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.
• Prefer the smallest sufficient set of complementary resources over a long 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.
• 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 tasks, time, milestones, deliverables, and completion criteria.
• 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.

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

Keep the core set deliberately small. Move useful but nonessential materials into optional branches.

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.

6. Build the detailed roadmap

Read references/roadmap-schema.md.

For every stage, provide:

• objective and prerequisite dependencies;
• exact chapters, lectures, sections, papers, episodes, or projects;
• concrete study, research, or practice tasks;
• duration and suggested weekly effort;
• a tangible deliverable or checkpoint;
• completion criteria and a self-check method;
• core and optional materials;
• the condition for advancing to the next stage.

Fit the roadmap to the confirmed time budget. End with one action the user can take immediately.

For urgent practical requests, create the concrete setup and minimum viable first-session path before the longer roadmap. Do not replace requested action with theory, simulation, or warnings alone unless a specific safety, legal, access, or feasibility constraint requires it.

7. Build the shared content model

Read references/output-schema.md. Create one UTF-8 JSON content model that contains every section, resource, citation, assumption, and roadmap stage.

Treat the JSON as an intermediate build artifact, not as a required user deliverable. Store it in a temporary location unless the user requests the source data.

The model must carry a compact core guide, resource tracks, curated resources, the roadmap, and a final source directory grouped by recognizable channels. The core guide may contain task-specific subsections for field context, comparison, concepts, setup, viewing or practice method, and first action. Include only the subsections that add distinct value.

8. Render and validate both files

Read references/html-design-guidelines.md.

Choose the HTML theme from the user’s preference and topic classification:

• atlas for broad, interdisciplinary, or mixed topics, and as the default;
• scholar for mature academic fields and theory-heavy study;
• archive for history, people, organizations, and source-led investigation;
• signal for fast-moving technology, AI, software, and research frontiers;
• workshop for practical skills, projects, and learn-by-doing paths.

Set the choice in meta.theme, or pass it explicitly with --theme. User preference overrides the automatic mapping when it does not reduce readability.

Run:

python3 scripts/build_atlas.py \
  --input /path/to/atlas.json \
  --output-dir /path/to/output \
  --theme <atlas|scholar|archive|signal|workshop>

Create:

anything-atlas-<topic-slug>.md
anything-atlas-<topic-slug>.html

Keep this compact answer-first order in both deliverables:

1. confirmed brief;
2. core guide;
3. curated resources, including user-fit tracks;
4. detailed roadmap;
5. source directory grouped by channel.

Do not add standalone source-methodology, source-notes, or next-action chapters. Attach material caveats to the relevant recommendation or resource, place the immediate action inside the guide or first roadmap stage, and keep the source directory last.

Keep the HTML self-contained by embedding its CSS. Do not place the AnythingAtlas logo, a brand banner, or a brand block in the generated atlas. Credit AnythingAtlas once, as text, in the footer.

Run validation separately when reviewing existing output:

python3 scripts/validate_deliverables.py \
  --input /path/to/atlas.json \
  --markdown /path/to/atlas.md \
  --html /path/to/atlas.html

Fix all validation errors before delivery.

9. Deliver

Link both output files in the final response. Summarize the confirmed goal, the source strategy, and the recommended first action.

Do not paste the entire atlas into chat unless the user requests it. Do not claim completion when either file is missing.

Reference routing

• Read clarification-policy.md whenever the request is underspecified.
• Read specificity-and-resource-fit.md before mapping, curating, or writing any atlas.
• Read topic-taxonomy.md and source-and-channel-policies.md before research.
• Read credibility-criteria.md while verifying and ranking resources.
• Read roadmap-schema.md before writing the roadmap.
• Read output-schema.md before creating the shared JSON model.
• Read html-design-guidelines.md before rendering or reviewing HTML.

Safety and uncertainty

• Preserve disagreement between reliable sources instead of manufacturing consensus.
• Separate facts, interpretations, and recommendations.
• State important omissions and inaccessible sources.
• For medical, legal, financial, or other high-stakes topics, prioritize current authoritative sources and clearly separate facts, analysis, and recommendations. Give specific conditional or scenario-based options when the user asks for decision support and the material variables are known. Never imply licensure, a fiduciary relationship, a diagnosis, guaranteed outcomes, or unsupported certainty.
• Do not use a disclaimer as a substitute for answering the user's question.
• Avoid using popularity as a substitute for expertise.