Getting Started
Working with Data
Tools & Analysis
Entities and Relationships
Entities represent named actors — people, organizations, objects — involved in your investigation. Relationships connect entities to each other, forming a graph you can explore and analyze.
Creating an Entity
From the Entities List
- Click Entities in the sidebar (under Management).
- Click + New Entity.
- Fill in the dialog:
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Canonical Name | Yes | The full, official name (e.g., "John D. Rockefeller III") |
| Entity Type | No | Choose from 170+ types. Determines the icon and color used throughout the app. |
| Aliases | No | Alternative names or code names. Add one per line. |
- Click Create.
From the Event Detail Page
When linking an entity to an event, you can create a new entity inline:
- On the event detail page, click + Link under "Linked Entities".
- If the entity doesn't exist in the search results, create a new one.
- The entity is created and immediately linked to the event.
Editing an Entity
- Navigate to the entity detail page at
/app/investigations/[investigationId]/knowledge/entities/[entityId](within investigation context) or/app/entities/[entityId]. - Click the Edit (pencil icon) button.
- Modify the canonical name, entity type, or aliases.
- Click Save.
Entity Detail Page
Entity Photo
Each entity can have a photo. Hover over the photo and click the camera icon to upload an image. Click the trash icon to remove it. Photos are versioned with revision history.
| Context | Size |
|---|---|
| Entity detail page header | 64x64 px |
| Entity edit dialog | 96x96 px |
| Entity list | 28x28 px |
| Graph sidebar | 28x28 px |
| Context panel | 20x20 px |
Header
- Entity photo (or placeholder icon)
- Entity name with type badge
- Aliases listed below
- History, Edit, and Delete buttons
Relationships Section
- All relationships where this entity is the source or target
- Each shows: direction arrow, relationship type, linked entity name
Connections Panel
- How this entity connects to others in the graph
- Shared events and relationship paths
Entity Types
The system includes 170+ predefined entity types:
| Domain | Example Types |
|---|---|
| People | person, witness, suspect, informant, journalist, politician |
| Organizations | corporation, government_agency, non_profit, political_party, military_unit |
| Financial | bank, shell_company, front_company, investment_fund, offshore_entity |
| Intelligence | operative, double_agent, courier, handler, cutout |
| Infrastructure | vessel, aircraft, facility, safehouse, border_crossing |
Custom entity types can be created via Type Management (sidebar > Management > Type Management).
Creating a Relationship
Relationships connect two entities. They are directed and can carry metadata.
- Navigate to an entity's detail page.
- In the Relationships section, click + Add Relationship.
- Fill in the fields:
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| From Entity | Yes | The source entity (pre-filled if started from an entity page) |
| To Entity | Yes | The target entity — search and select |
| Relationship Type | Yes | The nature of the relationship (e.g., works_for, owns, reports_to) |
| Valid From | No | When the relationship began |
| Valid To | No | When the relationship ended (if applicable) |
| Confidence | No | Your confidence in this relationship, 0–100 |
- Click Create.
Relationship Types
| Type | Use For |
|---|---|
works_for | Employment or affiliation |
owns | Ownership of assets or entities |
reports_to | Hierarchical reporting structure |
involved_in | General participation |
knows | Personal or professional acquaintance |
witness_to | Entity witnessed an event |
funded_by | Financial backing |
subsidiary_of | Corporate structure |
married_to | Personal relationship |
communicated_with | Contact or correspondence |
The Entities List
Navigate to Entities in the sidebar (under Management) to see all entities in your account.
Features:
- Infinite scroll list with text filter by name
- Each item shows: entity photo (or placeholder), canonical name, connection count badge
- Click any entity to navigate to its detail page
Investigation Entity Graph
From the Knowledge lens of any investigation:
- Click the entity graph icon to open the interactive graph visualization.
- The graph shows all entities and relationships scoped to this investigation.
Features
- ReactFlow nodes — Entities displayed as draggable nodes with type-specific icons.
- Mini entity graph — On entity and relationship detail pages, a smaller DAGRE-layout graph shows the immediate connection neighborhood. Nodes are draggable.
- Search — Find and highlight specific entities.
- Zoom and pan — Navigate dense graphs.
- Export as PNG — Download the current view for reports.
- Position save/reset — Layout positions persist between visits.
Entity Reconciliation
Available at sidebar > Management > Entity Reconciliation. This tool scans for potential duplicate entities and provides a merge interface.
- Click Scan for Duplicates to find potential merges.
- Review suggested pairs — entities that may represent the same actor.
- Choose Merge (combine into one) or Keep Separate for each pair.
- When merging, select which entity's name, type, and aliases to keep. All relationships and event links are preserved in the merged entity.
Orphan Entities
An entity is "orphaned" when it is not linked to any event. Orphan entities appear in the Review Queue (sidebar > Tools > Review Queue) and in the Analytics lens > Gaps tab.
To resolve an orphan entity:
- Link it to an event that it participated in.
- Or delete it if created in error.
- Or, if it's a duplicate, merge it via Entity Reconciliation.
Finding Paths Between Entities
The entity graph supports shortest-path analysis. From the entity graph view, you can find the shortest connection path between any two entities, revealing indirect relationships.