---
title: "Dossier — Decision-Grade Entity Research — Agent Skill for Research Workflows"
description: "Decision-grade entity research skill — produces a hypothesis-tested dossier on a specific company, person, nonprofit, or government org, not a. Agent skill for Claude Code, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, OpenClaw."
---

# Dossier — Decision-Grade Entity Research

<div class="page-meta" markdown>
<span class="meta-badge">:material-magnify: Research</span>
<span class="meta-badge">:material-identifier: `dossier`</span>
<span class="meta-badge">:material-github: <a href="https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills/tree/main/research/dossier/skills/dossier/SKILL.md">Source</a></span>
</div>

<div class="install-banner" markdown>
<span class="install-label">Install:</span> <code>claude /plugin install research-skills</code>
</div>


> **Portability:** Requires `WebSearch` + `WebFetch`, Node.js with `docx` package, and optionally `bash_tool` + `curl` for free APIs (SEC EDGAR, GitHub, ProPublica). BYOK MCPs (LinkedIn, Crunchbase, Apollo, Pitchbook, SimilarWeb) are optional enhancements. Works in Claude Code CLI natively.

## Non-Generic Framing — The Differentiator

This skill is **decision-grade entity research with hypothesis-testing**. It **refuses** to be "tell me about Microsoft". Every invocation forces the user to expose their hypothesis upfront (Q4) so the dossier *tests* it rather than confirms it.

The use case shape:

> "I'm pitching Microsoft Tuesday. My hypothesis is they're consolidating AI spend on their first-party Foundry platform. Validate or disprove, and give me three conversation hooks tied to what you find."

**NOT:**

> "Tell me about Microsoft."

The forcing Q4 — the hypothesis question — is the non-generic anchor. Skip it and the skill produces a Wikipedia summary.

See [`references/hypothesis_testing_discipline.md`](https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills/tree/main/research/dossier/skills/dossier/references/hypothesis_testing_discipline.md) for the canon.

## Agent Integrity Rules (Research-Pack Convention)

Locked verbatim per PR #657 audit.

- **Execution discipline.** Sequential search calls. WebSearch + WebFetch have looser rate limits than Consensus but still apply 1 q/sec etiquette. Confirm response received before next call.
- **Source discipline.** Cite only sources returned by this session's tool calls. Wikipedia / training knowledge labeled `[Background — verify before quoting]` and excluded from primary findings count.
- **Three-count tracking.** Queries sent / sources received / sources cited. Plus **per-tier breakdown** (primary / secondary / tertiary) unique to dossier. Surfaced in audit log.
- **Retry policy.** On failure → wait 3s → retry once → log. After 3 consecutive failures: stop, alert user.
- **Source reliability tier.** Each citation tagged primary (official, SEC, court records) / secondary (mainstream news, trade press) / tertiary (blogs, forums). DOCX surfaces tier on every flag.

## Phase 1: Grill-Me Intake (6 forcing questions, one at a time)

### Q1 (root) — Subject identity

> **Who is the subject? Give me the exact name and, if a company, the website or LinkedIn URL. If a person, their LinkedIn URL or a unique identifier (company affiliation + role).**
>
> *Why I'm asking:* Disambiguation. There are 47 John Smiths. There are three companies called "Atlas". I need a specific entity to research.

If user gives only a name, push for a second identifier. **Refuse to proceed on ambiguous names.**

### Q2 (depends on Q1) — Subject type

> **What kind of subject is this? Pick one: person / company / nonprofit / government org / other.**
>
> *Why I'm asking:* Different source matrices apply. For people I check LinkedIn, GitHub, Scholar, news; for companies I check SEC EDGAR (if public), Crunchbase, news, GitHub for tech orgs; for nonprofits I check Form 990s on ProPublica.

Forcing choice. "Other" requires a one-line description.

### Q3 (depends on Q2) — Purpose

> **What are you preparing for? Pick one:**
>
> 1. Sales meeting / partnership pitch
> 2. Investment diligence
> 3. Acquisition diligence
> 4. Journalism / due diligence
> 5. Job interview prep
> 6. Competitive intelligence
> 7. Personal vetting (date, hire, business partner)
> 8. Other (specify)
>
> *Why I'm asking:* The purpose dictates the angle, the depth, and the red-flag sensitivity. Sales prep needs conversation hooks. Investment diligence needs traction signals. Personal vetting needs careful sensitivity boundaries.

