OSINT Skill

March 10, 2026 · View on GitHub

Early Beta — functional but APIs change, Apify actors rotate, and edge cases are still being discovered.

Версия на русском / Russian version

Systematic intelligence gathering on individuals. From a name or handle to a scored dossier with psychoprofile, career map, and entry points.

Compatible Agents

Works with any AI coding agent that supports the SKILL.md format:

Agent	Install
Claude Code	`cp -r osint/ ~/.claude/skills/osint/`
OpenClaw	Copy to workspace `skills/` directory
Codex	Point to `osint/SKILL.md` in your agent config
OpenCode	Copy to project `skills/` directory
Any SKILL.md agent	Place `osint/` folder where your agent reads skills

The skill uses standard tools (bash, curl, node, python3) and writes instructions in Markdown — no vendor lock-in.

Features

Phased pipeline (0 → 1 → 1.5 → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 → 6): from quick search to deep research
Swarm Mode: coordinates 3-5 parallel sub-agents on Sonnet for speed
55+ Apify actors embedded: Instagram (12), Facebook (14), TikTok (14), YouTube (5), Google Maps (4), LinkedIn, and more
Psychoprofile: MBTI / Big Five based on content analysis (YouTube transcripts, Telegram messages, blogs)
Confidence Scoring: every fact gets graded A/B/C/D by number of independent confirmations
Internal Intelligence: checks Telegram history, email, vault contacts BEFORE going external
Research Escalation: 4 levels from free to $0.50, from seconds to minutes
Budget tracking: spends ≤$0.50 without asking, asks permission above that

Quick Start

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/smixs/osint-skill.git
cd osint-skill

# Copy to your agent's skills directory (example for Claude Code)
cp -r osint/ ~/.claude/skills/osint/

# Run self-diagnostics to check what's available
bash osint/scripts/diagnose.sh

Requirements

Required

Tool	Purpose	Install
curl	HTTP requests to APIs	Pre-installed on macOS/Linux
python3	JSON parsing, MCP client	Pre-installed on macOS/Linux
jq	JSON processing	`brew install jq` / `apt install jq`

For Apify actors (55+ platforms)

Tool	Purpose	Install
Node.js 18+	Runs `run_actor.js` (embedded Apify runner)	nodejs.org

Optional

Tool	Purpose	Install
mcpc	Dynamic actor discovery in Apify Store	`npm install -g @apify/mcpc`

API Keys & Services

The skill uses graceful degradation — the more API keys you provide, the deeper it can dig. You need at least one search API to get started.

Free Tier

Service	Env Variable	What It Does	Get It
Brave Search	(built into Claude Code)	2,000 queries/month, basic web search	Built-in, nothing needed
Jina AI	`JINA_API_KEY`	URL → markdown reader, search, deepsearch	jina.ai/api-key
Apify	`APIFY_API_TOKEN`	Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn scraping. Free tier ~$5/month	console.apify.com
Parallel AI	`PARALLEL_API_KEY`	AI-powered search with reasoning and citations	platform.parallel.ai

Paid (recommended)

Service	Env Variable	What It Does	Cost	Get It
Perplexity API	`PERPLEXITY_API_KEY`	Sonar (fast AI answers), Deep Research	~$5/month	perplexity.ai/settings/api
Exa AI	`EXA_API_KEY`	Semantic search, people/company research	~$5/month	dashboard.exa.ai
Tavily	`TAVILY_API_KEY`	Agent-optimized search, $0.005/request basic	~$5/month	app.tavily.com

Advanced

Service	Env Variable	What It Does	Cost	Get It
Bright Data	`BRIGHTDATA_MCP_URL`	CAPTCHA bypass, authwall bypass, Facebook scraping, Yandex search	~$10/month+	brightdata.com/mcp

Setting Up Keys

Option 1 — Environment variables (recommended):

export PERPLEXITY_API_KEY="pplx-..."
export EXA_API_KEY="exa-..."
export APIFY_API_TOKEN="apify_api_..."
export JINA_API_KEY="jina_..."
export TAVILY_API_KEY="tvly-..."
export PARALLEL_API_KEY="..."
export BRIGHTDATA_MCP_URL="https://mcp.brightdata.com/..."

