---
title: "Syllabus"
description: "Syllabus, just to make sure we speak the same language. Those definitions apply in the context of Flowsint platform."
category: "Overview"
order: 2
author: "Flowsint Team"
tags: ["documentation", "overview",  "syllabus"]
version: "1.2.8"
last_updated_at: "2026-05-15"
---

### OSINT

      Open Source Intelligence consists of collecting, analyzing, and exploiting **freely** and **openly** available information from search engines, images, social networks, public archives, etc.

### Investigation

    A structured process aimed at collecting, correlating, and analyzing information from different sources and enrichers, in order to answer a question or solve a problem. An investigation can be **exploratory** (discovering unknown elements) or **targeted** (validating a hypothesis). An investigation can contain multiple **sketches** (each representing a different view or stage of the analysis) and one or more **analyses**.

### Sketch

    Visual result produced by executing one or more enrichers on one or more entities. A sketch represents the current state of the graph derived from collected data at a given moment in the investigation. Multiple sketches can exist for the same investigation to capture different perspectives or stages.

### Analysis

    Set of processing, interpretations, and verifications performed on data collected during the investigation. Analyses aim to identify trends, confirm or refute hypotheses, and produce actionable conclusions. They can be **quantitative** (measurements, statistics) or **qualitative** (contextual assessments, behavioral patterns).

### Enricher

    An **enricher** is an operation that, from an input element **A** (*source entity*), allows obtaining one or more elements **B** (*target entities*) by applying a search or correlation method called a **pivot**.

    > Example:
    >
    >
    > A = `my.domain.com` (*domain name*)
    >
    > p = "DNS resolution" (*pivot*)
    >
    > B = `12.23.34.45` (*IP address*).
    >
### Pivot

    A **pivot** is the method or technical process used to derive **B** from **A**. The pivot defines **how** the enricher obtains its result (e.g., DNS resolution, WHOIS lookup, API query, etc.).

    > Examples of pivots:
    >
    > DNS Resolution → domain → IP
    > WHOIS Lookup → IP → owner
    > Reverse Image Search → image → web pages containing this image

### Tool

    A tool generally refers to a script, program, or service providing a **pivot**, i.e., a means to retrieve or enricher information from an input element.

### Entity

    An identifiable object or element manipulated by enrichers (e.g., IP address, domain, email address, user identifier, file hash, etc.). An entity is always associated with a **Sketch**. In the graph, entities are represented as **nodes** (see [Graph format](/docs/developers/graph-format) for technical details).

### Relationship

    Defines a link between two entities. This link is generally named (in uppercase) and can be unidirectional or bidirectional.

    > Examples of relationships:
    >
    >
    > A = `my.domain.com` → `RESOLVES_TO` → `12.23.34.45`
    >

    A relationship is always associated between a **source** node (*from*) and a **target** node (*to*). In the graph, relationships are represented as **edges** (see [Graph format](/docs/developers/graph-format) for technical details).

### Flow

    The chaining of multiple enrichers, where the output of one becomes the input of the next, allowing to expand or deepen an investigation.