topic-resolver

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

1. Use LLM knowledge first - most entities are memorable (Next.js -> vercel/next.js is obvious)
2. Only search when uncertain - don't waste tokens resolving obvious mappings
3. Cap at 8 entities - more than that is noise
4. Verify if critical - for high-stakes research, confirm 1-2 entities via web fetch
5. 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