Bellingcat investigation toolkit
What it is
Bellingcat’s Online Open Source Investigation Toolkit is the GitHub home of Online Investigation Toolkit 2.0: a curated, living collection of OSINT tools and references. Markdown for each tool is managed on GitBook and synced to the repository; automated workflows regenerate lists and pages. The public book is at bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit.
This skill does not mirror the full tool list—entries, URLs, and categories change. Prefer live GitBook or GitHub src / generated pages when recommending a specific tool.
When to use this skill
- Broaden OSINT beyond on-chain work: maps, imagery, social, archives, and other categories covered in the toolkit.
- Answer “what tool exists for X?” by pointing to the catalog and primary tool documentation, not by inventing tool names.
- Pair with crypto-investigation-compliance and on-chain-investigator-agent for ethical workflow; chain tracing remains in the other blockint-skills entries.
How agents should apply it
- Cite the toolkit as a directory, not an endorsement of every listed tool’s current safety or terms of service.
- Verify links and capabilities on the official page before prescribing steps (API keys, rate limits, jurisdiction).
- Separate fact (a tool exists) from advice (whether a use case is lawful for the user).
- For crypto-only tasks, load solana-tracing-specialist, address-clustering-attribution, and related skills first; use the Bellingcat toolkit when non-chain OSINT is in scope.
Ethical guardrails
- Follow lawful, ethical open-source investigation practice: no harassment, stalking, non-consensual doxxing, or sanctions evasion. Align with crypto-investigation-compliance and the repository’s Code of Conduct on GitHub.
- OSINT can harm people when misused; prefer accuracy, proportionality, and escalation to professionals where appropriate.
Official references
| Resource | URL |
|---|---|
| GitHub repository | github.com/bellingcat/toolkit |
| GitBook (toolkit) | bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit |
Goal: Give agents a stable pointer to Bellingcat’s investigation toolkit so users find up-to-date OSINT resources without embedding a stale tool list in this repo.