How The Vault Works

Methodology

Every directory says its tools are vetted. This page explains what that word means here, in plain terms, so you can judge the claim instead of trusting it.

Maintained by Nicole Hurey · Last Updated September 11, 2026
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01 · Sourcing

Where entries come from

Entries come from three places: tools I build myself, tools I use in real investigative work, and tools recommended by working practitioners whose judgment I trust. Nothing is bulk imported. Nothing is pulled from other directories. If a tool is listed here, a person put it here deliberately.

02 · Testing

What "hand tested" means

Before an external tool is listed, I run it against a known test target and check three things: it returns what it claims to return, it does not require payment or registration it fails to disclose up front, and it does not harvest your query in a way its own policy contradicts. Tools that fail any of the three do not get listed.

03 · OMERTÀ Verdicts

What a confirmed hit actually means

When OMERTÀ marks a result confirmed, it means the source returned a positive match for the exact query you entered. A match shows the identifier exists on that source. It does not, by itself, prove who controls the account or record. Uncertain means a real signal that is not enough to call. Manual means a directory you must check yourself. Nothing in the result stream is guessed, padded, or simulated.

04 · The OSINT Grid

Public records verification

Grid entries point to official government and public record sources: county clerks, state registries, federal databases. Each entry is checked for a working URL and an official operator before it ships. When a source moves or dies, the entry is corrected or pulled at the next review pass.

05 · Money

No sponsored placement, ever

No tool pays to be listed. No listing is affiliate monetized. Rank and placement are not for sale. If that ever changes, this page changes first, in public, before a single sponsored entry appears.

06 · Your Privacy

What the Vault does not do

The Vault runs no third-party analytics trackers. There are no accounts, no sign-ups, and no query logs sold or shared. The tools that can run client-side do run client-side, in your browser, on your machine.

07 · Corrections

When something is wrong

Directories rot. Links die, tools get acquired, policies change. If you find a dead link, a tool that no longer does what its listing says, or a claim on this site you can disprove, email [email protected]. Verified corrections ship in the next update pass and the Last Updated stamp moves with them.