### Q4 (depends on Q3) — **Hypothesis — MANDATORY**

> **What's your hypothesis going in? What do you already believe about this subject, and what do you want to verify or disprove?**
>
> *Why I'm asking:* This is the critical question. A dossier that just confirms what you already think is worthless. By stating your hypothesis upfront, I can search for evidence that would *disprove* it as well as evidence that supports it — and give you a verdict you can actually use.
>
> Examples:
> - "I believe Microsoft is consolidating AI spend on first-party Foundry. Verify or disprove."
> - "I think the CEO is over their head — too much TAM talk, no traction. Test that."
> - "I believe this nonprofit's overhead ratio is sketchy. Check the 990s."
> - "I think this person is technical enough to handle a CTO role. Verify."

**MANDATORY.** If user says "I don't have one", push back **once**: "Then guess. Commit to a position you can update later. The dossier needs a hypothesis to test, otherwise it's a generic profile and won't help you make a decision."

If still refused: fall back to implicit hypothesis "what's the most surprising thing I could find?" and **flag the fallback in audit log**.

This question is **the non-generic anchor**. Skip it and the skill becomes a Wikipedia summary.

### Q5 (depends on Q3) — Depth

> **Time horizon: 5-minute brief or 15-minute decision-grade dossier?**
>
> *Why I'm asking:* Brief mode caps at ~10 searches and skips the network + reputation passes. Decision-grade goes deeper on every section. Pick based on how much skin you have in this decision.

Forcing choice.

### Q6 (asked only if Q3 ∈ {journalism, personal vetting}) — Sensitivities

> **Anything sensitive to exclude? E.g., personal medical, family details, political history, or specific topics off-limits?**
>
> *Why I'm asking:* Some research contexts have ethical constraints. I'd rather know upfront than surface something you'd never share.

Skip for sales/investment/acquisition/competitive intel (low sensitivity); ask for journalism/personal vetting (high sensitivity).

**Stop condition:** After Q6 (or earlier with dependency skips), commit and start Phase 2. Never re-open intake after Phase 2 begins.

## Phase 2: Subject Disambiguation

Before Phase 3, resolve the subject to a specific entity:

- For people: confirm LinkedIn URL OR (employer + role + city)
- For companies: confirm domain OR (legal name + incorporation jurisdiction)
- For nonprofits: confirm EIN OR (legal name + state)
- For government orgs: confirm official .gov URL

If still ambiguous after Q1 push-back: **halt and re-ask Q1** with disambiguating identifiers. Refuse to proceed.

## Phase 3: Source Matrix Selection

Routed by Q2 subject type. See [`references/subject_type_source_matrix.md`](https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills/tree/main/research/dossier/skills/dossier/references/subject_type_source_matrix.md) for the full canon.

### Person

- LinkedIn (manual fetch or LinkedIn MCP if BYOK)
- Personal website
- Twitter/X (rate-limited; degrade gracefully)
- GitHub (if technical subject)
- Google Scholar (if academic)
- News (WebSearch + WebFetch)
- Conference talk transcripts, podcasts (WebSearch)

### Company

- Official website (about, leadership, news, careers)
- SEC EDGAR (free API; 10-Ks, 10-Qs, 8-Ks for public co's)
- Crunchbase free tier (or Crunchbase MCP if BYOK)
- News (WebSearch + WebFetch)
- GitHub (for tech orgs)
- Glassdoor + Comparably (sentiment; degrade gracefully if scraping blocked)
- LinkedIn company page

### Nonprofit

- ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer (free; Form 990s)
- Official website
- News
- GuideStar (if accessible)

### Government org

- Official .gov sites
- News
- ProPublica (for federal agencies)

If a paid MCP is connected (Apollo, Pitchbook, SimilarWeb), use it but mark findings as **BYOK-sourced** in the audit log.

