I've been solving the Bellingcat Open Source Challenges and saving a screenshot of each step along the way. I wanted to document the whole process as writeups, but with so many challenges, that would take a long time. So I cloned my folder of categorised screenshots and automated the writeup generation with Claude Code, then made manual edits wherever Claude made mistakes or couldn't fully grasp the context. Some writeups are still in progress, and there are challenges I haven't attempted yet — more to come.
| Challenge Set | Completed | Folder |
|---|---|---|
| Back in Time | 5 / 5 | back in time/ |
| Bellingcat Globetrotters | 5 / 5 | bellingcat globetrotters/ |
| Coded Landscapes | 2 / 5 | coded landscapes/ |
| Cultural Confusion | 4 / 5 | cultural confusion/ |
| Maritime Mysteries | 5 / 5 | maritime mysteries/ |
| Natural Wonders | 5 / 5 | natural wonders/ |
| The Forgotten Files | 4 / 5 | the forgotten files/ |
| Urban Exploration | 4 / 5 | urban exploration/ |
| Wild Lives | 3 / 5 | wild lives/ |
| Total | 37 |
Each challenge lives in its own folder under challenge sets/<set>/<challenge>/, containing a writeup.md alongside the relevant screenshots. Every writeup follows the same layout:
- Challenge — the original challenge image and question.
- Investigation — the step-by-step OSINT process, with screenshots of each key finding.
- Answer — the final, verified answer as accepted by the challenge.
These writeups are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).