OSINT Navigator is now publicly available

We built OSINT Navigator to make it easier for investigators and researchers to find the right tools for the job — and discover tools they didn't know existed.

Navigator allows you to enter a question like “How do I find the owner of a website?” or “How do I research a YouTube video?” and receive a mix of AI- and community-recommended tools and guidance.

You can try it out right now for free at https://navigator.indicator.media/.

OSINT Navigator draws on a curated database of more than 7,500 tools from nine independent OSINT toolkits (see the list below). The dataset is open-source and can be accessed here. We’re grateful to the creators of the toolkits for allowing us to include their content in Navigator’s search results. 

When you ask a question, an LLM retrieves the most relevant tools and generates a tailored response. Answers can also be contributed by investigators in the community — all responses are ranked by user votes, so the most useful ones will rise to the top. It’s really helpful for you to rate and submit answers.

Navigator offers 10 free searches per day for anyone. Indicator members receive 50 daily queries and the ability to use an API or a Model Context Protocol (MCP) connection to query Navigator from within an AI agent or tool. (Be sure to login with the email that’s connected to your membership.) You also have the option to run Navigator locally in your browser, which we detail below.

Navigator is developed by Tom Vaillant, a journalist and technologist who runs Buried Signals, in partnership with Indicator. If you have a suggestion on how we can improve Navigator, please click the “Feedback” button in the bottom right corner of Navigator.

Open Navigator. If you’re an Indicator member, click the Sign in button in the top left and use the email associated with your membership. Free users can search without being logged in.

Type your query in the search bar and hit enter:

Navigator returns a list of relevant tools and tells you which toolkits recommended them. 

We also link to editions of Indicator’s free Briefing newsletter that include information relevant to your query.

You may also see a suggested answer that provides guidance on relevant tools and techniques.

If you’re shown an answer that could be improved, you can rate whether the answer was helpful and earn two additional search credits by submitting your own answer.

We’re constantly adding tools to the dataset, and we refine the answers thanks to feedback from the community. Your feedback and answers make Navigator more useful to the community.

Indicator members can connect Navigator to an AI model or other system by clicking the “Agents” button below the search bar:

There are two connection methods: the API option works with any system that supports API calls. The MCP option currently supports Claude Code and OpenAI's Codex; select your platform, copy the provided code, and add it to your configuration file.

You also have the option to run Navigator with a local model in your browser. If you select "Run locally," an open-source language model fine-tuned on openly available OSINT techniques and investigative journalism resources will be downloaded to your browser.

Depending on your internet speed, it could take a few minutes to download, as the model is roughly 2.5 gigabytes. When selected, Navigator still searches the tool database, but responses are generated locally on your device.

The local option is designed for investigators who want to ensure their searches aren't routed through third-party APIs or logged anywhere. When running locally, no API calls are made and no data leaves your device. Note that local mode requires a WebGPU-compatible device; if your hardware doesn't support it, the standard version will run instead.