Standard Paper Checklist

Legal / AUTOMATE.md

When standard paper arrives, check it against the playbook checklist and return only the clauses that differ, not the whole contract.

This is the whole automation. Run it as it is, or change any word, including the tools it names.

  • Only the changed clauses returned
  • Review starts from the exception

How it runs

  1. 1. Starts

    When standard paper is uploaded

  2. 2. Reads

    playbook checklist

  3. 3. You decide

    Approve each time, or let the steps you trust run. Your choice.

Why legal and compliance teams set this up

Most incoming non-disclosure and master agreements look like the last fifty, yet each one waits in a review queue for a lawyer who is finishing something more valuable. Requesters conclude that legal takes days and start working around the process instead of using it. The few agreements that genuinely differ end up buried in the same queue as the routine ones.

See the whole job: Standard Paper Turnaround

Use it as is. Or make it yours.

Edit it the way you would edit a note to a colleague. It follows the new version from the next run.

  • Change when it runs

    Move it to another day or time, or start it when something arrives, like a new email.

  • Add your own rules

    Limits, exceptions and what good looks like go in the same file, in plain words.

  • Decide what waits for you

    Mark the steps that need your OK, and let the rest run.

You stay in charge.
At every step.

It compares and flags. Every legal call stays yours.

  • It never signs or advises

    It quotes deviations against your playbook. Accepting, signing and advising stay with a lawyer.

  • Every flag shows its source

    Each deviation quotes the clause it is about, every step is recorded, and a file change can be put back.

  • Confidential stays contained

    Each automation reaches only the folders you connect for it, and a local model keeps processing on your machine.

Standard Paper Checklist

Approve before it runs for the first time?

ReviewApprove

Before you download.

Where does it run?
On your Mac or Windows computer, in the background. It keeps working after you close its window, and only reaches the folders and apps you connect for each automation.
How does it connect to our CRM and other tools?
Through each app's own connection where it offers one, signed in once by you, or by using the app in a browser the way you would. Each automation gets only the connections you give it, and the tools a page names are examples you can swap for your own.
Does it run when my computer is asleep?
It keeps your computer awake while a job runs and just before a scheduled one. While the computer is closed or off, nothing runs; when it wakes, it checks the inbox, calendar and other sources it watches for anything that arrived meanwhile.
How does my team use it?
Each person who runs automations installs the app. Keep a project in a shared folder, such as Google Drive or a network drive, and teammates can open it and follow every run, while one person owns it and runs it.
Do I need anyone technical to set it up?
No. Download the app, add an automation in plain words, and connect only what that job needs. Nothing runs until you switch it on.

Already have tools for this? Here is the difference.

Contract management systems

Storing signed contracts and running approval routes.

Their rules can't read new paper against your playbook or explain a deviation in plain words.

Flowchart automation tools

Moving records between apps.

Clause-level judgment does not fit into branches, and every exception becomes another one to maintain.

AI chat assistants

Summarizing a contract when you paste it in.

Nothing happens until someone asks, and the playbook lives in a chat instead of a document you control.

AUTOMATE.md

Your routine, written in plain words. It runs on its own, follows your rules, handles the exceptions a flowchart can't, and asks you when it matters. The file stays yours, whichever AI model runs it.

Other setups for the same job.

NDA Fast Track

When an NDA arrives with no clause outside the playbook, email the requester the turnaround time and post the signature request.

When a new NDA arrives in the intake queue

Signature Queue Clock

Each morning, check the papers still open for signature and email the requester and the deal team when one has waited more than two business days.

Each weekday morning at 8:30am

Related workflows

Contract Intake Triage

Routes every contract request to the right lawyer with the type, value, and risk already read off the document.

3 automations

Contract review

Compares incoming clauses against the recorded positions and returns the exceptions as a short list, so a reviewer opens a document with the argument already framed.

1 automation

Playbook Deviation Review

Escalates clauses that fall outside the approved position with the wording, the risk, and a named decision owner.

4 automations

Start with one job.
Make it your own.

macOS — coming soon
  1. 1

    Get the app

    It runs on your computer, next to your files.

  2. 2

    Add the automation

    Paste the instructions into the app, or save them as a file next to your work.

  3. 3

    Try it, then turn it on

    Run it once and check the result. It only runs on its own once you switch it on.

macOS — coming soon