Help & Resources

1Signing in & your plan

Vellum Search is a web app — nothing to install. Go to search.vellumintel.com/app and sign in with Google, LinkedIn, or an email address. No card is needed to start.

Every new account begins with 14 days of full access. After that it becomes the free tier, which is yours forever.

Your current tier is always shown at the top of the Search tab next to YOUR PLAN, along with how many of today's searches you have used.

2The five tabs

Everything lives under five tabs in the top navigation.

3Running a search All plans

1. Open the SEARCH tab.
2. Type into the box — "Search the record, or ask a question". Plain words work best: age assurance, systemic risk assessment, Meta fine.
3. Press Enter or click Search.
4. Leave the box empty and press Search to browse everything, newest first.

Under the box, the TRY row offers ready-made searches such as age assurance · UK or AI Act obligations — a good way to see the shape of the record.

The line above the results always tells you what you are looking at: how many records matched, which ones are shown, and the date the data was last refreshed.

Asking a question Paid plans

Next to Search there is an ✦ Ask button. Type a question in plain language and press it instead of Search.

1. Type a question, e.g. was Meta fined under the DSA?
2. Click ✦ Ask.
3. You get a short answer built only from audited record summaries, with every claim linked back to the record it came from.
4. Click any citation to open that record and check it yourself.

Filters, sort & grouping All plans

Click the ☰ filter icon on the right of the results summary line to open the filter panel.

• Jurisdiction — EU, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Ireland and so on
• Regulatory system — DSA, AI Act, Online Safety Act, GDPR, DMA…
• Regulator — the specific body that published it
• Theme — one of the 22 curated themes
• Organisation — companies and bodies named in the record
• Documents — everything, or catalogued case law only
• Authority — Primary official, Official & above, Secondary & above
• From / to dates — by true publication date

To the right of the same line: Sort (Relevance, Newest, Oldest) and Group by (Ecosystem, Theme, Jurisdiction, Regulator, Year). Grouping is the fastest way to see who is publishing on a topic.

Active filters appear as chips beneath the box. Remove one by clicking its ✕, or clear everything with Clear.

Browsing the catalogue All plans

The CATALOGUE tab lists every regulatory system in the record, with live counts. Use the filter box to jump to one, then open it for a dashboard of that ecosystem: latest developments, publishing bodies, and the documents themselves.

4Reading a record All plans

Click any result title to open it in the reader.

1. The title, the publisher and coloured badges — authority level (e.g. Official), jurisdiction, true publication date, and which ecosystem it belongs to.
2. A short plain-language gloss in a quoted block, where one exists.
3. The document text, where the publisher's terms allow us to show it.
4. Details ▾ expands the full metadata and provenance.
5. Find in text… searches inside the document — use ‹ › to step through matches.
6. READ AT SOURCE ↗ opens the official original.

The Cite button All plans

In the reader footer, click ❝ Cite. A full citation is copied to your clipboard — paste it straight into a brief, memo or email.

Each citation contains the publisher, the document title, the true publication date, the Vellum record ID, the canonical source URL, and the date you accessed it. That is everything a reader needs to verify your source independently.

Translations All plans

Much of the record is not in English — Italian AGCOM rulings, German DDG material, French SREN documents. Where we hold an accepted English translation, the record displays in English and is marked English translation.

1. Open a translated record. The title and text you see are the English translation.
2. To read the original, click Original (Italian) ▾ — the language is named in the button.
3. The original-language text expands below. Click again to collapse it.

Comparing versions All plans

Some documents change over time — a consultation becomes a code, guidance gets revised. Where we hold two or more versions of the same document, a ⇄ Compare versions button appears in the reader footer. Click it to see the chain of versions and what changed between them.

If the button is not there, we hold only one version of that document.

AI summary Where available

On records where a machine summary has been prepared and audited, an ✦ AI summary button appears in the reader footer. It shows a short generated summary in a tinted panel, clearly separated from the document text and labelled "generated — verify against the full text".

The same audited summaries also power the AI summaries mode of briefings — one pipeline, one audit, wherever they appear.

5Pinning records under your own labels All plans

Pins are your private working layer over the record — a place to gather everything relevant to a matter.

Pinning one record

1. On any result card, click the small 📌 pin link.
2. Type a label of your own: Client X · age assurance, Q4 board note, DSA Art. 34.
3. Click Pin ✓.

Pinning several at once

1. Tick the checkbox on the right of each result you want.
2. Click 📌 Pin in the action row above the search box.
3. Give them one shared label and save — all of them are pinned together.

Your last-used label is remembered, so building up a matter over several sessions is quick. Everything you pin appears under SAVED → Pinned records, sorted by label. On paid plans, pins also surface on your ecosystem dashboards.

Saving a search Paid plans

If you run the same query regularly, save it once.

1. Run the search, with whatever filters you want, until the results look right.
2. Click ☆ Save search in the action row.
3. Give it a name you will recognise later.
4. Choose whether you want email alerts (see below), then click Save.

Saved searches live in the SAVED tab. Opening one re-runs it against today's record — so it always shows current results, not a frozen copy.

Briefings — the Summarise button Paid plans

Turn any set of results into a structured, dated briefing with citations — then share it, export it as a PDF, or have it arrive by email on a schedule.

Composing a briefing

1. Run a search first — a briefing answers a question, so the button asks you for one if there is no search. To brief specific documents instead, tick their checkboxes.
2. Click ✦ Summarise. With records ticked, the button shows the count — e.g. ✦ Summarise (7) — and briefs exactly those records.
3. The briefing panel opens above the results: a lead line (how many documents were published, by which kinds of body, and the date of the most recent), the latest developments — each dated and linked to its source — and a breakdown by jurisdiction, ecosystem, theme, source and authority.

