Stacks / 8 workflow stages · v3.1.0 · reviewed 2026-09-05

Run Technical & Competitive Diligence

Triangulate company claims with primary filings, historical evidence, patents, technical artifacts, and independent research.

Best for

Investors, operators, product leaders, and technical teams evaluating a company, market, product claim, or technology position.

Outcome

A diligence trail grounded in primary sources and technical evidence rather than only management materials or generic web search.

Not for

Formal legal, accounting, cybersecurity, or patent opinions that require a qualified specialist.

Operator guidance

Best whenA decision requires source triangulation, chronology, and an auditable evidence trail.

Avoid whenThe question can be answered from one authoritative filing or specialist database.

CompatibilityKeep source URLs, access dates, claim IDs, and notes portable across search, code, scholarly, and citation tools.

Use this as a decision framework, not a mandatory shopping list. Swap or skip layers based on your existing stack, constraints, and risk profile.

01

1. Start with company disclosures

Use primary public-company filings for stated risks, financial context, business descriptions, and material disclosures.

Alternatives
  • Federal Register
    Recommendation details

    Why: Consider Federal Register as an alternative for 1. Start with company disclosures; compare its documented capabilities and operating constraints with the primary recommendation.

    Best when: Primary source for US federal rules, notices and proposed regulations.

    Avoid when: Avoid when the current official source does not support your required deployment, data-handling, or integration constraints.

    Compatibility: Validate interfaces, data formats, and operational handoffs with the adjacent stack stages.

    Prerequisites:

    • Review the current official source and implementation requirements.

    Evidence: Federal Register official source (2026-09-05)

    Verified 2026-09-05 · Medium confidence

Recommendation details

Best when: Primary US public-company filings.

Avoid when: Avoid when the current official source does not support your required deployment, data-handling, or integration constraints.

Compatibility: Validate interfaces, data formats, and operational handoffs with the adjacent stack stages.

Prerequisites:

  • Review the current official source and implementation requirements.

Evidence: SEC EDGAR official source (2026-09-05)

Verified 2026-09-05 · Medium confidence

02

2. Reconstruct what changed

Compare historical websites, positioning, claims, documentation, and product evolution over time.

Recommendation details

Best when: Recover historical pages, prior claims, old product positioning and vanished sources.

Avoid when: Avoid when the current official source does not support your required deployment, data-handling, or integration constraints.

Compatibility: Validate interfaces, data formats, and operational handoffs with the adjacent stack stages.

Prerequisites:

  • Review the current official source and implementation requirements.

Evidence: Wayback Machine official source (2026-09-05)

Verified 2026-09-05 · Medium confidence

03

3. Check patents and technical claims

Inspect relevant patent filings and cited prior art when defensibility or technical novelty is part of the thesis.

Recommendation details

Best when: Search patents and prior art when Claude needs technical or competitive history.

Avoid when: Avoid when the current official source does not support your required deployment, data-handling, or integration constraints.

Compatibility: Validate interfaces, data formats, and operational handoffs with the adjacent stack stages.

Prerequisites:

  • Review the current official source and implementation requirements.

Evidence: Google Patents official source (2026-09-05)

Verified 2026-09-05 · Medium confidence

04

4. Discover independent evidence

Exa

Search semantically for technical material, company references, papers, documentation, and less obvious evidence.

Alternatives
  • Perplexity
    Recommendation details

    Why: Consider Perplexity as an alternative for 4. Discover independent evidence; compare its documented capabilities and operating constraints with the primary recommendation.

    Best when: Useful complementary answer/search engine.

    Avoid when: Avoid when the current official source does not support your required deployment, data-handling, or integration constraints.

    Compatibility: Validate interfaces, data formats, and operational handoffs with the adjacent stack stages.

    Prerequisites:

    • Review the current official source and implementation requirements.

    Evidence: Perplexity official source (2026-09-05)

    Verified 2026-09-05 · Medium confidence

Recommendation details

Best when: Search and retrieval API useful for Claude agents.

Avoid when: Avoid when the current official source does not support your required deployment, data-handling, or integration constraints.

Compatibility: Validate interfaces, data formats, and operational handoffs with the adjacent stack stages.

Prerequisites:

  • Review the current official source and implementation requirements.

Evidence: Exa official source (2026-09-05)

Verified 2026-09-05 · Medium confidence

05

5. Inspect public code context

Understand the structure and documentation of relevant public repositories without starting from raw files.

Alternatives
  • grep.app
    Recommendation details

    Why: Consider grep.app as an alternative for 5. Inspect public code context; compare its documented capabilities and operating constraints with the primary recommendation.

    Best when: Search real code across public GitHub repositories to find how libraries and patterns are actually used.

    Avoid when: Avoid when the current official source does not support your required deployment, data-handling, or integration constraints.

    Compatibility: Validate interfaces, data formats, and operational handoffs with the adjacent stack stages.

    Prerequisites:

    • Review the current official source and implementation requirements.

    Evidence: grep.app official source (2026-09-05)

    Verified 2026-09-05 · Medium confidence

  • Repomix
    Recommendation details

    Why: Consider Repomix as an alternative for 5. Inspect public code context; compare its documented capabilities and operating constraints with the primary recommendation.

    Best when: Pack an entire repo into AI-friendly context, with token counting, compression and secret scanning.

    Avoid when: Avoid when the current official source does not support your required deployment, data-handling, or integration constraints.

