Send Claude's built-in browser through a year of planning board agendas near your next listing
In Agent Intelligence issue #81, Matt Spangler points the browser built into the Claude desktop app at the official town website for an address the agent is about to list or show. Claude reads the last 12 months of Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, and Conservation Commission agendas and minutes and lists every application, hearing, or decision within about half a mile, with the parcel, date, proposal, and current status. A second prompt ranks which items a buyer's attorney would raise or which would change what a buyer would pay. The agent then opens the key document and calls the town to confirm, because minutes get amended and coverage varies by town.
At a glance
- Tools used
- Claude
- Category
- Listings
- Audience
- agent
- Difficulty
- Copy-paste
- Source
- The Research Assistant You Didn't Hire | Agent Intelligence #81
Matt Spangler (Agent Intelligence) · Newsletter · Sep 4, 2026 - First step
- Open the Claude desktop app on a Pro, Max, or Team plan, confirm the globe icon for the built-in browser appears next to the message box, and pick one address you are about to list or show.
Compliance note: Claude reads public web pages and does not confirm anything with the town clerk, so open each important document yourself and call the town before you rely on a finding or share the finding with a client. Follow your state's disclosure rules for anything material you learn about a nearby project.
Suggested prompt
Written by this directory, inspired by the source. Replace the [bracketed] parts.
Go to the official town website for [town, state] using the browser in the Claude desktop app. Find the Planning Board, the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Conservation Commission. Read every agenda and set of meeting minutes posted in the last twelve months. List any application, hearing or decision involving a property within about half a mile of [subject address]. For each one give me the address or parcel ID, the date, what was proposed, and where it stands now. If a document won't open, or you can't find a board's page at all, tell me that instead of guessing. Then: Of everything you found, which items would a buyer's attorney raise at closing, and which would change what someone is willing to pay for this house? Rank them and give me one sentence on each.