Choosing the period

Chips at the top of the panel switch the window: Last day, 7 days (the default) or 30 days. If you have set From / to dates in the filters, your dates take precedence and the chips step aside. If nothing was published in the window, the briefing says so — "Nothing to summarise" — rather than padding.

Deterministic or AI summaries

A second pair of chips picks the mode:

• Deterministic (default) — assembled purely from record fields: dates, publishers, titles, counts. No generated prose at all.
• AI summaries — each development additionally carries that record's audited machine summary. These are prepared in advance in our store pipeline, quality-gated and audited before serving — there is no live model call. The panel states how many of the shown records carry an audited summary, and where one does not exist yet the briefing says so instead of inventing one.

Share, export, or make it recurring

• Share — ↗ Share this briefing creates a link and copies it to your clipboard. Paste it anywhere; LinkedIn and WhatsApp show a preview. Readers sign in (free) to view it.
• Export as PDF — ⭳ Export ▾ → Summary — PDF opens your browser's print dialog with a clean print layout; save as PDF or print. If no briefing is open yet, it composes one first from your current results or selection.
• Recurring by email — save the search with alerts on and choose the Links + summary format: the daily or weekly digest then carries the briefing summary in the email itself (see Email alerts).

✦ Summarise also appears on each ecosystem dashboard and on your portfolio view — the same briefing, scoped to that dashboard.

Exporting Paid plans

Click ⭳ Export ▾ in the action row:

CSV and JSON export the records you have ticked. Rights notes travel with every export, so whoever receives it knows the terms.

Sharing a search or a record All plans

↗ Share in the action row copies a link to this exact search — same query, same filters, same sort. Whoever opens it sees precisely what you saw. The same menu offers email, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, X and Facebook.

Inside a record, ↗ SHARE does the same for that single document.

6Email alerts Paid plans

Get an email when new verified records match a search you care about.

1. Run the search you want to monitor.
2. Click 🔔 Set up alerts (or tick alerts while saving a search).
3. Choose Daily digest or Weekly digest.
4. Choose the format: Links only or Links + summary.
5. Click Save.

All your alerts arrive as a single email from [email protected] — not one message per search. Manage or switch them off any time from the SAVED tab.

7Trackers All plans

The TRACKERS tab turns the record into four living lists.

Filter any tracker by ecosystem and organisation. From the Enforcement tracker you can also 🔔 Alert from these filters, ⭳ Export CSV, or ✉ Email me this to send yourself the current view.

Deadlines & your calendar All plans

Open TRACKERS → 📅 Deadlines. Each entry shows the deadline date, how many days are left, and which ecosystem it belongs to.

Subscribe your calendar to every deadline

1. Click 🗓 Add to calendar ▾.
2. Pick Google Calendar, Outlook, Apple Calendar, or Download .ics.
3. Your calendar subscribes to the live feed and stays up to date as new deadlines land.

Add only the ones you choose

1. Tick the checkbox beside each deadline you want.
2. The button changes to 🗓 Add selected (3) ▾.
3. Choose your calendar as above — only the ticked deadlines are added.

Deadline reminders Paid plans

1. In 📅 Deadlines, click ✉️ Email me reminders.
2. Choose how much notice you want: 3 days before, 7 days before or 14 days before.
3. If you have filtered to one ecosystem first, the reminder follows that filter.

Return to the same menu to change the notice period or turn reminders off.

8Public pages & The Wire

Some of Vellum is readable without signing in — useful for sharing with colleagues who do not have an account.

API & MCP — for systems and AI agents Separate product

If you want the record inside your own systems, or inside an AI assistant, that is the API product. It is billed separately from your Search plan and neither changes the other.

Connecting an AI assistant (MCP)

1. Create a connection key in Account.
2. Add the server https://search.vellumintel.com/mcp with your key as a bearer token.
3. Your assistant gains two tools: search_records and get_record.

In Claude Code that is a single command, shown on the MCP & API page.

How it is priced

Usage is measured in credits. One credit is one search result; one full record — the complete evidence, with body text and provenance — counts as forty. Pay as you go has no base fee; the subscription includes a monthly allowance. Every response tells you what it cost.

Account, plans & billing

Click your avatar (top right) → Account & plan.

• Your plan and usage — what you are on, and what you have used this period
• Manage billing & invoices — opens the billing portal
• Connection keys — create, name and revoke API/MCP keys
• Spending cap — on metered API products, set your own monthly ceiling
• Team seats — on the Team plan, invite and manage colleagues
• Sign out, and Delete my account & data

9Common questions

My search returned nothing. Is it broken?

Almost certainly not. Vellum answers from a verified record, so a zero result means nothing in that record matches — which is itself a finding. Widen the date range or clear a filter to confirm.

Why do I only see 20 results?

The free tier shows the top 20 results per search, and allows 20 searches a day. Full-depth results come with any paid plan.

Why can't I read the full text of some documents?

Because the publisher's reuse terms do not permit it. In those cases you get the verified metadata, the true date, the provenance and a working link to the official original.

What does the authority badge mean?

It records who published the document — Primary official is a regulator, court or parliament speaking directly; lower tiers are official-adjacent or secondary sources. Filter by authority when you need primary sources only.

Can I share a search with someone who has no account?

Share links open the same view, but reading records requires signing in — which is free.

How current is the data?

Every view carries an "as of" date, and each record its true publication date. The record is refreshed from scheduled releases, and The Wire summarises each week.