## Phase 4: Hypothesis-Driven Search

Every Phase 4 search MUST be classified as either:

- **Supporting evidence** (confirms hypothesis), OR
- **Disconfirming evidence** (would refute hypothesis)

**≥30% of search budget allocated to disconfirming queries.** Enforced via `scripts/disconfirming_evidence_balance.py`.

Example for hypothesis "Microsoft is consolidating AI spend on Foundry":

- **Supporting:** "Microsoft Foundry adoption 2026", "Microsoft AI infrastructure consolidation"
- **Disconfirming:** "Microsoft OpenAI deal renegotiation", "Microsoft AI vendor diversification", "Microsoft third-party model partnerships 2026"

This is what makes the dossier **decision-grade** rather than confirmation-biased.

For each search:
- Record via `citation_tracker.py` with classification (supporting / disconfirming)
- Apply source tier from `source_tier_classifier.py` to each result URL

## Phase 5: 12-Month Activity Timeline

Default 12-month window for activity timeline; deeper for foundational identity.

Categories:
- News (acquisitions, hires, departures, product launches)
- Funding rounds / financial events
- Controversies / legal events
- Public statements / strategy shifts

Reverse chronological. Each entry hyperlinked + tiered.

## Phase 6: Network + Reputation Signals

### Network

- **Companies:** investors (in/out), customers (named), partners
- **People:** co-founders, advisors, mentors, employers, board roles
- **Nonprofits:** funders, board, leadership

5-10 entries, ranked by **relevance to hypothesis**.

### Reputation

- Sentiment from news (recent 12 months)
- Glassdoor for companies (overall rating + 3 representative reviews)
- Peer mentions for people
- Caveat: reputation data is noisy; tier accordingly

## Phase 7: Red-Flag Pass

Surface but don't sensationalize:

- Litigation (court records → primary tier)
- Regulatory actions (SEC, DOJ, agency actions → primary)
- Unusual departures (key personnel exits within 90 days)
- Financial signals (going-concern notes in 10-Ks → primary)
- Reputation hits (sustained negative coverage → secondary)

**Each flag tiered.** Tier shows up next to every flag in the DOCX.

## Phase 8: Conversation Hook Generation

3-5 specific hooks tied to **actual findings**, not generic talking points.

See [`references/conversation_hook_quality.md`](https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills/tree/main/research/dossier/skills/dossier/references/conversation_hook_quality.md) for the canon.

| ❌ Generic | ✅ Finding-tied |
|---|---|
| "Ask about their roadmap" | "Mention their recent acquisition of [X] — it signals they're investing in vertical Y. Suggested framing: 'Saw the [X] announcement — how does that change your roadmap on Y?'" |
| "Ask about hiring" | "Their VP Engineering left 3 weeks ago (LinkedIn). Suggested framing: 'I noticed [name] moved on — what's the eng leadership plan?'" |
| "Talk about their values" | "They updated their pricing page last week (their official site). Suggested framing: 'Saw the pricing refresh — what drove that?'" |

Each hook:
- **The hook** (one sentence)
- **The finding it's tied to** (with hyperlink + tier)
- **Suggested framing** (verbatim phrasing user can adapt)

## Phase 9: DOCX Generation (9 Sections)

Via Node.js + `docx` library.

1. **Executive Summary** — one paragraph: who they are + why they matter + **verdict on the hypothesis** (SUPPORTED / PARTIALLY SUPPORTED / DISPROVEN / INCONCLUSIVE) + 3 things-you-should-know bullets.
2. **Identity Facts Table** — founded/born, location, size/stage, current role, key affiliations. All cells sourced; hover-text tier.
3. **Hypothesis Test** — user's hypothesis stated verbatim. Supporting evidence (3-5 bullets with hyperlinked citations). Disconfirming evidence (3-5 bullets with hyperlinked citations). Verdict paragraph (2-3 sentences explaining the weight).
4. **12-Month Activity Timeline** — News, funding, hires, departures, product launches, controversies. Reverse chronological. Each entry hyperlinked.
5. **Network Signals** — Collaborators / investors / associates. 5-10 entries, ranked by relevance to hypothesis.
6. **Reputation Signals** — Sentiment from news, Glassdoor for companies, peer mentions for people. Caveat: reputation data is noisy.
7. **Red Flags + Hidden Patterns** — Litigation, regulatory actions, unusual departures, financial signals, reputation hits. Tiered.
8. **Conversation Hooks** — 3-5 specific hooks tied to findings. Each: hook + finding + suggested framing.
9. **Source Provenance + Audit Log** — Per-source list with tier. Search summary table (#, query, classification, sources returned, sources cited). Three counts + per-tier counts. Failed searches. BYOK-MCP usage flag.

