terms-ai

An open-source, AI-powered contract review tool that helps lawyers and legal teams analyze contracts, propose plain-language revisions, and generate structured legal analysis — all grounded in modern drafting principles.

Built as a demonstration of how lawyers can leverage AI to improve contract quality and efficiency.

Paste or upload a contract and get back:

• Executive Summary — overall assessment with risk level (🔴 High / 🟡 Medium / 🟢 Low)
• Clause-by-Clause Analysis — each provision analyzed for risk, with proposed revisions
• Drafting Quality Score — how well the contract follows plain-language principles (1–10)
• Actionable Recommendations — prioritized list of improvements

Every review is grounded in these rules:

1. No legalese — use plain language; avoid "hereinafter," "notwithstanding," "whereas"
2. Active voice — "The Customer will pay" not "Payment shall be made by the Customer"
3. Short sentences — one idea per sentence
4. Defined terms only when necessary — don't define terms used once
5. Risk clarity — every provision should make clear who bears the risk
6. Mutual where possible — prefer mutual obligations over one-sided terms

• Node.js 18+
• An API key for at least one LLM provider (OpenAI or Anthropic)

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/nkasuku/terms-ai.git
cd terms-ai

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Configure your API keys
cp .env.example .env.local
# Edit .env.local and add your API key(s)

# Start the development server
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser.

# Required: at least one API key
OPENAI_API_KEY=your-openai-api-key
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-anthropic-api-key

# Optional: default provider (openai or anthropic)
DEFAULT_LLM_PROVIDER=openai

terms-ai accepts contracts in multiple formats:

• .txt — plain text
• .md — Markdown
• .docx — Microsoft Word documents
• .pdf — PDF documents

The knowledge/ directory is the customization layer. To tailor terms-ai for your own contract stack:

1. Fork this repo (make it private if adding proprietary content)
2. Add your contract templates to knowledge/
3. Add provision examples to src/lib/contracts/provision-examples/
4. Update drafting principles in src/lib/drafting-principles.ts

See knowledge/README.md for detailed instructions.

Contract reviews are saved to the reviews/ directory. In the public repo, this directory is gitignored. In your private fork, you can track it in git to build a searchable library of past reviews.

terms-ai/
├── src/
│   ├── app/                    # Next.js pages and API routes
│   │   ├── api/review/         # Contract review endpoint
│   │   ├── api/reviews/        # Saved reviews endpoints
│   │   ├── reviews/            # Reviews history pages
│   │   └── page.tsx            # Main application page
│   ├── components/             # React UI components
│   ├── lib/
│   │   ├── ai/                 # LLM provider abstraction & prompts
│   │   ├── contracts/          # Knowledge base & provision examples
│   │   ├── storage/            # Review persistence
│   │   └── types.ts            # TypeScript interfaces
├── knowledge/                  # Grounding documents (customize here)
│   ├── drafting-guide.md       # Plain-language drafting rules
│   └── provision-patterns/     # Common provision patterns
├── reviews/                    # Saved contract reviews (gitignored)
└── .env.example                # API key configuration template

Deploy to Vercel with one click:

Or deploy anywhere that supports Node.js:

npm run build
npm start

terms-ai is a drafting and analysis aid. It does not provide legal advice. All output should be reviewed by a qualified attorney before use. The tool's analysis reflects the drafting principles and knowledge base it's grounded in — it is not a substitute for professional legal judgment.

MIT

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or pull request.

Built by Ngandu Kasuku — Principal Product Counsel at GitHub.