Desperate_Plenty_175's journey

I'm currently in the job search process for a software engineering position focused on AI agents. I've been communicating with a company that seems interested, but they've hit a snag. They want me to provide my salary expectations before they send an official offer, but they haven't given me any salary range to work with. This puts me in a tough spot because I'm currently unemployed and don’t have other offers on the table. I'm trying to navigate this carefully; I don’t want to lowball myself, but I'm also concerned about asking for too much and potentially losing the opportunity altogether. I've been doing some research, but there’s not much data available on what this specific company pays for similar roles. I’ve seen advice suggesting that I should either provide a range or a specific number based on market research. Some comments recommend using resources like Glassdoor or levels.fyi to get a better idea of what to ask for. I’m leaning towards giving them a number that reflects the market value for my skills and experience, but I’m still unsure about how to approach this without jeopardizing my chances. Any tips on how to handle this situation would be greatly appreciated!