/cs-dossier¶
Command: /cs:dossier <entity>
The cs-dossier persona produces a hypothesis-tested research dossier on a specific company, person, nonprofit, or government org — NOT a generic profile.
When to Run¶
- Sales meeting / partnership pitch (need conversation hooks tied to specifics)
- Investment / acquisition diligence
- Journalism / personal vetting (with sensitivity exclusions)
- Job interview prep
- Competitive intelligence
When NOT to Run¶
- Generic curiosity ("what does this company do?") → search the web yourself
- Quick lookup → faster to just google
- No hypothesis to test → the skill refuses, by design
Non-Generic by Design¶
The skill refuses to be a Wikipedia summary. Q4 (your hypothesis) is mandatory — without it, the dossier confirms what you already think and is worthless for decisions.
Forcing Intake (6 Questions, One at a Time)¶
| Q | Asks | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 | Subject identity (name + disambiguating identifier) | refuses ambiguous names |
| Q2 | Subject type: person / company / nonprofit / gov org / other | forcing choice — drives source matrix |
| Q3 | Purpose: sales / investment / acquisition / journalism / interview / competitive / vetting / other | forcing choice — drives angle + sensitivity |
| Q4 | Hypothesis (MANDATORY) — what you already believe + want to verify/disprove | non-skippable; pushed back once if refused |
| Q5 | Depth: 5-min brief or 15-min decision-grade dossier | forcing choice |
| Q6 | Sensitivities to exclude | conditional — only if Q3 ∈ |
Stop condition: after Q6 (or earlier with skips), commit and start Phase 2. Never re-open.
What You Get¶
After all phases:
dossier_<entity-slug>_<YYYY-MM-DD>.docx
9 sections:
1. Executive Summary (verdict: SUPPORTED/PARTIALLY/DISPROVEN/INCONCLUSIVE + 3 must-know)
2. Identity Facts Table (founded/born, location, size, role, affiliations; sourced + tiered)
3. Hypothesis Test (verbatim hypothesis + supporting evidence + disconfirming evidence + verdict)
4. 12-Month Activity Timeline (news, hires, departures, products, controversies)
5. Network Signals (collaborators / investors / customers / advisors)
6. Reputation Signals (sentiment, Glassdoor, peer mentions)
7. Red Flags + Hidden Patterns (litigation, departures, financials, tiered)
8. Conversation Hooks (3-5 finding-tied hooks with framing)
9. Source Provenance + Audit Log (per-source tier + search summary + counts)
Hypothesis-Testing Discipline¶
≥30% of search budget allocated to disconfirming queries. This is the non-negotiable differentiator from a generic profile.
Example for hypothesis "Microsoft is consolidating AI spend on Foundry":
| Query type | Example |
|---|---|
| Supporting (would confirm) | "Microsoft Foundry adoption 2026" |
| Supporting | "Microsoft AI infrastructure consolidation" |
| Disconfirming (would refute) | "Microsoft OpenAI deal renegotiation" |
| Disconfirming | "Microsoft AI vendor diversification" |
| Disconfirming | "Microsoft third-party model partnerships 2026" |
skills/dossier/scripts/disconfirming_evidence_balance.py enforces the ratio. Halts at <30% and prompts more disconfirming queries.
Source Reliability Tiering¶
Every fact in the DOCX tagged with tier (primary / secondary / tertiary):
| Tier | Examples |
|---|---|
| Primary | SEC EDGAR filings, court records, official .gov sites, company official website |
| Secondary | Mainstream news (NYT, WSJ, Reuters), trade press (TechCrunch, The Information) |
| Tertiary | Blogs, forums (Reddit, HN), Glassdoor, social media |
skills/dossier/scripts/source_tier_classifier.py does this from URL.
Discipline (Research-Pack Convention)¶
- One intake Q per turn. Never bundle.
- Q4 mandatory. Push back once; fall back to "most surprising finding" implicit hypothesis with flag.
- ≥30% disconfirming. Enforced by tool.
- Sequential search. WebSearch + WebFetch sequential, 1 q/sec etiquette.
- Source discipline. Cite only session results. Training knowledge labeled
[Background — verify before quoting], excluded from counts. - Three-count + tier. Sent / received / cited + per-tier breakdown.
- Subject disambiguation before Phase 3. Refuse ambiguous names.
- Sensitivity exclusions honored. If Q6 excluded "medical history", don't surface even if found.
- Conversation hooks finding-tied. Generic hooks ("ask about their roadmap") rejected.
- BYOK MCP flagged in audit. Crunchbase / Pitchbook usage surfaced.
Trigger Phrases¶
- "research [company]"
- "dossier on [person/company]"
- "background check on [entity]"
- "prep me for a meeting with [person/company]"
- "due diligence on [company]"
- "what should I know about [entity]"
- "research [person] before I [meet/hire/invest]"
- "competitor research on [company]"
- "investor diligence [company]"
- "interview prep for [company]"
Anti-Patterns Rejected¶
- Producing a dossier without forcing Q4 hypothesis
- <30% disconfirming search budget (confirmation bias)
- Batching intake questions
- Accepting ambiguous subject names
- Generic conversation hooks ("ask about their roadmap")
- Sensationalizing red flags (tier them, don't editorialize)
- Skipping source-reliability tier on flags
- Fabricating coverage when LinkedIn blocked
- Using BYOK MCP without flagging in audit
- Including sensitive topics user excluded (Q6)
- Confirmation-biased verdict ("SUPPORTED" without engaging with disconfirming evidence)
Related¶
- Agent:
cs-dossier - Skill:
dossier - Source spec:
megaprompts/12-dossier-megaprompt.md - Siblings:
/cs:litreview,/cs:grants,/cs:pulse - Future:
/cs:patent,/cs:syllabus
Version: 1.0.0
Source: Path-B direct conversion of megaprompts/12-dossier-megaprompt.md