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osint skill - User Guide

AI-powered Open Source Intelligence collection and analysis.

Overview

The osint skill provides structured workflows for gathering and analyzing publicly available information. All findings are stored to the knowledge graph for future reference and cross-investigation linking.

Key Capability: Iterative Pivot-Driven Investigations - The Investigation Orchestrator automatically expands collection as new intelligence is discovered, following leads across entity types (username → email → domain → company → personnel).

Getting Started

Prerequisites

  • agents skill - Required for agent delegation (OSINT tasks must be executed by specialized agents)
  • browser skill - Required for web scraping and page rendering
  • knowledge skill - Required for persistent intelligence storage

Basic Usage

Simply describe what you want to investigate:

Investigate username johndoe123

Research company Acme Corporation

Analyze domain example.com

The skill will automatically route to the appropriate workflow.

Investigation Orchestrator (Iterative Pivot-Driven)

The Investigation Orchestrator is the most powerful workflow in the OSINT skill. It automatically expands collection as new intelligence is discovered, creating a comprehensive intelligence picture.

Investigation Orchestrator Flow

What Makes It Different

Standard Workflow Investigation Orchestrator
Single target, single workflow Auto-expands to related entities
Manual follow-up on leads Automatic pivot detection
One-shot collection Iterative depth exploration
Results in isolation Builds entity relationship graph

How It Works

PHASE 1: Initial Collection
├── Spawn parallel agents for initial target
├── UsernameRecon, SocialCapture, DomainRecon, etc.
└── Collect all available intelligence

PHASE 2: Pivot Detection
├── Analyze findings for new entities
├── Email addresses, domains, companies, real names
└── Prioritize: HIGH (same person), MEDIUM (associated), LOW (tangential)

PHASE 3: Expansion Decision
├── Check depth/entity limits
├── Interactive mode: Present pivots for approval
└── Auto mode: Pursue based on priority and scope

PHASE 4: Expand Collection (repeat until limits)
├── Spawn agents for approved pivots
├── Return to pivot detection
└── Build deeper intelligence

PHASE 5: Synthesis & Report
├── Entity linking and correlation
├── Timeline analysis
└── Comprehensive dossier generation

Pivot Investigation Decision Tree

Invocation Examples

Basic investigation (auto mode):

Investigate username johndoe

Deep investigation with wide scope:

Deep dive on email john@example.com with max_depth 3 and wide scope

Interactive mode (approve each pivot):

Investigate johndoe with interactive approval

Company investigation:

Full investigation on Acme Corp, follow the leads

Resume a previous investigation:

Resume investigation OSINT-INV-2026-001

Parameters

Parameter Default Description
max_depth 2 Maximum pivot hops from original target
max_entities 50 Stop when this many entities discovered
scope standard narrow, standard, or wide
require_approval false Ask before pursuing each pivot

Scope Levels

Scope Pivots Followed Best For
narrow HIGH priority only Quick identity verification
standard HIGH + MEDIUM priority General investigations
wide All priorities Comprehensive threat analysis

Interactive Pivot Approval

When require_approval is enabled, you'll see pivot opportunities:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ PIVOT OPPORTUNITIES DETECTED                                     │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ HIGH PRIORITY:                                                   │
│ [1] Email: john@example.com (from GitHub profile)                │
│ [2] Real Name: "John Doe" (from LinkedIn)                        │
│                                                                  │
│ MEDIUM PRIORITY:                                                 │
│ [3] Company: "Acme Corp" (employer)                              │
│ [4] Domain: johndoe.dev (from Twitter bio)                       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Options:
  • "pursue 1,2,4" - Investigate these now
  • "defer 3"      - Save for later investigation
  • "pursue all"   - Investigate all pivots
  • "done"         - Skip remaining, proceed to synthesis

Deferred Leads

Leads that aren't pursued are stored in the Knowledge Graph for later:

  • Reason tracking: Why it was deferred (depth limit, user choice, scope)
  • Context preserved: What investigation discovered it
  • Resume capability: Continue investigation anytime

To view deferred leads:

What deferred leads do I have from OSINT investigations?

To pursue deferred leads:

Resume investigation OSINT-INV-2026-001, pursue deferred leads
Investigate deferred pivot colleague@acme.com

Workflow Categories

Workflow Use When Example
InvestigationOrchestrator Full investigation with auto-expansion "Deep dive on johndoe, follow the leads"

Individual/Person Research

Workflow Use When Example
UsernameRecon Finding accounts across platforms "Find all accounts for username hackerman"
SocialCapture Capturing social media profiles "Capture Twitter profile @elonmusk"
TargetProfile Comprehensive individual dossier "Full profile on John Smith"
TimelineAnalysis Analyzing activity patterns "When is this user most active?"

