Follow the clues.
Inspect the reasoning.
Ossary starts with your question and researches indexed public pages. Selected source statements and unanswered questions stay distinct, so you can see what each finding rests on.
This describes the investigation workflow, including its limits. Provider availability affects which searches and AI steps can run. A guided fallback is labeled clearly; a failed search is never replaced with fictional evidence.
From a question to a private case
A question and starting clues
Describe what you want to find out. Add one to three known public links and, optionally, a full name. Confirm that you are an adult doing legitimate public research about an adult. Private network addresses, credentials, query strings, and sign-in links are rejected.
Search, then follow relevant clues
The initial check uses one search per supplied link, plus two quoted-name searches if a name is supplied, or two searches within the supplied site for URL-only cases. With AI available, a planner can suggest up to two additional queries anchored to the name or starting links. Ossary searches a public index; it does not fetch arbitrary URLs directly or retry paid searches automatically.
Retain sources and validate citations
Fixed filters remove duplicate, unrelated, sensitive, directory, and data-broker pages. Contact details are stripped from excerpts. Up to ten sources are kept per round; earlier completed rounds remain available. AI selects relevant evidence by ID; new factual findings preserve the cited excerpt’s wording. Quotations must be short and contiguous. Invalid references and unsupported quotations are rejected. A same-site result does not establish common authorship.
Reopen the case and ask a follow-up
Research saves the case and its progress automatically. One follow-up can use the collected evidence and up to two more anchored searches. Earlier completed rounds stay available. A case has at most two research rounds and nine search calls in total. A known provider rate limit pauses the saved round for an explicit retry after its cooldown. Other interrupted work can recover saved evidence without repeating calls of unknown outcome; unsaved results can be missing.
What each label means
Labels describe the relationship between a source and your starting clues. None verifies identity or guarantees that a source is accurate.
| Label | Meaning | What it shows | What it does not show |
|---|---|---|---|
| LINKED SOURCE | Exact supplied URL or supported matching profile identifier | The index returned that URL or a supported page tied to the same profile identifier. | Who controls it, whether the account is active, or whether its statements are true. |
| UNCONFIRMED | A name-only candidate | A public page shares the full name but is not linked to the starting profile. | That it refers to the same person. The association remains unconfirmed. |
| AI SOURCE SELECTION | Excerpts selected for your question | The wording, context, and dates offered by public sources. | Proof that a source is correct or that two profiles belong to one person. |
| OPEN QUESTION | A gap or next step | What the retained sources have not established. | That missing evidence supports an accusation or proves absence. |
Selected quotations are validated against their source and limited to 25 quoted words per source across the analysis. New factual findings preserve that wording instead of freely rewriting it. A publisher can still be wrong or outdated. Earlier saved AI interpretations remain labeled as interpretations.
What the evidence cannot establish
Incomplete visibility
Private, login-only, app-only, and unindexed pages are outside the search. An empty result means no relevant evidence was returned; it does not establish that a page or account is absent.
Uncertain connections
Names, roles, and usernames can overlap. AI comparisons do not verify that two profiles belong to one person, and a name-only source remains unconfirmed.
Stale information
Search excerpts are not a fresh inspection of the live page. Reports retain retrieval times and any publication dates supplied by the provider. A missing date does not make a claim current.
Ossary does not access private accounts, member databases, precise location, company registries, court records, or credit files. It does not establish current activity, relationship status, or infidelity.
Saved reports and exports
Reports retain your question, starting links, purpose declaration, source titles and excerpts, citations, queries, retrieval status, and the AI or guided-mode disclosure. Cases save when research starts, including completed progress checkpoints. A follow-up retains its question and research in a separate round alongside the earlier completed round. You can download reports as text or JSON.
Saving and reopening reuse the collected evidence. Continuing a case is an explicit new research action within its limits. Cases are private to the account, with a limit of 100 retained cases. You can delete a case and its rounds, and separately delete saved report copies. Cases and reports expire after 12 months; minimal deleted-case request records and deleted-report attempt records remain for 30 days. See the privacy notice for provider processing and removal requests.
See the evidence in context
Explore a fictional investigation or bring a question of your own.