How Merkado works
Merkado is a curated AI app marketplace: a small catalog of launch-ready SaaS templates and AI agents, sold as one-time purchases with full source code. Every listing is reviewed by a human for clarity, setup time, and a real business outcome, and every Merkado Original is built to be customized with AI coding tools. Here is the whole process, start to finish.
- 1
Find a template built around a business outcome
Browse by category (lead gen, booking, client portals, AI agents, workflow automation) or search for a specific use case like 'HVAC lead capture'. Categories are small and focused on purpose: no 400-item search results, no filler.
- 2
Review exactly what you are buying
Every listing shows screenshots, a live demo where available, the included integrations, delivery format, setup time estimate, and license terms. Prices are one-time, not subscriptions, and if a template does not work as described, our 30-day refund policy covers you.
- 3
Purchase, customize, and ship
Checkout is handled by Stripe and access is instant: downloads, docs, and links appear in your dashboard. From there, follow the deploy guide, or point an AI coding tool like Claude Code or Cursor at the included AGENTS.md file and tell it what to change. Most buyers ship the same day.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Merkado?
- Merkado is a curated AI app marketplace. It sells launch-ready SaaS templates, AI agents, and business apps as one-time purchases with full source code. Every listing is human-reviewed and built to be customized with AI coding tools, so you can go from purchase to a deployed app in hours instead of weeks.
- What exactly do I get when I buy a template?
- Every template includes the full source code, plain-language setup docs, an environment variable checklist, a deploy guide, and free updates. Many listings also offer optional paid setup help if you would rather have it configured for you.
- What does agent-ready or AI-editable mean?
- Every Merkado Original ships with an AGENTS.md file: structured instructions that AI coding tools like Claude Code, Cursor, and Copilot read to understand the codebase. That means you can ask your AI tool to rebrand the app, change fields, or add features, and it knows exactly where and how to make the changes.
- Do I need to be a developer to use a template?
- No. Templates are built so a technically comfortable non-developer can deploy them by following the included guides, with AI coding tools doing the heavy lifting on customization. If you get stuck, many listings offer optional paid setup help from the maker.
- How long does setup take?
- Most listings show a setup time estimate up front. The typical Merkado template lists about 30 minutes of setup, and the most involved kits, such as the client onboarding portal and the two-sided marketplace starter, run from half a day to a full working day including accounts, environment variables, and deployment.
- How is Merkado different from CodeCanyon or a boilerplate like ShipFast?
- Three ways. First, curation: Merkado is a small, human-reviewed catalog rather than thousands of unvetted scripts. Second, focus: each template is a complete app built around one business outcome, not a generic starter you assemble features on top of. Third, the agent-ready standard: every Merkado Original ships with AGENTS.md so AI coding tools can customize it reliably.
- What is the refund policy?
- Refunds are handled case by case within 30 days of purchase. If a template does not work as described or is materially different from its listing, contact hello@merkado.ai and we will make it right, including a refund where appropriate. Change-of-mind refunds after download are generally not offered. The full policy is in our Terms of Service.
- What license do I get?
- Merkado's standard license is single-use commercial: you can use and customize the template to build and deploy one commercial project, and serve unlimited users or customers through it with no per-seat fee. One license also covers your development, staging, and demo environments, your backups, the contractors who work on it with you, and modification by AI coding tools. What you cannot do is resell or redistribute the template files themselves, or list them on another marketplace. That restriction applies to the template, not to your product: you may operate what you build commercially, sell access to it, and license it to your own customers on whatever terms you choose. Handing over the source code is allowed in one case, covered in the next answer. Each listing shows its license, and the full terms are in our Terms of Service.
- Can I use a template for a client project?
- Yes, and you can hand over the code. This applies to purchases made from September 29, 2026, when the updated license terms take effect. One purchase covers one commercial project, whether that is your own product or something you build and deliver for a client. When you deliver, you may transfer the finished product to that client permanently, source code included, and they may operate, modify, and maintain it themselves or through their own contractors. What they do not get is the right to use the template to build something else. Building the same app for a second client is a second project and needs a second purchase, even if the code is identical, and delivering the first one does not free up its license. If a template is multi-tenant, like a client portal, one deployment serving many of your clients still counts as one project. Need agency volume pricing? Email hello@merkado.ai.
- Can I sell my own templates on Merkado?
- Not yet, but soon. Merkado is currently seeded with in-house Merkado Originals while the buyer side is proven out. Join the maker waitlist on the Sell page and you will get one email when applications open. Makers keep 80% of each sale.