Skill: HG Fallback to Web Search
HG-grounded research that gracefully fills in the gaps — and never misattributes the source.
Overview
Keep HG-grounded research grounded — but don't fail when HG is sparse. Claude reaches for web search as a deliberate fallback (non-US filers without SEC presence, time-sensitive press, LinkedIn title verification) instead of a default, and cites the actual web source rather than misattributing the claim to HG.
Use cases
Research on EMEA + APAC accounts without SEC presence
Claude knows when to fall back to local equivalents (Companies House for UK filings, JPX for Japan) and cites the actual local source — your APAC discovery deck stops dropping out at the public-filings step.
LinkedIn title verification before a name lands in a brief
When contact_search returns a stakeholder, Claude verifies the LinkedIn URL still resolves and the title is current via web search — and cites it. The 'we cited the COO who left 8 months ago' problem disappears.
View full skill
HG Fallback to Web Search
When to use
- A workflow has called the relevant HG tools and the output is sparse or missing.
- A prompt needs to verify a fact that HG doesn't cover (named stakeholder title, IR page, recent press).
- An author is tempted to lead with web_search — read the rule below first.
The fallback rule
web_search is a fallback, never a primary. Specifically:
- Call the relevant HG tool first (firmographic, technographic, intent, etc.).
- If HG returns the data, use it. Cite HG.
- If HG returns nothing or low-confidence, then call
web_search.
Skipping the HG call and going straight to web search produces deliverables that read confidently but cite the wrong source — the user thinks they have HG-grounded data when they have a web summary.
When web_search is the right primary
Three cases where HG legitimately doesn't cover and web_search is the right tool:
- Non-US filers without SEC presence. Public companies in EMEA / APAC / LatAm don't always have SEC filings. Use the local equivalent (Companies House for UK, JPX for Japan), found via web_search.
- Verifying named-stakeholder titles.
contact_searchreturns name + title; before quoting in a brief, verify the LinkedIn URL still resolves and the title is current. Web search the LinkedIn URL. - Finding IR pages, press releases, partnership announcements. Time-sensitive content HG hasn't yet ingested.
For all three, cite the web source explicitly — not "HG, May 2026". See hg-citation-discipline.
Phoenix-side credit cost
web_search is dynamic (pricing.ts): 0.05 credits for basic, 0.10 for advanced. Cheap relative to HG calls, but not free — and the more important constraint is signal quality, not cost.
Common pitfalls
- Leading with
web_search"because it's faster". Faster, but the source is weaker. - Citing web_search as if it were HG. Always cite the actual domain.
- Trusting marketing-copy results. A vendor's own site is not a neutral source for the vendor's claims.
Reference
hg-citation-discipline— source-priority orderwebapp/src/lib/pricing.ts— web_search dynamic costhg-insights-api.md#fallbacks— when HG is sparse