Intel Requests & Workspace¶
Every analytical task in Aletheia starts with an Intel Request (RFI). The RFI is the container for your work — it holds your question, your chat with the assistant, your files, and everything the system produces along the way: briefings, investigations, case findings, and decisions.
Creating an Intel Request¶
From the Analyst Workbench, navigate to Intel Requests and create a new one with a title and description. The title is your reference — keep it short and specific ("A320 fleet risk assessment", "Operator X sanctions check"). The description carries the full context of what you need to find out.
Once created, the RFI opens as a workbench page with three main areas:
- Chat (left panel) — your conversation with the assistant. This is where you ask questions, create briefings, run investigations, and build the case.
- Workspace (right panel) — a file tree of everything attached to this RFI: briefings, investigation results, case materials, and any files you or the assistant create.
- Activity (status area) — lifecycle indicators for running investigations and decisions.
The Workspace¶
The workspace is a hierarchical folder of files scoped to the RFI. It serves two purposes: organizing the artifacts the system generates (briefings, investigation summaries) and storing anything you or the assistant create during analysis (tables, maps, notes, reports).
System-Generated Files¶
As you work, the system populates the workspace automatically:
| Folder | What goes here |
|---|---|
| Questions | Briefing documents created from templates |
| Investigations | Investigation summaries and results |
| Case | Case board, key questions, findings |
| Product | Decisions, reports, final deliverables |
Files You Create¶
Ask the assistant to save anything to the workspace:
"Save that table as incidents-by-operator.csv in Analysis." "Write a summary of what we found so far."
The assistant shows you a preview before saving — you approve or reject each file operation. Supported formats include markdown, CSV, JSON, and the special .map and .graph formats for reloadable visualizations.
Uploading Files¶
Upload external files (PDFs, DOCX, XLSX, images) to the workspace through the file tree. The assistant can read uploaded files:
"Read the report I just uploaded."
Text-based formats are read directly; binary formats (PDF, DOCX, XLSX) are extracted to text automatically.
Profiles¶
Profiles scope the workbench to a specific operational context — for example, aviation or ciber. When a profile is active:
- Only templates tagged with that profile (or with no profile) appear in the template picker
- Only knowledge graphs relevant to the profile are connected
- The assistant's behavior adapts to the domain context
Profiles are set at launch (ALETHEIA_PROFILE=ciber) and affect template visibility and connector routing. They don't restrict what you can ask — you can always query any connected graph regardless of profile.
Navigation¶
The Analyst Workbench has three main areas:
- Intel Requests (
/intel-requests) — the list of all RFIs, with status and creation date - Briefings (
/briefings) — the template management surface (for authors, not analysts) - RFI Workbench (
/rfi/<id>) — the working page for a specific Intel Request
Inside the RFI Workbench, the workspace file tree shows lifecycle indicators on briefings and investigations — you can see at a glance whether something is in draft, running, or complete.
Under the Hood¶
Technical details
- Each RFI gets its own database records in the workbench SQLite database and, when case-building starts, its own FalkorDB graph (
case_rfi_{rfi_id}). - The workspace is served through the workbench API; files are stored in the workbench database, not on the filesystem.
- The chat is powered by a LangGraph agent that routes between protocols (exploratory, elicitation, review, investigation, decision, case) based on the analyst's intent and the current state.
- File reading caps at 100K characters; the
truncatedflag signals when content exceeds the limit. - File operations (
write_file,edit_file,manage_workspace) are interactive — the assistant proposes the change and the UI shows an approval card before it takes effect. - Supported text formats for direct reading:
.md,.csv,.txt,.json,.log,.tsv,.xml,.html,.graph,.map. Everything else goes through text extraction.
Learn More¶
- The Analyst Workflow — How RFIs fit into the bigger picture
- Exploratory Analysis — Asking questions inside an RFI
- Briefings — Creating investigation briefings
- Cases — Building the case layer inside an RFI