AnythingAtlas

AnythingAtlas

Turn an unfamiliar topic into a verified knowledge atlas and an executable learning or exploration roadmap.

Non-negotiable requirements

• Clarify the user’s real goal before doing expensive research.
• Adapt the evidence standard, resource types, and discovery channels to the topic.
• Verify that recommended resources exist and that titles, authors, URLs, dates, and access conditions are accurate.
• Build a broad, verified resource library when it adds real coverage, but keep the active route to the smallest sufficient set. Organize the rest by role, priority, medium, and use case instead of presenting an undifferentiated list.
• Explain why every resource is included, who it suits, what to focus on, and what its limitations are.
• Answer first: put the direct conclusion, concrete options, and decisive trade-offs before background, methodology, and the learning plan.
• Cover exact, representative tools, platforms, products, works, people, institutions, methods, or players, but synthesize them into one compact core guide instead of forcing separate field-map, action-kit, and knowledge-map chapters.
• Match resources to the user's preferred format and normal session length; provide distinct quick, balanced, or deep tracks when useful.
• Cover the forms the topic actually benefits from: books, papers, official docs, courses, video, audio, archives, repositories, datasets, interactive tools, practice platforms, communities, or update channels. Do not force all forms into every atlas.
• Link substantive guide claims to evidence notes with exact source locations, dates, confidence, and a fact / interpretation / recommendation distinction.
• For action-oriented requests, name the actual setup and give an executable first-session workflow.
• Write compactly: prioritize decisions, evidence, exact resource assignments, and actions over generic explanation.
• Make every roadmap stage executable with timed sessions, exact actions, outputs, artifact templates, self-checks, fallback steps, minimum paths, and completion criteria. Keep required minutes inside the usable time budget.
• Produce both a complete Markdown file and a polished, self-contained HTML file.
• Generate both files from the same structured content and validate their parity before delivery.
• Keep the visible information architecture to five flexible top-level sections; express topic-specific structure as concise guide subsections.
• Keep every resource clickable wherever it is assigned, including resource tracks and roadmap stages.

Workflow

1. Clarify and confirm the brief

Inspect the information already supplied. Do not ask questions whose answers can be safely inferred.

Read references/clarification-policy.md. Ask one compact batch of high-impact questions when missing answers could materially change the atlas. Cover only relevant gaps in:

• scope and boundaries;
• desired outcome;
• current knowledge and prerequisites;
• available time, target date, and intensity;
• preferred language, formats, normal session length, and practice modes;
• depth, budget, geography, and access;
• sources or viewpoints to include or avoid.

Summarize the interpreted brief and consequential assumptions. Ask for confirmation only when unresolved ambiguity remains. If the user delegates the choices, proceed with reasonable defaults and record them in the deliverables.

Do not present the final atlas until the brief is sufficiently clear.

When the user wants to act immediately and learn afterward, treat those as two linked horizons: a minimum viable first-session outcome and a follow-on learning cadence. Infer a short-form preference when the user only has short daily sessions; do not ask again unless the choice remains consequential.

2. Classify and map the topic

Read references/topic-taxonomy.md and references/specificity-and-resource-fit.md. Classify the request by domain type, maturity, rate of change, evidentiary burden, controversy, geographic scope, theory–practice balance, user mode, urgency, and consumption pattern.

Build a dependency-aware knowledge map containing:

• foundational concepts;
• prerequisites;
• major branches;
• representative questions;
• important people and institutions;
• common misconceptions;
• optional deeper directions.

Separately map the concrete landscape, practical setup, and conceptual dependencies during research. Date-stamp changing facts. Treat these as coverage checks, then merge the useful parts into named subsections of the core guide. Do not automatically expose each internal map as its own chapter.

3. Design the source and channel plan

Read references/source-and-channel-policies.md and references/credibility-criteria.md.

Specify before searching:

• required evidence and material types;
• primary discovery channels and why they fit;
• primary-versus-secondary source balance;
• recency, language, geography, budget, and access rules;
• excluded or low-trust channels;
• credibility and conflict-handling criteria;
• format and session-length fit;
• channels for actual tools, platforms, practitioners, creators, accounts, communities, products, or official portals relevant to the task.

Do not apply the same policy to a mature academic field, fast-moving technology, historical event, public figure, industry, practical skill, and current event.

4. Discover and verify resources

Search the selected channels broadly enough to avoid one-platform bias. Prefer primary and authoritative sources when available.

Verify every recommended resource:

• confirm existence, canonical title, creator or institution, and working URL;
• confirm relevance to the exact topic and user level;
• check publication date, edition, maintenance status, and access conditions;
• distinguish original evidence, expert interpretation, educational summary, and opinion;
• note ideological, commercial, geographic, or methodological limitations;
• use current web research whenever recency can affect the answer;
• never invent a citation, account, course, paper, archive, or URL;
• verify concrete field-guide entries, tools, platforms, representative examples, and ongoing-update accounts when included.
• record the exact page, chapter, section, episode, dataset slice, or other locator that supports each material claim;
• record whether the claim is a directly supported fact, an interpretation, or a recommendation, plus its confidence and current-as-of date.

If a claim or resource cannot be verified, omit it or label the uncertainty explicitly.

5. Rank and curate

Rank candidates by authority, relevance, accessibility, timeliness, depth, practicality, reliability, and complementarity.

Assign each selected resource a role:

• Start here
• Core foundation
• Primary evidence
• Guided learning
• Deep dive
• Practice
• Stay updated

Separate resource-library size from active-route size. As a default discovery target, curate roughly 12–20 resources for a short orientation, 25–40 for a one-to-three-month atlas, and 40–80 for a long or research-grade atlas when the topic genuinely supports that breadth. Treat these as coverage heuristics, not quotas. Keep required assignments deliberately small and move the rest into purpose-based collections, alternatives, deep dives, and update channels.

Assign a priority to every resource: core, recommended, supplementary, deep-dive, or stay-current. Record its media types, content roles, language, publication or update status, verification note, and alternatives.

Organize the selected resources into one or more user-fit tracks. Every track must state who it fits, the cadence, exact resource order, and exact portions to consume. Do not mix books, videos, sites, and accounts indiscriminately. Retain each resource's verified URL in the track and roadmap renderings.