Option 2 — File fallback (supported by some scripts):

<workspace>/scripts/apify-api-token.txt
<workspace>/scripts/jina-api-key.txt
<workspace>/scripts/parallel-api-key.txt
<workspace>/scripts/brightdata-mcp-url.txt

How It Works

Research Phases

Phase 0: Tooling Self-Check      → diagnose.sh, check available tools
Phase 1: Seed Collection         → parallel search across all engines
Phase 1.5: Internal Intelligence → Telegram, email, vault (BEFORE external sources)
Phase 2: Platform Extraction     → LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube...
Phase 3: Cross-Reference         → facts verified, graded A/B/C/D
Phase 4: Psychoprofile           → MBTI, Big Five, communication style
Phase 5: Completeness Check      → 9 mandatory checks + Depth Score 1-10
Phase 6: Dossier Output          → formatted dossier from template

Research Escalation (cheap → expensive)

Level 1: Quick Answers      → Perplexity Sonar, Brave, Tavily, Exa    (~\$0.00)
Level 2: Source Verification → Jina read, Parallel extract             (~\$0.01)
Level 3: Social Media        → Apify scrapers, Bright Data             (~\$0.01-0.10)
Level 4: Deep Research       → Perplexity Deep, Exa Deep, Jina Deep   (~\$0.05-0.50)

Embedded Scripts

Script	Purpose
`diagnose.sh`	Self-diagnostics for all tools and APIs
`perplexity.sh`	search / sonar / deep research
`tavily.sh`	search / deep / extract
`exa.sh`	search / company / people / crawl / deep
`first-volley.sh`	Parallel search across all engines at once
`merge-volley.sh`	Deduplicate and group search results
`apify.sh`	LinkedIn / Instagram / any actor / store search
`run-actor.sh`	Universal Apify runner (55+ actors, polling, CSV/JSON export)
`run_actor.js`	Node.js engine powering run-actor.sh
`jina.sh`	read URL / search / deepsearch
`parallel.sh`	search / extract
`brightdata.sh`	scrape / search / search-geo / search-yandex
`mcp-client.py`	Lightweight MCP client for Bright Data (stdlib only)

Project Structure

osint/
├── SKILL.md                          # Main skill file (452 lines)
├── references/
│   ├── tools.md                      # Full catalog of 55+ Apify actors + all tools
│   ├── platforms.md                  # Platform-specific extraction guide
│   ├── content-extraction.md         # YouTube/podcast/blog extraction
│   └── psychoprofile.md              # MBTI/Big Five methodology
├── assets/
│   └── dossier-template.md           # Output dossier template
└── scripts/
    ├── diagnose.sh                   # Self-check
    ├── run-actor.sh                  # Universal Apify runner (bash wrapper)
    ├── run_actor.js                  # Apify runner engine (Node.js, embedded)
    ├── package.json                  # ESM support for run_actor.js
    ├── apify.sh                      # Apify shortcuts
    ├── perplexity.sh                 # Perplexity API
    ├── tavily.sh                     # Tavily API
    ├── exa.sh                        # Exa AI API
    ├── jina.sh                       # Jina AI API
    ├── parallel.sh                   # Parallel AI API
    ├── brightdata.sh                 # Bright Data MCP
    ├── mcp-client.py                 # MCP client (Python, stdlib only)
    ├── first-volley.sh               # Parallel first search
    └── merge-volley.sh               # Result merging

Known Issues (Beta)

Shell injection: user input is interpolated into JSON without jq escaping. Do not run with untrusted input.
macOS: first-volley.sh uses tail --pid (Linux-only). Parallel searches work on macOS, but timeout logic may not trigger.
Apify actors: actor IDs can change or get removed without notice. Use apify.sh store-search to find alternatives.
Inconsistent key loading: Perplexity, Tavily, and Exa only load from env vars (no file fallback, unlike Apify/Jina/Parallel).

Credits

Apify Actor Runner (run_actor.js) embedded from apify/agent-skills (MIT License)
Actor catalog based on apify-ultimate-scraper v1.3.0

License

MIT