Every address
has a story.
Make yours
traceable.

01 / QUICKSTART

An address. A question.
A place to begin.

Save real research on your computer from the first case. No Astra account or separate model key is needed for public records and text documents.

Choose your client. Bring your question.

Download a release and install the Claude Desktop extension or register the Codex local marketplace. Each package includes its runtime. Your first local case needs no separate Node.js installation, database account, or model API key. Codex local-source registration may require its CLI depending on the client version.

Download Plot & Kin v0.1.0 →

Claude Code users can install the Git plugin with Node.js 22.19+, npm, and Claude Code 2.1.291+.

Available now: developer setup.

This path requires Node.js 22.19+, npm, and Git.

git clone https://github.com/jestatsio/plot-and-kin.git
cd plot-and-kin
npm ci
npm run build
node dist/cli.js setup

Choose Codex, Claude Desktop, or both. Select Save on this computer, then restart your client. Setup checks the local server, preserves unrelated client settings, and tells you where your library lives. Confirm the connection in your client by asking to get started.

Release installer paths and platform status →

02 / CONNECT YOUR CLIENT

Three clients.
One saved research record.

All three clients use the same local library by default. Guided setup is also available. Use one connection method per client, then start with an address and question, review a cited finding, and return to the case tomorrow.

claude plugin marketplace add https://github.com/jestatsio/plot-and-kin.git#claude-plugins
claude plugin install plot-and-kin@plot-and-kin

Astra when you want it

Use the optional guided setup with --client none --connect-astra to connect your own database securely while keeping your existing plugin connection. Existing cases stay local until you approve a specific transfer. The verified destination preserves the evidence and history, while the original local case remains an archive. Original document files stay on your computer. An Astra connection is not a cloud backup.

Setup verifies the actual server process. Host connection, native credential storage, and the complete journey in each desktop application remain separate items on the acceptance checklist.

03 / RESEARCH WORKFLOW

From a lead to a finding.

The investigation happens in your client conversation. Plot & Kin keeps the evidence, decisions, and unfinished work available across sessions.

1. Frame the question

   Begin with an address and research question. Add known information and source restrictions as needed. Treat address matches and historical equivalents as candidates to examine.

2. Gather within a boundary

   Start a research run. Search the selected DC sources and import permitted documents. Retain successful searches, empty results, errors, and dead ends.

3. Read against the original

   Extract existing text first. Use optional model processing for scans, handwriting, photographs, or map excerpts. Preserve uncertain readings and correct errors without erasing prior versions.

4. Propose, compare, review

   Attach supporting and opposing passages to claims. Keep ambiguous people and properties separate. Explicitly approve conclusions and identity proposals against the version you examined.

5. Save the research record

   Export a dossier that separates approved conclusions from proposals and open questions. Save a portable backup to continue the work beyond the originating conversation.

Defaults bound server activity. The processing budget excludes client charges and Astra hosting. Progress is retained when a limit is reached.

04 / EVIDENCE & TRUST

Make uncertainty useful.

A careful dossier shows where the evidence ends. These distinctions stay visible throughout the research.

Ownership ≠ occupancy

A named owner does not establish who lived or worked at a property.

Permit date ≠ construction date

A permit, an assessment, and a building's appearance on a map establish different things.

No result ≠ evidence of absence

An empty search or denied request describes the search outcome, not the historical record.

Matching names ≠ matching identities

Proposed identity merges require evidence and explicit review. The original entities remain preserved.

Citations retain page, passage, or image-region anchors when available. Document-level citations remain possible and visibly less precise. Corrections preserve the original extraction and send affected conclusions back for review.

Review decisions record the target revision, reviewer label, approval wording, and a snapshot. This is an audited workflow convention. The server does not independently authenticate the human conversation.

Where your material goes

Local storage preserves your research independently of the chat. Your client's data policies still apply to the conversation and tool results. Read the privacy and data-handling notice.

05 / SOURCE COVERAGE

Washington, DC.
A deliberate starting point.

The first locality combines selected public services with documents you supply. Coverage is a starting point for investigation, not a complete property or title history.

HistoryQuest's catalog identifies a CC BY 4.0 license for the compiled dataset. Underlying archives and map images may have different rights. Public access does not itself establish redistribution permission. The Library of Congress search connector is deferred.

06 / DOCUMENT PROCESSING

Read more.
Keep the original.

Embedded-text extraction and evidence review need no model API key. For scans, handwriting, photographs, and maps, choose OpenAI or Anthropic explicitly. Providers are never switched silently.

node dist/cli.js setup --client none --processing

Client packages can use the bundled runtime for optional guided setup. Keep --client none to preserve your existing plugin connection.

Choose an OpenAI GPT-4.1 mini preset, an Anthropic Haiku 4.5 preset, or custom model settings. Preset prices were verified October 1, 2026 and expire after 90 days. Setup shows the provider, rates, and source before you enter a key securely outside chat.

macOS uses Keychain. Windows encrypts credentials for your Windows account with DPAPI. Original pages stay in the library, while the selected provider receives the content needed for requested interpretation. Missing keys or stale prices leave public-record and text research available.

Provider adapters have automated contract tests. Real-model transcription accuracy, including difficult handwriting, has not yet been measured. Always inspect extracted evidence against its source.

07 / EXPORT & RESTORE

Leave a trail.
Take it with you.

Export a readable dossier for review. Make a separate portable backup to preserve the complete project, including original bytes, derived artifacts, corrections, decisions, and logs.

Exports have recognizable case names. Open the printed export folder in Finder or File Explorer. If your client cannot open a local file, the dossier remains available directly in chat. Advanced export and restore commands are available in the setup guide.

Versioned JSON backups include asset bytes and SHA-256 checksums, with a default serialized limit of 250 MiB. Credentials and machine-specific paths are excluded from record metadata. Original source files retain their actual content.

Restore into a fresh destination. The server validates hashes and references before completion and never silently overwrites an existing project. To resume an interruption, repeat the same bundle, destination, and operation ID.

Reuse is a deliberate act

Explicit cross-project import copies selected records and their evidence dependencies, preserves origin provenance, and resets claim and entity approvals for the new research context. Research is never automatically pooled across projects.

08 / REFERENCE

Go deeper.