# Vendor facets — Kustomer. CRM-style helpdesk with a hosted, multi-brand knowledge base that can run
# on the provider's own domain. Headline: support_channel (2 pts, ~45% catalog pass rate, not
# saturated) plus a platform-wide generated llms.txt with Markdown article twins — seen on Kustomer's
# own KB and on a customer's custom domain (support.everlane.com, whose file is titled "# default",
# i.e. unconfigured). Getting-started and auth only where the provider writes them.
vendor: kustomer
name: Kustomer
website: https://www.kustomer.com
areas:
- support
registry_keys: []
rubric_schema_version: 0.22.0
generated: '2026-09-25'
features_refreshed: '2026-09-25'
basis: capability
summary: >-
  Kustomer earns a provider a declared support channel (2 points) and an llms.txt: its knowledge base
  serves /llms.txt and a Markdown copy of each article, generated from the provider's own articles, worth
  llms_txt_published (4 points) on the provider's custom domain once declared. The generated file can
  carry placeholder titling ("# default") when the brand is left unnamed, so it is real but not curated.
  Getting-started and authentication pages count only if the provider writes them.
features:
- id: knowledge-base
  name: Knowledge base
  description: >-
    Hosted, themeable knowledge base per brand, indexable by search engines unless turned off, with an
    in-app internal view for agents.
  source: https://help.kustomer.com/en_us/configure-knowledge-base-HJcpdeZx8
  tier: paid
- id: kb-custom-domain
  name: Knowledge base custom domain
  description: >-
    Replaces the Kustomer-provided URL with a branded domain such as support.brand.com, with an automatically
    provisioned certificate.
  source: https://help.kustomer.com/en_us/custom-knowledge-base-domain-S1TQuULb8
  tier: paid
- id: kb-llms-txt
  name: Generated llms.txt and Markdown article twins
  description: >-
    The knowledge base serves /llms.txt listing articles by category with text/markdown .md copies; observed
    2026-09-25 on help.kustomer.com and on support.everlane.com (a Kustomer KB on a customer domain).
  source: https://support.everlane.com/llms.txt
  tier: paid
maps:
- feature: knowledge-base
  check: support_channel
  layer: composite
  credit: 1.0
  provider_must: Declare the knowledge base in apis.yml common[] as HelpCenter or Support.
  catalog_pass_rate: 0.45
  facet: developer_ergonomics
  points: 2
  baseline_pass_rate: 0.69
- feature: kb-llms-txt
  check: llms_txt_published
  layer: composite
  credit: 1.0
  note: >-
    Generated by Kustomer from the provider's own articles; on the provider's custom domain the format's
    first-party exception applies. On the Kustomer-provided host it would be a vendor-domain, derived
    (0.25) artifact. It indexes support articles, not API docs.
  provider_must: >-
    Serve the knowledge base on a custom domain, name the brand so the file is not titled "default", and
    declare https://<kb-domain>/llms.txt as an LLMsTxt pointer.
  catalog_pass_rate: 0.351
  facet: discoverability
  points: 4
  baseline_pass_rate: 0.65
- feature: knowledge-base
  check: getting_started_present
  layer: composite
  conditional: true
  condition: >-
    Only if the provider writes a getting-started guide for its API as a knowledge-base article and declares
    it as GettingStarted.
  provider_must: Write the guide and declare its URL as GettingStarted.
  catalog_pass_rate: 0.206
  facet: developer_ergonomics
  points: 5
  baseline_pass_rate: 0.636
- feature: knowledge-base
  check: authentication_documented
  layer: composite
  conditional: true
  condition: >-
    Only if the provider documents its API authentication in a knowledge-base article and declares it
    as Authentication.
  provider_must: Write the page and declare its URL as Authentication.
  catalog_pass_rate: 0.368
  facet: developer_ergonomics
  points: 5
  baseline_pass_rate: 0.94
  saturated: true
  saturated_note: >-
    94% of providers with a contract, docs and a reference already earn this; the vendor cannot move it
    for most of its buyers.
earns_nothing:
- feature: kb-custom-domain
  why: >-
    No check reads the host of a support pointer; its only scoring effect is making the llms.txt row first-party.
out_of_reach:
  checks:
  - status_page_present
  - change_log_present
  - contract_present
  - api_reference_present
  - sdk_count_1
  note: >-
    The knowledge base produces no status page, changelog, contract, reference or SDK for the provider's
    API.
unscored_practice:
- feature: kb-llms-txt
  why: Per-article text/markdown twins for LLM readers; no composite check reads them.
surface:
  discoverability:
    reachable: 4.0
    total: 54
  developer_ergonomics:
    reachable: 12.0
    total: 42
  agent_readiness:
    reachable: 0
    total: 139
hard_rule: >-
  A model, not a score. Adopting this vendor changes a provider's Kin Score only when the provider publishes
  the resulting artifacts on its own surface; nothing here writes a score, and no sponsorship or partnership
  can.
method: searched
source:
- https://help.kustomer.com/en_us/configure-knowledge-base-HJcpdeZx8
- https://help.kustomer.com/en_us/custom-knowledge-base-domain-S1TQuULb8
- https://support.everlane.com/llms.txt
measured:
  cohort:
    method: vendors-catalog.json detections (CNAME / header / URL shape / markup), never a name match
    detected: 0
    in_baseline: 0
  control:
    basis: providers earning contract_present + documentation_present + api_reference_present, minus the
      cohort
    n: 5216
  metric: >-
    cohort_pct / control_pct = mean share of the check's points earned (derived and platform credit weighted),
    x100
  measured_on: '2026-09-25'
  status: 'not measurable: 0 detected customers clear the baseline (need 20)'
simulation:
  simulated_on: '2026-09-25'
  rubric: 0.23.0
  population: providers publishing a contract (contract_present earned), replayable exactly
  providers: 8977
  providers_unreplayable: 987
  providers_moved: 5745
  conditional_rows: excluded (they depend on what the API already does)
  composite_lift:
    median: 0.8
    p75: 1.7
    p90: 1.7
    max: 1.8
    mean_among_movers: 1.2
  agent_readiness_lift:
    median: 0.0
    p75: 0.0
    p90: 0.0
    max: 0.0
    mean_among_movers: 0.0
  facet_lift_median_among_movers:
    discoverability: 7.4
    developer_ergonomics: 4.8
  composite_band_moves:
    thin -> developing: 363
    emerging -> thin: 110
    developing -> strong: 82
    strong -> exemplar: 19
    minimal -> emerging: 1
  agent_readiness_band_moves: {}
  method: >-
    each provider's own kin/checks file, the vendor's maps at their stated credit, the scorer's composite
    formula; from -> to, nothing written