# SecondDoor methodology SecondDoor scans a website twice, once as a human visitor and once as an AI agent, and scores how far each gets through the funnel. ## The arithmetic The human score is the mean of the four human dimensions. The agent score is the mean of the six agent dimensions. The composite is the mean of those two scores. The Door Gap is the human score minus the agent score. None of these numbers is written by a language model: they are computed from the dimension scores. Three agent dimensions are computed directly from what the scan observed rather than judged: machine discoverability, machine-fetchable trust, and agent-aware instrumentation. A file either exists or it does not, so scoring them by hand would only add noise. ## Scan depths - Basic scan (API depth "free"): Scored from deterministic checks: what the site publishes for machines, and one automated pass over the signup path. - Deep scan: Scored by two agents that walked the site, one over HTTP with no JavaScript and one in a real browser, with cited evidence for every dimension. ## The agent door ### Machine discoverability Whether a retrieval system can find and read you at all. - Low, 0 to 20: no sitemap, primary content only renders with JavaScript, or crawlers or declared AI agents are blocked outright. - Middle, 40 to 60: sitemap present and some schema.org markup, but key pages need JavaScript. - High, 80 to 100: crawlers, declared AI agents and real browsers are all admitted, rich schema.org markup, and the main content is readable in raw HTML. llms.txt earns a small credit as declared intent and is never decisive. Full page: https://www.seconddoor.io/methodology/machine_discoverability ### Programmatic onboarding Whether an agent can get working access without a human. - Low, 0 to 20: no self-serve API access, or a human must approve or verify before any credential is issued. - Middle, 40 to 60: self-serve signup exists but an API key requires manual steps such as email confirmation or a dashboard click path. - High, 80 to 100: an API key can be obtained programmatically, with a documented quickstart and a published OpenAPI spec. Full page: https://www.seconddoor.io/methodology/programmatic_onboarding ### Pricing legibility Whether total cost can be computed from published numbers. - Low, 0 to 20: no prices are published at all, every plan routes to sales, or prices are invisible without JavaScript. - Middle, 40 to 60: headline prices published but usage limits, overages or add-ons are unclear, so total cost cannot be computed. - High, 80 to 100: prices and limits in raw HTML or a machine-readable source. An enterprise tier routed to sales beside published tiers is standard practice and never lowers this. Full page: https://www.seconddoor.io/methodology/pricing_legibility ### Agent-aware instrumentation Whether you publish anything built for machine callers. - Low, 0 to 20: no MCP server, no ai-plugin.json, no agent documentation, or known agent user agents are blocked. - Middle, 40 to 60: some machine-oriented endpoints exist but nothing is advertised to agents specifically. - High, 80 to 100: a published MCP server or equivalent agent interface, documented and discoverable. Full page: https://www.seconddoor.io/methodology/agent_aware_instrumentation ### Machine-fetchable trust Whether terms, security and status are readable as text. - Low, 0 to 20: no security.txt, and terms, privacy or status pages are missing or unreadable as text. - Middle, 40 to 60: terms and privacy fetchable, but no security.txt and no machine-readable status or SLA. - High, 80 to 100: security.txt present, and terms, privacy, status and SLA all fetchable as plain text. Full page: https://www.seconddoor.io/methodology/machine_fetchable_trust ### Commercial rails Whether a purchase can complete without a sales call. - Low, 0 to 20: buying requires a sales conversation, with no published path to a paid account. - Middle, 40 to 60: self-serve checkout exists for lower tiers but pricing or billing cannot be reached programmatically. - High, 80 to 100: self-serve checkout with published prices and billing reachable through an API. Full page: https://www.seconddoor.io/methodology/commercial_rails ## The human door ### Steps to first value How far a new visitor travels before something useful happens. - Low, 0 to 20: more than six steps, or the only path forward is a demo request. - Middle, 40 to 60: four to six steps, with signup required before anything useful is visible. - High, 80 to 100: something genuinely useful is visible within three steps. Full page: https://www.seconddoor.io/methodology/steps_to_first_value ### Required fields How much you ask for before you give anything back. - Low, 0 to 20: eight or more required fields, including phone number or company size. - Middle, 40 to 60: four to seven required fields, including at least one the visitor may hesitate over. - High, 80 to 100: email only, or single sign-on, with everything else deferred. Full page: https://www.seconddoor.io/methodology/required_fields ### Verification walls How many gates stand between intent and access. - Low, 0 to 20: email and phone verification both required before anything works. - Middle, 40 to 60: email verification required before the product does anything useful. - High, 80 to 100: explore first, verify later, or no verification at all for the first useful action. Full page: https://www.seconddoor.io/methodology/verification_walls ### Error recovery What happens when someone gets it wrong. - Low, 0 to 20: no inline validation, errors dump the visitor back to an empty form, dead ends with no route forward. - Middle, 40 to 60: errors are reported but the copy is generic and some state is lost. - High, 80 to 100: inline validation, specific recovery copy, and entered state is preserved. Full page: https://www.seconddoor.io/methodology/error_recovery ## Reading a report Every report is public and permanent. Scores, summaries and issue titles are always readable. The evidence behind each score, and the recommended fixes, are behind a work email. Index of every site scanned: https://www.seconddoor.io/scans ## Company and policies SecondDoor is operated by Growthfolio, LLC, 6 Orchard Street, Concord, NH 03301, United States. Support: support@seconddoor.io. Billing: billing@seconddoor.io. Privacy: privacy@seconddoor.io. Sales: sales@seconddoor.io. Paid plans are monthly subscriptions billed in US dollars, renewing automatically until cancelled. There is no minimum term and no cancellation fee. Cancel at any time and paid features run to the end of the period already paid for. Subscription fees are not refunded. Terms of service: https://www.seconddoor.io/terms Privacy policy: https://www.seconddoor.io/privacy Refunds and cancellation: https://www.seconddoor.io/refunds Support: https://www.seconddoor.io/support Contact: https://www.seconddoor.io/contact