Structured research · Policy & government

Stay with the text and its status. What the instrument does, where it is in the process, who administers it.

Most policy coverage reports intent; what governs is operative language and status. This is research for the staffer, the implementation analyst and the reporter who need the instrument as written — proposed, enacted or in force — the agency that holds the authority, what implementation actually requires by when, and every position mapped by who holds it and what leverage they have, without the analysis taking a side.

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Start here · Policy7 ways in
Policy AnalysisRead a bill or regulatory action across stakeholders
AskGet a direct answer to any policy question
Policy / RegulationProfile a statute, regulation, or ruling
Stakeholder PositionsMap who supports or opposes a policy
Why It ChangedWhy an official statistic actually moved
Agency & CommitteeProfile an agency — mandate, docket, leadership
Policy SearchSearch policy publications and government sources

The first screen of the Policy workbench, as the app lists it. Every scan comes back graded, sourced and exportable.

Who comes here

The questions policy research is built to answer.

Each one is a question a specialist actually brings, and each is answered by a scan this domain carries — not a generic report with the name swapped in.

Legislative staff

What does the operative text actually do, and what stage is the instrument really at?

Implementation analyst

Which agency holds the authority, and what does implementation require, by when?

Political reporter

Who holds which position on this, and what leverage do they actually have?

Think-tank researcher

What was obligated against this program, and where did the money land?

Answered byFollow the Money
How it holds up

What a policy scan rests on.

Every judgment carries a grade for how it is actually known, every figure carries who reported it, and the structured record below is read on every scan before the model writes a word.

What grounds itCongress.gov for every bill or public law the subject names by number, with its recorded stage; the Federal Register with effective dates and comment deadlines, and Regulations.gov dockets; USAspending for what was actually obligated and Treasury fiscal data for the denominator; OpenFEMA where a US state is in play; BLS labor series for the workforce scans — plus the operative text itself and the policy press through live search, tiered toward the primary record (CBO, GAO, CRS, GovInfo, the courts) and a balanced set of research institutions.
Proposed, enacted, in forceAn instrument’s stage is read from the latest recorded action when the subject names the bill, and from the text rather than the announcement otherwise; what implementation requires — the agency, the authority, the timeline — comes from the operative language. A court challenge is followed through the public record in live search.
What it will not doNon-partisan by contract. No advocacy, no scoring of a position as right or wrong. The research says who holds a position, why, what leverage they have and what would move them — and stops there.
Every claim comes back stamped
VERIFIED GROUNDED PARTIAL CONTESTED GAP
Live search is steered toward
politico.comthehill.comrollcall.comlawfaremedia.orgscotusblog.comgovtrack.usbrookings.educfr.orgcarnegieendowment.orgheritage.orgaei.orgcato.org

41 first-tier sources for policy, and 20 blocked outright. Search results are one input; every figure is graded on where it came from, not on being found. How the grades work →

How FLOW reads it

Sized for policy, in policy’s own terms.

Scale here is policy weight — the jurisdictions, the budgets and the constituencies a connection reaches — and Complexity is how contested and uncertain the path from text to effect still is.

ARoutine Monitoring

Small policy weight, easy to understand. Standard legislative and regulatory processes explain the connection.

BPolicy Relevant

Meaningful legislative weight and the implications are clear. Established precedent applies.

CPolitically Complex

Meaningful stakes with real uncertainty. Competing stakeholder interests, jurisdictional questions, or regulatory tradeoffs make the outcome hard to predict.

DNational Priority

Very high stakes at national or cross-jurisdictional scale. The sheer legislative magnitude makes this one of the most important connections, regardless of complexity.

SPolicy Inflection Point

No precedent. A fundamental shift in the governance landscape that existing frameworks may not cover.

Rule 1 · FLOW C cannot exist at national scale

When policy weight grows to national or cross-jurisdictional scale, FLOW C reclassifies to FLOW D immediately. The priority shifts from 'analyze carefully' to 'mobilize response.'

Rule 2 · Scale alone drives FLOW D

National policy weight means FLOW D regardless of complexity. A straightforward regulation affecting millions of people is FLOW D, not FLOW A.

Rule 3 · When debating D vs S — use D

FLOW S requires conditions that fall entirely outside existing policy frameworks — max 1-2 per analysis. The test: do existing legislative and regulatory mechanisms apply at all?

One vocabulary across every domain — a FLOW D here reads at the same weight as a FLOW D in any other — so the classification travels, and so does your judgment. The framework in full →

The catalog · Policy

78 scans, grouped by the move you’re making.

7 ways in, then the rest of the catalog organised as the Policy workbench organises it — establish the background, map the argument, work the record, analyse the connections, decide what to do. Every one comes back graded, sourced and exportable.