    Compatibility: Validate interfaces, data formats, and operational handoffs with the adjacent stack stages.

    Prerequisites:

    • Review the current official source and implementation requirements.

    Evidence: Repomix official source (2026-09-05)

    Verified 2026-09-05 · Medium confidence

Recommendation details

Best when: Instant conversational documentation for public GitHub repositories. Excellent for unfamiliar codebases.

Avoid when: Avoid when the current official source does not support your required deployment, data-handling, or integration constraints.

Compatibility: Validate interfaces, data formats, and operational handoffs with the adjacent stack stages.

Prerequisites:

  • Review the current official source and implementation requirements.

Evidence: DeepWiki official source (2026-09-05)

Verified 2026-09-05 · Medium confidence

06

6. Check scholarly support

Scite

See how research claims are cited and supported when the diligence question touches scientific or technical literature.

Alternatives
  • Semantic Scholar
    Recommendation details

    Why: Consider Semantic Scholar as an alternative for 6. Check scholarly support; compare its documented capabilities and operating constraints with the primary recommendation.

    Best when: Strong academic search and paper metadata.

    Avoid when: Avoid when the current official source does not support your required deployment, data-handling, or integration constraints.

    Compatibility: Validate interfaces, data formats, and operational handoffs with the adjacent stack stages.

    Prerequisites:

    • Review the current official source and implementation requirements.

    Evidence: Semantic Scholar official source (2026-09-05)

    Verified 2026-09-05 · Medium confidence

  • OpenAlex
    Recommendation details

    Why: Consider OpenAlex as an alternative for 6. Check scholarly support; compare its documented capabilities and operating constraints with the primary recommendation.

    Best when: Open scholarly knowledge graph.

    Avoid when: Avoid when the current official source does not support your required deployment, data-handling, or integration constraints.

    Compatibility: Validate interfaces, data formats, and operational handoffs with the adjacent stack stages.

    Prerequisites:

    • Review the current official source and implementation requirements.

    Evidence: OpenAlex official source (2026-09-05)

    Verified 2026-09-05 · Medium confidence

Recommendation details

Best when: Citation context and supporting/contrasting evidence.

Avoid when: Avoid when the current official source does not support your required deployment, data-handling, or integration constraints.

Compatibility: Validate interfaces, data formats, and operational handoffs with the adjacent stack stages.

Prerequisites:

  • Review the current official source and implementation requirements.

Evidence: Scite official source (2026-09-05)

Verified 2026-09-05 · Medium confidence

07

7. Pull macro or market evidence

FRED

Ground market and economic assertions in primary time-series data when macro context matters.

Alternatives
  • Our World in Data
    Recommendation details

    Why: Consider Our World in Data as an alternative for 7. Pull macro or market evidence; compare its documented capabilities and operating constraints with the primary recommendation.

    Best when: Well-documented public data and charts.

    Avoid when: Avoid when the current official source does not support your required deployment, data-handling, or integration constraints.

    Compatibility: Validate interfaces, data formats, and operational handoffs with the adjacent stack stages.

    Prerequisites:

    • Review the current official source and implementation requirements.

    Evidence: Our World in Data official source (2026-09-05)

    Verified 2026-09-05 · Medium confidence

  • Data.gov
    Recommendation details

    Why: Consider Data.gov as an alternative for 7. Pull macro or market evidence; compare its documented capabilities and operating constraints with the primary recommendation.

    Best when: US government datasets.

    Avoid when: Avoid when the current official source does not support your required deployment, data-handling, or integration constraints.

    Compatibility: Validate interfaces, data formats, and operational handoffs with the adjacent stack stages.

    Prerequisites:

    • Review the current official source and implementation requirements.

    Evidence: Data.gov official source (2026-09-05)

    Verified 2026-09-05 · Medium confidence

Recommendation details

Best when: US economic and financial time series.

Avoid when: Avoid when the current official source does not support your required deployment, data-handling, or integration constraints.

Compatibility: Validate interfaces, data formats, and operational handoffs with the adjacent stack stages.

Prerequisites:

  • Review the current official source and implementation requirements.

Evidence: FRED official source (2026-09-05)

Verified 2026-09-05 · Medium confidence

08

8. Keep the evidence trail

Zotero

Capture sources and citations so the diligence conclusion can be traced back to the underlying evidence.

Alternatives
  • Readwise Reader
    Recommendation details

    Why: Consider Readwise Reader as an alternative for 8. Keep the evidence trail; compare its documented capabilities and operating constraints with the primary recommendation.

    Best when: Collect, annotate and resurface reading.

    Avoid when: Avoid when the current official source does not support your required deployment, data-handling, or integration constraints.

    Compatibility: Validate interfaces, data formats, and operational handoffs with the adjacent stack stages.

    Prerequisites:

    • Review the current official source and implementation requirements.

    Evidence: Readwise Reader official source (2026-09-05)

    Verified 2026-09-05 · Medium confidence

Recommendation details

Best when: Reference and source management.

Avoid when: Avoid when the current official source does not support your required deployment, data-handling, or integration constraints.

Compatibility: Validate interfaces, data formats, and operational handoffs with the adjacent stack stages.

Prerequisites:

  • Review the current official source and implementation requirements.

Evidence: Zotero official source (2026-09-05)

Verified 2026-09-05 · Medium confidence

Need this workflow built and running, not just linked? EE Solutions implements agentic stacks like this one. EE Solutions is a senior technology team for private capital firms and their portfolio companies.

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