Principles & methodology
What Stays is a recommendation tool that responds only to what you ask for. It does not analyze your identity, retain personal meaning, or optimize for time-on-site.
The recommendation flow
Type or speak a description of what you are looking for. The more detail you provide — material, use case, habits, constraints — the fewer questions we need to ask.
A language model reads your description and extracts structured answers to our question set. It identifies what you have already told us and marks those questions as answered. It does not guess — if it cannot confidently infer an answer, it leaves it blank.
The question flow skips every question your description already answered. If you described a metal insulated travel mug with no straw, we skip the material, temperature, and lid questions entirely. You see only the gaps.
Each archetype in the relevant category has a profile — a map of which answers it is compatible with. We count how many of your answers match each archetype's profile and compute a Staying Score. Only archetypes scoring 60 or above are shown.
We never show more than three recommendations. More is not better — more is noise. If only one archetype qualifies, we show one. If none qualify, we show a trust screen explaining why.
Every answer inferred from your description appears as a chip on the results page. Tap any chip to change the answer and re-score immediately — no restart, no new session.
Scoring methodology
Each archetype has a profile — a map of which question answers it is compatible with. The Staying Score is the percentage of your answers that match the archetype's profile. A score of 100 means every answer you gave is compatible with that archetype. A score of 60 is the minimum threshold for a recommendation to be shown.
Example: You describe a metal insulated travel mug. We infer: drink type = hot, location = commute, temperature = critical, care = rinse, ritual = functional. An insulated travel mug archetype that matches all five of those answers scores 100. A ceramic home mug that matches only one scores 20 — below the threshold, not shown.
Scores are computed entirely client-side in your browser. No answer data leaves your device during scoring.
Vehicle recommendations
What Stays recommends a vehicle type based on your answers — not a specific listing. Once we identify the right archetype (e.g., "Reliable Daily Commuter Sedan"), we link you to the following marketplaces with pre-filtered search queries so you can find actual inventory near you.
Aggregates listings from dealers and private sellers nationwide. Best for comparing prices on specific makes and models.
Large dealer network with strong filtering by certified pre-owned, price, and distance.
Dealer and private-party listings with consumer reviews and dealer ratings.
Online-only used car retailer with no-haggle pricing, home delivery, and a 7-day return policy.
Private-party local listings. Best for finding lower prices on older vehicles without dealer markup.
The largest RV and recreational vehicle marketplace. Used for all recreational vehicle archetypes.
Motorcycle and powersports marketplace. Used for motorcycle and scooter archetypes.
What Stays does not pull live inventory. We recommend the vehicle type; you search the marketplace for available listings. This is intentional — inventory changes daily, and we do not want to show you a specific listing that may no longer be available.
What we don't do
We do not show you 47 options. We show you up to three.
We do not rank by popularity, star ratings, or review count.
We do not show you what other people bought.
We do not use your browsing history, location, or identity.
We do not have a sponsored section, a featured section, or a promoted section.
We do not show you ads between results.
We do not send you emails, push notifications, or retargeting ads.
We do not track your session across visits.
We do not sell your data. We cannot — we do not have it.
Our commitments
What Stays has never shown an advertisement and never will. Ads create an incentive to recommend what pays, not what fits. We do not accept advertising revenue in any form.
No brand has paid for placement in our recommendations. Every archetype is selected by internal editorial logic only. Brands cannot buy a higher score, a better position, or inclusion in the library.
A Staying Score of 60 is the floor. Below that, we show nothing. We would rather disappoint you honestly than mislead you helpfully.
Your answers and preference memory are stored only on your device using the browser's local storage. We have no server-side record of what you prefer. You can view, understand, and permanently delete this data at any time from the Memory page.
Your preferences are never transmitted to our servers. We cannot read them. We do not sell them. If you clear your browser storage, they are gone permanently. The soul file is yours alone.
The Memory page shows you the complete, unedited record of everything stored on your device — every answer you have given, every pattern we have inferred, every session. There is no hidden layer.
If no archetype scores above 60 for your answers, we show a trust screen instead of a forced recommendation. We would rather disappoint you honestly than mislead you helpfully.
What Stays is in the process of establishing affiliate relationships with the following programs: Amazon Associates (everyday goods), REI Co-op (outdoor gear), Cars.com (vehicles), CarGurus (EVs), Cycle Trader (motorcycles), RV Trader (recreational vehicles), and others. Until each relationship is formally approved and active, all links are clean editorial links — no tracking tags, no commissions. When any affiliate relationship becomes active, this page will be updated to reflect it explicitly, and the relevant disclosure will appear on every page containing those links.
We link to specific products because vague recommendations are not useful. A link is a service to you, not a revenue mechanism. You can verify this: every product URL is a clean direct link with no tracking parameters appended. We build for value first. Compensation follows trust, not the other way around.
Your preference memory
View, understand, and delete everything stored on your device. The Memory page shows the complete, unedited record.
Questions or concerns
If anything on this page is unclear, incomplete, or incorrect, please reach out directly.
[email protected]