Domain/Infrastructure

Workflow Use When Example
DomainRecon Investigating websites/domains "Investigate example.com"
InfraMapping Mapping network infrastructure "Map infrastructure for 10.0.0.0/24"

Company/Business Research

Workflow Use When Example
CompanyProfile Full company investigation "Research Acme Corporation"
CorporateStructure Ownership and hierarchy "Who owns XYZ Inc?"
FinancialRecon Funding, investors, financials "What's the financial status of TechCorp?"
CompetitorAnalysis Market position, competitors "Analyze competitors for Acme"
RiskAssessment Due diligence, litigation, sanctions "Run risk check on vendor ABC"

Digital Artifacts

Workflow Use When Example
EmailRecon Email investigation, breach checking "Email lookup john@example.com"
PhoneRecon Phone number validation "Phone lookup +1-555-123-4567"
ImageRecon Image metadata, forensics "Analyze this image for EXIF data"

Analysis & Reporting

Workflow Use When Example
EntityLinking Connecting identities/accounts "Link these accounts together"
IntelReport Generating final reports "Generate report for investigation Alpha"

Quick Commands

# Investigation Orchestrator (Iterative Pivot-Driven)
/osint investigate <target>              # Full investigation with auto-expansion
/osint deepdive <target>                 # Deep dive, follow all leads
/osint investigate <target> --interactive  # Approve each pivot manually
/osint resume <investigation-id>         # Resume previous investigation

# Individual/Username
/osint username <username>      # Username enumeration
/osint social <@handle>         # Social media capture
/osint profile <target>         # Full target profile
/osint timeline <target>        # Activity timeline

# Domain/Infrastructure
/osint domain <domain>          # Domain reconnaissance
/osint infra <IP/range>         # Infrastructure mapping

# Company Research
/osint company <name>           # Full company profile
/osint structure <name>         # Corporate ownership
/osint financials <name>        # Financial reconnaissance
/osint competitors <name>       # Competitive analysis
/osint risk <name>              # Risk/due diligence

# Digital Artifacts
/osint email <email>            # Email investigation
/osint phone <number>           # Phone lookup
/osint image <path>             # Image forensics

# Analysis & Reporting
/osint link <entity1> <entity2> # Entity linking
/osint report <investigation>   # Generate report

Output

All investigations produce:

  1. Structured Report - Formatted findings displayed in the conversation
  2. Knowledge Graph - Entities and relationships stored for querying
  3. Saved Report - Markdown file in ~/.claude/history/research/osint/

Querying Past Investigations

Use the knowledge skill to search previous findings:

Search knowledge for "Acme Corporation"

What do I know about johndoe123?

Scope Levels

Many workflows support scope levels:

Level Description Time
light Basic identification, key facts only ~10 min
standard Core analysis, moderate depth ~25 min
comprehensive Full investigation, all sub-workflows ~45+ min

Example:

Run a comprehensive company profile on Acme Corporation

Ethical Guidelines

Before any OSINT operation:

  1. Verify Authorization - Ensure you have legitimate purpose
  2. Check Legal Boundaries - Respect privacy laws and platform ToS
  3. Maintain OPSEC - Use appropriate anonymization if needed
  4. Document Everything - Maintain audit trail of collection methods
  5. Store Securely - Protect collected intelligence appropriately

Confidence Levels

All findings include confidence ratings:

Level Meaning
Confirmed Verified from official/authoritative source
High Multiple corroborating sources
Medium Single reliable source or inference
Low Unverified, requires confirmation

Next Steps

  • Iterative Investigations: Use deep dive on <target> for comprehensive pivot-driven analysis
  • See COMPANY_RESEARCH.md for detailed company investigation guide
  • See QUICK_REFERENCE.md for command cheat sheet
  • See CHANGELOG.md for version history and release notes

Pro Tips

  1. Start with Investigation Orchestrator for any complex investigation - it automatically discovers related entities
  2. Use interactive mode (require_approval=true) when you want control over which leads to pursue
  3. Wide scope is best for threat analysis; narrow scope for quick identity verification
  4. Resume investigations to continue from deferred leads without losing context
  5. All findings persist to Knowledge Graph - query past investigations anytime