Start here

The 7 ways in
Policy AnalysisRead a bill or regulatory action across stakeholders
AskGet a direct answer to any policy question
Policy / RegulationProfile a statute, regulation, or ruling
Stakeholder PositionsMap who supports or opposes a policy
Why It ChangedWhy an official statistic actually moved
Agency & CommitteeProfile an agency — mandate, docket, leadership
Policy SearchSearch policy publications and government sources

Discover

2 scans
After-Action ReviewReview a debate, vote, or negotiation round
Policy DebateAnalyst, lobbyist, and commentator chatter

Explore

7 scans
InnovateGrounded ideas for a problem
ScenarioProject a policy scenario forward
Uncertainty MapThe open questions — and how they could close
Response OptionsMap policy response options with tradeoffs
CompareCompare two bills, regulations, or actors
Political LandscapeMap a political landscape around an issue
Policy PrecedentsFind historical enactments that parallel this

Background

16 scans
ChronologyTrace how a policy fight developed
Follow the MoneyFollow the money behind a policy
Funding MapWho funds this agenda — appropriations to grants
Litigation DocketThe litigation docket — challenges and rulings
Key PlayersProfile the key actors on an issue
Who's On ItWhich bodies are on it, under what authority
Open CaseWhat the inquiry record establishes, and what is still disputed
How It WorksExplain how a law or program works
Policy MomentumAn idea's real arc: introduced vs enacted
Emerging AgendaIdeas moving from papers to first bills
Policy InnovationNew instruments: evaluated vs proposed
Proposal Stress-TestYour proposal vs implementation records
Falsification PlanThe cheapest tests that could kill the hypothesis
Issue ConvergenceWhere two policy streams collide
Evidence PulseEvaluations and studies, graded by uptake
By the NumbersKey policy figures, sourced and dated

Positions

4 scans
Poll CheckWhat the polls really show — spread, not average
The ArgumentsThe case for and against a bill
Myths & MisconceptionsCommon policy myths, corrected
Consensus CheckWhat forecasters expect a fight to produce

Cases

7 scans
SceneReconstruct one pivotal moment, in the room
VoicesReal quotes, exactly sourced
Primary DocumentsThe law verbatim — statutes, dockets, rulings
Budget AnatomyA bill's budget anatomy — enacted vs proposed
Case StudyA real law or program, worked through
PlaybookThe actionable steps, from analysis
Decision ReviewWas the policy call right, given the record?

Profiles

12 scans
Actor ProfileProfile a legislator, agency, or political actor
Issue / ProblemProfile a policy problem, issue, or societal challenge
PersonProfile a legislator, agency head, or actor
ProfileStrengths, pros/cons, or roads/barriers for a policy
Track RecordCampaign and policy pledges vs. delivery
Why They Did ItWhy an actor timed that move as they did
Method StudyA policy method and what evaluations show
Literature ReviewWhat the evaluation literature shows
Options AppraisalInstruments compared on the evaluation record
Fact GridA jurisdiction facts table, sources named
Read GridApproach and exposure, by jurisdiction
Document BreakdownA policy doc in hand, checked vs the record

Connections

3 scans
Network MapMap coalitions, lobbying groups, voting blocs
Bilateral AnalysisRelationship between two political actors
SynthesisCombine multiple analyses into one assessment

Markets

10 scans
Market ResearchSize a program or compliance market honestly
Buyer ResearchAgency buyers — how programs actually purchase
Supply ChainSee which rules shape a supply chain, and where
Freight & InfrastructureMap corridors, ports, and who funds the freight
Operator & ConcessionWho operates the network, and what the state retained
Public WorkforceThe public workforce and where it actually binds
Regulatory MapThe statutory perimeter, instrument by instrument
Deal FlowContract awards and M&A around a program area
Pricing ReadProgram costs and fees — posted and sourced
Partnership MapCoalitions and compacts — documented ties only

Act

8 scans
What You NeedWhat you need to hit an objective
Opposition WeaknessesWhere the opposition is exposed
Risk AssessmentCascading policy risks across stakeholders
Action PlanBuild a structured policy action plan
Opportunity BriefA solicitation's documented file and incumbents
Legislative WatchTrack legislation, regulations, and politics
Catalyst CalendarDated votes, deadlines, and rulings ahead
BriefingCompile a decision-ready policy briefing

Investigate

1 scan
InquiryVerified deep research on any policy question

Tools

1 scan
FrameworksApply frameworks (SWOT, PESTLE, etc.)

Don’t know which one you need? The Router reads a plain question and picks one; the Planner takes a goal and designs a linked sequence. Every completed scan opens onto its own follow-ups — ask it a question, re-check what has changed, red-team its judgments, or push a signal onto your watchboard.

What leaves with you
Citations · BibTeX · RIS · CSL-JSONPDF · print-grade, branded coverPublic link · read-only, revocableMarkdown · for Slack, Notion, emailAudio · to a personal podcast feedSummary deck · ready to post

And the Studio turns a set of policy scans into a planned, researched, edited report or book. Every format →

The instrument, as written.

Open the policy workbench with a bill, a rule, an agency or a docket. What comes back is sourced to the text and mapped without a side.

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