Command Line / AI-Assisted Coding Webinar

Four hour online training
9 December 2026, 9 am – 1 pm EST New York time/ 3 -7 pm CET Amsterdam time
Price: EUR 350

Would you like to learn how to download hundreds of social media posts at once? Have you seen the tools for open source investigators that were produced during Bellingcat hackathons, but you have no idea how to use them? Are you interested in creating code automations? Or code scripts to extract and analyse data?

If the answer to those questions is ‘yes’, this webinar is for you.

If you are ready to put time and effort into learning some technical skills, a whole new world of tools and research possibilities will open up to you. But how can you enter this world? Here is where our webinar comes in.

What you’ll learn:

Part 1 – Command Line

Understand why the command line is so important for using a whole range of open source research tools that you cannot otherwise use;
Learn how to leverage code sharing platforms to find new secure tools;
Get hands-on experience with powerful command line tools used for open source research, and be able to quickly understand new command line tools you want to use;

Part 2 – AI-Assisted Coding

Understand what vibe coding is and how to effectively use it to solve your data, visualisation, automation or generic code problems;
Get hands on experience with an AI assistant to: build, explain, plan code problems;

At the end of this session, you will have a list of command line tools at your disposal which you will be able to run yourself, and sufficient knowledge on how to use AI assistants to speed up and unlock your investigations.

Please create a Google account before participating in this webinar (if you do not yet have one, you can also use your personal Google account).

Experience level:

This webinar is suitable for people who have never used the command line of their computer before. If you are familiar with the terminal, we recommend you watch out for more advanced webinars later this year.

Logistics:

The webinar will be led by experienced Bellingcat researchers who will guide you through the material. They have extensive open source research experience and are passionate about sharing their knowledge with you.

Zoom webinar joining details will be shared with participants in the week before the training.

Not ready for this level yet:

In case you think you’re not ready to join this webinar, please check our website for upcoming training, better matching your needs.

Cancellation

Please look closely at the cancellation and event policies in Eventzilla before you take the leap.

FAQs

Why should I join this workshop?

You should participate if:

Your are a beginner in the use of command line
You want to learn how you can use its power for open source research,
You want to learn how to start using several command line tools in your investigations
You want to learn how to leverage the latest AI code agents to write code and unlock investigations that were out of reach just a few years ago to non-coders
You want to have good reasons why challenging yourself to become more technical will help you if you want to spend your career in the world of open source research
For the joy of learning new skills even if you do not need them in your professional life

Why Bellingcat?

Bellingcat is a global collective that has uncovered facts to hold power to account — we share everything, including our methods, because truth belongs to everyone.

Bellingcat began by analyzing footage of chemical weapons attacks in the Syrian civil war back in 2014. In recent years we have worked on covering various topics from civilian harm in Ukraine, through wildlife trafficking in South East Asia, the recruitment of child soldiers in Africa to the luxurious life of Kinahan cartel leaders living openly in Dubai despite an international manhunt.

We turn that same curiosity into a teachable research skill. Combined with practical knowledge of techniques and tools, that’s what this workshop teaches you to do.

How do you screen participants?

We manually approve all applications after registration. We do basic due diligence checks on our participants to be sure that our trainers and all other participants are comfortable with their participation. Members of any police, military or intelligence service are not permitted registration at our workshops, and we allow government employees to join on a case-by-case basis.

Bellingcat reserves the right not to disclose the reasons for declining participation.

That said, the vast majority of participants are approved without any issue.

Who usually attends your workshops?

We have a pretty interesting mix of participants at our trainings. Between a third to a half come from private companies or the corporate world. Among those, we have plenty of information security researchers, corporate security investigators, lawyers, due diligence experts, and other professions. Journalists are the next-most popular profession for our workshops, and then we have a mix of human rights/NGO researchers, academics and students, and even retirees just curious about what this whole OSINT thing is all about.

Can I get an invoice?

In case you need an invoice, please send us an email to [email protected].

Can I receive a certificate for the workshops?

Sure! Just email us ([email protected]) after the workshops, and we’ll send you a PDF certificate.

Can I receive a recording of a workshop?

We do not record our workshops, or allow others to record them. However, we do provide copies of our training slides to participants after the completion of the training for their personal reference.

Can I gift a workshop seat to someone else?

Sure! We have had quite a few people buy workshop attendance for a loved one as a birthday or Christmas gift. Just let us know the name of the person who you are buying the seat for when registration so that we can do a basic due diligence check on them (see the Screening section up above). Feel free to email us at [email protected] to make sure we have their proper contact details so they get all of the invitation information on time.