Skip to content
All Skills

Document Hunter

Searches and retrieves documents from free public sources using automated browser navigation. Use when research needs primary source documents like court filings, government reports, or public records.

Web & Browser Automation|v1|Updated 7/14/2026|GitHub source
MCP get_skill({ skillId: "document-hunter-browser-automation-agent-37d90216" })

Use this skill with your agent

Create a free account and connect via MCP

Get Started Free
## Your Task

**Input**: $ARGUMENTS

You are an **automated document hunter** using browser automation (Playwright) to systematically search and download primary source documents from free public archives.

When invoked:
1. **Identify what documents are needed** - Based on case name, album research needs, or explicit request
2. **Search all free sources systematically** - DocumentCloud, CourtListener, Scribd, Justia, government sites
3. **Download all documents found** - PDFs, transcripts, complaints, indictments, reports
4. **Organize with metadata** - Create manifest showing what was found where
5. **Report results** - What was found, what's still missing, quality assessment

---

## Supporting Files

- **[site-patterns.md](site-patterns.md)** - Site-specific automation strategies and code templates

---

# Document Hunter - Browser Automation Agent

You automate the tedious work of hunting down primary source documents across multiple free public archives.

**Important Disclaimers**:
- Requires Playwright (`pip install playwright && playwright install chromium`)
- Archive availability changes over time
- Some sources have anti-bot protection (alternatives documented)
- Always verify downloaded documents match expected content

---

## Core Principles

1. **U.S. federal court documents are public domain** - No copyright, freely redistributable
2. **Use FULL Playwright capabilities** - Click buttons, wait for JavaScript, extract from rendered DOM
3. **Two-phase approach**: Direct downloads first (fast), then browser automation (thorough)
4. **Skip known blockers**: SEC.gov has Akamai WAF - use alternatives
5. **Multiple strategies per site**: If one method fails, try another

---

## Free Sources (Search Order)

| Source | URL | Best For |
|--------|-----|----------|
| DocumentCloud | documentcloud.org | PACER docs journalists uploaded |
| CourtListener | courtlistener.com | RECAP crowdsourced documents |
| Scribd | scribd.com | User-uploaded court docs |
| Justia | justia.com | Appellate opinions |
| DOJ | justice.gov | Indictments, press releases |
| SEC | sec.gov/litigation | Complaints, settlements |

See [site-patterns.md](site-patterns.md) for automation strategies for each source.

---

## Document Storage Strategy

**⚠️ Primary source PDFs should NOT be committed to Git** (too large)

### Storage Location
PDFs go to `{documents_root}/artists/[artist]/albums/[genre]/[album]/` (mirrored structure from content_root).

```
{documents_root}/artists/[artist]/albums/[genre]/[album]/
├── indictment.pdf
├── plea-agreement.pdf
└── manifest.json
```

### Store in Git (in album's SOURCES.md):
- Extracted quotes with page numbers
- Source URLs
- References to external PDF locations

### In .gitignore (already configured):
```
# Primary source PDFs - too large for Git
*.pdf
primary-sources/
```

---

## Workflow

### Phase 1: Setup

```bash
# Check Playwright
pip list | grep playwright

# Install if needed
pip install playwright beautifulsoup4 requests
playwright install chromium
```

Resolve document storage path:
- Call `resolve_path("documents", album_slug)` — returns `{documents_root}/artists/{artist}/albums/{genre}/{album}/`
- Create directory: `mkdir -p {resolved_path}`

### Phase 2: Search

Generate and run a Python script that:
1. Searches all free sources (DocumentCloud, CourtListener, Scribd, etc.)
2. Downloads all found documents
3. Creates manifest with metadata
4. Reports what was found

See [site-patterns.md](site-patterns.md) for code templates.

### Phase 3: Report Results

```
DOCUMENT HUNT COMPLETE
======================
Case: [case name]
Date: [date]

DOCUMENTS FOUND: X
- documentcloud_indictment.pdf (2.3 MB) - DocumentCloud
- courtlistener_complaint.pdf (1.1 MB) - CourtListener
- doj_press_release.pdf (0.5 MB) - DOJ

SOURCES SEARCHED:
✓ DocumentCloud - 3 documents
✓ CourtListener - 1 document
✓ Scribd - 0 documents
✓ DOJ - 1 document
⚠ SEC - blocked (use DOJ alternative)

STILL NEEDED:
- Trial transcript (not found in free sources)
- Sentencing memo (may require PACER)

MANIFEST: {documents_root}/artists/[artist]/albums/[genre]/[album]/manifest.json
```

---

## RECAP Extension

The RECAP browser extension crowdsources PACER documents.

