Spotlight plugin
OSINT investigations for journalists: skills lead from brief and methodology to quote checks and a case file with human approval.
- 60 ★ on the repository
- Last commit
Broad access
Why this level
- The skills collect information on people and organizations from open sources and social media, including removed posts.
- Some collectors violate platform terms and cloud lanes send a topic brief to outside services.
Install
- Works in
Manual install
git clone --filter=blob:none --sparse https://github.com/buriedsignals/spotlight.git spotlightSource install: then `git sparse-checkout set` from `install-set.txt` and skill links in the agent folder. The managed path goes through `bsig`.
Access and checks
How we reviewBroad accessThe tool can change data, run commands or handle secrets.
- The skills collect information on people and organizations from open sources and social media, including removed posts.
- Some collectors violate platform terms and cloud lanes send a topic brief to outside services.
This is third-party code. Review the repository files before installing.
What it does
Spotlight turns an investigation lead into a structured case file: an approved brief, methodology, sourced findings, independent fact-checking, review artifacts and provenance records. Work runs in phases: preflight, brief, methodology, optional research, investigation and fact-check cycles, gate review, report decision and ingest into the knowledge vault. It never passes gates automatically: a person approves the brief, methodology, research and report. Research runs topics as separate lanes: web, registries, archives, social, technical, news and courts, local files. Code, not the model, runs the lanes and checks every quote against the saved source. Cloud lanes are opt-in and receive only the approved topic brief. The default budget is one dollar per round and five per case.
Who it is for. Investigative journalists and newsrooms who run open source cases and want facts with quotes and stops for approval.
Good fit when
- A lead appears and you need a brief with boundaries, then an agreed methodology before searching.
- You must check whether a saved source supports each quote and finding.
- A case spans several sessions and its state must live on disk.
- Verified material moves into the knowledge vault after the case by a separate decision.
Not a fit when
- You need a quick answer without process: gates and approvals slow work on purpose.
- You want social media collection with no legal assessment: some collectors violate platform terms.
- You need native Windows or a packaged desktop app: acceptance of those paths is not finished.
Example request
Open a case for this lead: draft the brief, propose a methodology for approval and stop before the search starts.Limitations
Some integrations affect the legal soundness of a case: collection from X violates platform terms even for public posts and Reddit search includes removed posts, so such steps should be taken deliberately. Cloud lanes, Firecrawl, Apify and treg need their own keys and cost money. The managed `bsig` install has not passed full acceptance yet, and the source path is lighter but has no updates or secret storage. Scripts use only the Python 3 standard library and the working directory must be the checkout root.
How to disable. For a managed install use planned removal through `bsig`. For a source install delete the skill links in the agent folder and the sparse clone folder, and keep or delete case files separately.
FAQ
Which runtimes are supported?
Claude Code, Codex CLI and Pi run natively. Local models and API providers such as Fireworks and OpenRouter go through the Pi harness, and Goose remains a supported route.
Where does the process stop?
At gates: brief, methodology, research, investigation review, report decision and vault ingestion. Spotlight does not advance without your approval.
What does code do instead of the model?
Code runs the research lanes, checks every quote against the saved source, merges copies and applies fixed rules for leads.
How does the managed install work?
Through Buried Signals Engine (`bsig`): it installs a signed release, places skills for the selected runtime and keeps secrets in the OS keychain. Full acceptance of that path is not finished.
Do I need a cloud service?
No. A sovereign mode runs on SearXNG, Crawl4AI and local models. Cloud lanes are opt-in and get only the brief of one topic.
Discussion
No questions or reviews yet.
Related
PluginsA Claude Code skill that turns the agent into a researcher: multi-step source collection, citation verification, and a wiki report that grows session by session
Three search skills: four-source search scored by intent, deep thread tracing and clean Markdown extraction from pages.
A Claude Code skill that turns "research this topic" into a multi-phase investigation: hypotheses, parallel search, a file per source and citation checks
Plugin with live web data: search, scraping and ready workflows for competitor intel, SEO and company research.
A skill and CLI for agents: search and reading across 23 channels, from web and GitHub to social networks, with an evidence rule.
A skill that gathers the last 30 days of discussion on a topic from Reddit, X, YouTube, HN, Polymarket and GitHub into one brief
Comparison with similar tools
Cards that share the main search query, and how they differ.
| Tool | Official | Repository stars | Main difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spotlight (this card) | no | 60 | |
| Journalism agent skills | no | 452 | plugins for journalists: source checks, records requests and data journalism; Spotlight runs the whole case through approval gates |
| claude-osint | no | 3,017 | external recon skills for authorized checks; Spotlight targets newsroom investigations with quote checks |
README in short
The project builds an investigation as a pipeline with explicit gates where a person stands behind each decision. Case knowledge is separate from the vault: prior context is read at the start and verified material is written only by a decision at the end.