI Agents

1. Check confidence before recommending: High-stakes decisions need high-confidence data
2. Warn users about low confidence: "Note: This spec was AI-generated and may need verification"
3. Prefer manufacturer data: When available, prioritize authoritative sources

API Response

When using MCP servers, confidence is included in product responses:

{
  "sku": "galaxy-s25-ultra",
  "specs": {
    "ram_gb": 12,
    "storage_gb": 256
  },
  "confidence": {
    "specs": {
      "source": "manufacturer",
      "verified_at": "2025-01-15"
    }
  }
}

Validation

The PKP validator checks:

• Valid confidence source values
• ISO 8601 date format for verified_at
• Consistency between confidence blocks and data fields

pkp validate ./products
# Will warn if confidence sources are invalid