topic-resolver

Research

Pre-search topic resolution. Maps vague queries to concrete entities (GitHub orgs, X handles, subreddits, docs URLs) before searching. Run as first step of any research workflow to dramatically improve search precision.

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Topic Resolver

Before running any web search or research workflow, resolve the topic to concrete, searchable entities. One small LLM call upfront saves 10x the tokens in search noise.

The Problem

Raw topic queries produce noisy results:

User: "latest in Next.js"
Raw search: "next.js latest" -> news articles, old tutorials, unrelated mentions

The Solution

Resolve first, search second:

User: "latest in Next.js"
Step 1: Topic -> Entities
  Framework: Next.js 15
  Org: vercel/next.js (GitHub)
  Docs: https://nextjs.org/blog
  Community: r/nextjs (Reddit)
  Maintainer: @timneutkens (X)
  Release channel: github.com/vercel/next.js/releases

Step 2: Parallel searches on resolved entities
  - GitHub: vercel/next.js latest commits + releases
  - X: @timneutkens latest posts
  - Reddit: r/nextjs top this week
  - Docs: nextjs.org/blog latest entries

Entity Categories

For any topic, resolve to these categories (only if applicable):

Category	Example
Official repo	GitHub owner/repo
Org account	X/Twitter handle
Docs URL	Authoritative documentation
Release channel	RSS, changelog, release page
Community	Subreddit, Discord, forum
Key maintainers	Individual accounts (up to 3)
Related packages	npm, pip, cargo names
Benchmarks	Known comparison sites

Resolution Rules

Use LLM knowledge first - most entities are memorable (Next.js -> vercel/next.js is obvious)
Only search when uncertain - don't waste tokens resolving obvious mappings
Cap at 8 entities - more than that is noise
Verify if critical - for high-stakes research, confirm 1-2 entities via web fetch
Cache resolutions - topic -> entities cached in ~/.claude/topic-cache.jsonl

Output Format

{
  "topic": "Next.js 15",
  "entities": {
    "repo": "vercel/next.js",
    "docs": "https://nextjs.org/docs",
    "blog": "https://nextjs.org/blog",
    "x_handles": ["@timneutkens", "@rauchg"],
    "subreddit": "r/nextjs",
    "npm": "next"
  },
  "confidence": 0.95,
  "resolved_at": "2026-04-12T04:00:00Z"
}

Integration

oracle agent: Calls topic-resolver first, then searches resolved entities
harvest agent: Uses resolved entities as starting URLs for deep crawl
growth agent: Uses resolved competitors/communities for market analysis

When NOT to Use

Very specific queries (already pointing at one thing)
Internal/private topics (no public entities to resolve)
Time-sensitive urgent research (skip the resolution step)

Example Workflow

1. User: "whats happening with Astro framework"
2. topic-resolver:
   - repo: withastro/astro
   - docs: https://astro.build/blog
   - x: @astrodotbuild
   - subreddit: r/astrojs
3. oracle parallel search:
   - Latest commits on withastro/astro
   - Recent @astrodotbuild posts
   - r/astrojs top this week
   - Astro blog last 10 posts
4. Cluster results, return coherent update