For a starting layout, see the detective board guide. The evidence board guide covers how to organize the material behind each connection.

A big investigation is a pile of fragments: a leaked document, a source who will only talk off the record, and a company that keeps changing names. The story is in how those fragments connect, and past a certain size nobody holds all of it in their head. Relationship mappingis one way to keep it in view.

Where Investigations Stall

When an investigation has plenty of documents and still stalls, the missing piece is often how they relate. The same director across three shell companies, or a payment that lines up with a ruling, sits in the connections between records. A board is for the relationships between those records.

What Goes on an Investigation Board

People, organizations, documents, events, and notes go on the board. Documents go on as Artifact cards you can cite; organizations as Team cards; notes hold what a source told you and what still needs a second source.

The strings carry the claims: source for, paid, met with, directs, owns, confirms, contradicts.

How to Build the Board

Step 1: Put Every Source on the Map

Add each source as a card and connect them to what they can speak to. Once every claim is connected to its sources, the ones that rest on a single source stand out: one string in, nothing else.

Step 2: Anchor Claims to Documents

Every assertion in the story should trace back to evidence. Connect claims to the specific document, record, or interview that supports them. When a lawyer or editor asks how you know something, follow the string to the document.

Step 3: Follow the Money

Map entities, accounts, and transfers, and label the flows. When one agent, address, or director sits behind several companies, the strings converge on one card.

Step 4: Build the Timeline

Add each event as an Event card with the date in its subtitle, and connect them in order. A payment the week before a decision, or a meeting before a policy reversal, is easier to see when the events sit in order.

Step 5: Track Confidence and Sourcing

Mark each connection Confirmed, Suspected, or Uncertain. Put who told you, when, and whether it was on the record in the string's source and notes.

Why This Work Stays Off the Cloud

An investigation board can contain the identity of confidential sources, unpublished allegations, and material that would be dangerous in the wrong hands. Keep that data on hardware you control.

A local-first, offline tool keeps the board on your own machine: no account, no server, and no third-party provider holding a copy that can be requested without your knowledge. Keep the project folder out of any cloud-synced directory. You can still be asked for your notes; a local file means one less place to ask.

Investigation Mapping in Redstrings

Redstrings is a detective board in software, and it fits this work:

  • Person, Team, Artifact, and Event cards for sources, organizations, documents, and the sequence of events.
  • Labeled strings that document how everything connects: "paid," "met with," "source for."
  • Notes and confidence levels to track sourcing and what still needs corroboration.
  • PNG export to walk an editor through the story, or to attach the map to your files.
  • Local files, no account: the board stays on your machine. If you turn on AI analysis with your own Gemini key, the board goes to Google, so leave it off for source-sensitive work.

Related reading: link analysis for investigators. When you're ready, download Redstrings free and start mapping your investigation.