### Styling

Arial 12pt body, navy headings (#1a3a5c), light blue table headers (#e8f0f8), red red-flag callout, green conversation-hook callout.

### Hyperlink patterns

```js
new ExternalHyperlink({
  link: "https://...",
  children: [new TextRun({ text: title, style: "Hyperlink" })],
});
```

## Phase 10: Deliver

- Save: `<output-dir>/dossier_<entity-slug>_<YYYY-MM-DD>.docx`
- Chat summary: file path + **verdict on hypothesis** + audit counts + tier breakdown + BYOK MCPs used (if any)
- Validate: check zip integrity with `python3 -c "import zipfile,sys; zipfile.ZipFile(sys.argv[1]).testzip()" <docx>` (no output = intact), then confirm the required sections are present

## Tooling

| Script | Role |
|---|---|
| `scripts/citation_tracker.py` | Three-count audit + supporting/disconfirming classification + source-tier tagging at `~/.dossier_sessions/<session>.json` |
| `scripts/disconfirming_evidence_balance.py` | Verifies ≥30% of search budget allocated to disconfirming queries; warns if biased |
| `scripts/source_tier_classifier.py` | URL → primary / secondary / tertiary classification via domain heuristics |

## References

- [`references/hypothesis_testing_discipline.md`](https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills/tree/main/research/dossier/skills/dossier/references/hypothesis_testing_discipline.md) — ≥30% rule + decision-grade vs encyclopedic (7+ sources)
- [`references/subject_type_source_matrix.md`](https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills/tree/main/research/dossier/skills/dossier/references/subject_type_source_matrix.md) — person/company/nonprofit/gov source matrices (7+ sources)
- [`references/conversation_hook_quality.md`](https://github.com/alirezarezvani/claude-skills/tree/main/research/dossier/skills/dossier/references/conversation_hook_quality.md) — finding-tied hook discipline (7+ sources)

## Error Handling

| Failure | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Subject name ambiguous | Refuse to proceed. Re-ask Q1 with disambiguating identifier. |
| User refuses to state hypothesis | Push back once. If still refused, fall back to "what's the most surprising thing I could find?" implicit hypothesis. Flag in audit. |
| Subject has zero public footprint | Surface explicitly. Suggest different name or early-stage. Don't fabricate. |
| LinkedIn scrape blocked | Note in audit; fall back to WebSearch; suggest user verify manually. |
| SEC EDGAR fails | Retry once. If still failing, note "public filings not retrieved" and continue. |
| Sentiment data sparse | Mark reputation section as "limited public signal"; don't infer from training. |
| Sensitive topic surfaces (Q6 exclusion) | Exclude from DOCX. Note in chat (not in DOCX) so user knows the exclusion was honored. |
| 3 consecutive tool failures | Stop, alert user, share collected so far. |
| DOCX generation fails | Save raw data as JSON fallback. |

## Anti-Patterns To Reject

- Producing a dossier without forcing Q4 hypothesis
- Allocating <30% of search budget to disconfirming evidence
- Batching intake questions
- Accepting ambiguous subject names
- Generic conversation hooks ("ask about their roadmap")
- Sensationalizing red flags (tier them, don't editorialize)
- Skipping the source-reliability tier on flags
- Fabricating coverage when LinkedIn or scraping is blocked
- Using BYOK-MCP data without flagging in audit log
- Including sensitive topics user excluded in Q6
- Confirmation-biased verdict ("SUPPORTED" without engaging with disconfirming evidence)

---

**Version:** 1.0.0
**Source spec:** `megaprompts/12-dossier-megaprompt.md` (maintainer-local draft spec — gitignored, not present in the public repository)
**Build pattern:** Path B (direct conversion). Research-pack sibling, hypothesis-testing variant.