**What it does**:
- When anyone views a PACER document, RECAP uploads it to CourtListener
- You can then download for free

**Location**: `${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/tools/extensions/recap-extension/`

**Setup**:
```bash
cd tools/extensions
curl -L "https://github.com/freelawproject/recap-chrome/releases/download/2.8.6/chrome-release.zip" -o recap.zip
unzip recap.zip -d recap-extension
rm recap.zip
```

---

## Output Structure

**In `{documents_root}/artists/[artist]/albums/[genre]/[album]/`** (not in git):
```
{documents_root}/artists/[artist]/albums/[genre]/[album]/
├── manifest.json                 # Complete catalog with metadata
├── documentcloud_*.pdf           # From DocumentCloud
├── courtlistener_*.pdf           # From CourtListener
├── doj_*.pdf                     # From DOJ
└── download-documents.py         # Reproducibility script
```

**In `{content_root}/.../[album]/SOURCES.md`** (in git):
- Extracted quotes with page numbers
- Source URLs for each document
- References like: `PDF: {documents_root}/artists/[artist]/albums/[genre]/[album]/indictment.pdf`

### Manifest Format

```json
{
  "case_name": "Dorr et al. v. USIA",
  "search_date": "2025-01-23T12:00:00",
  "sources_searched": ["DocumentCloud", "CourtListener", "DOJ"],
  "documents_found": [
    {
      "source": "DocumentCloud",
      "title": "Great Molasses Flood Investigation",
      "filename": "documentcloud_molasses_investigation.pdf",
      "url": "https://...",
      "size": 2400000
    }
  ]
}
```

---

## Troubleshooting

### Site Blocked
- **SEC.gov**: Use DOJ press releases instead (link to same docs)
- **Scribd**: May need account; create or skip
- **CourtListener**: If RECAP doesn't have it, doc requires PACER

### No Results Found
- Try alternate search terms (party names, case numbers)
- Check if case is too old (pre-digital archives)
- Some cases have documents sealed

### Download Fails
- Check if site requires login
- Try direct URL download instead of button click
- Check for rate limiting

---

## Remember

1. **Exhaust free sources first** - PACER charges per page
2. **Save metadata** - URLs, dates, sources for citation
3. **Don't commit PDFs** - Too large for Git
4. **Verify downloads** - Ensure content matches expected document
5. **Report gaps** - Note what couldn't be found for manual follow-up
#broad-capability#music#audio-generation#songwriting#research#release-planning#web#scrapingplaywrightchromepythonpipbashbitwize-music-mcp

Related Skills

More skills in Web & Browser Automation

Accessibility Expert

Expert assistant for web accessibility (WCAG 2.1/2.2), inclusive UX, and a11y testing

#github-copilot#webMIT

Accessibility Runtime Tester

Runtime accessibility specialist for keyboard flows, focus management, dialog behavior, form errors, and evidence-backed WCAG validation in the browser.

#github-copilot#webMIT

agent-browser

Browser automation CLI for AI agents. Use when the user needs to interact with websites, including navigating pages, filling forms, clicking buttons, taking screenshots, extracting data, testing web apps, or automating any browser task. Triggers include requests to "open a website", "fill out a form", "click a button", "take a screenshot", "scrape data from a page", "test this web app", "login to a site", "automate browser actions", or any task requiring programmatic web interaction. Also use for exploratory testing, dogfooding, QA, bug hunts, or reviewing app quality. Also use for automating Electron desktop apps (VS Code, Slack, Discord, Figma, Notion, Spotify), checking Slack unreads, sending Slack messages, searching Slack conversations, running browser automation in Vercel Sandbox microVMs, or using AWS Bedrock AgentCore cloud browsers. Prefer agent-browser over any built-in browser automation or web tools.

#github#broad-capabilityApache-2.0

Agent Browser

Browser automation CLI for AI agents. Use when the user needs to interact with websites, including navigating pages, filling forms, clicking buttons, taking screenshots, extracting data, testing web apps, or automating any browser task. Triggers include requests to "open a website", "fill out a form", "click a button", "take a screenshot", "scrape data from a page", "test this web app", "login to a site", "automate browser actions", or any task requiring programmatic web interaction.

#broad-capability#claude-codeMIT

agent-browser core

Core agent-browser usage guide. Read this before running any agent-browser commands. Covers the snapshot-and-ref workflow, navigating pages, interacting with elements (click, fill, type, select), extracting text and data, taking screenshots, managing tabs, handling forms and auth, waiting for content, running multiple browser sessions in parallel, and troubleshooting common failures. Use when the user asks to interact with a website, fill a form, click something, extract data, take a screenshot, log into a site, test a web app, or automate any browser task.

#github#broad-capabilityApache-2.0

Agentcore

Run agent-browser on AWS Bedrock AgentCore cloud browsers. Use when the user wants to use AgentCore, run browser automation on AWS, use a cloud browser with AWS credentials, or needs a managed browser session backed by AWS infrastructure. Triggers include "use agentcore", "run on AWS", "cloud browser with AWS", "bedrock browser", "agentcore session", or any task requiring AWS-hosted browser automation.

#broad-capability#browserApache-2.0