@openhint/hintbook-lawyer

A hintbook for HINT that turns .hint specifications into binding legal drafting prompts for AI assistants.

HINT is not only for software. The same structure — companion specs, typed blocks, strict borders — serves anyone whose work demands structured thinking. This book applies it to legal documents: you declare parties, defined terms, clauses, obligations, red lines, and prohibitions in plain markdown next to the documents they govern; the compiler turns them into a prompt where every declaration is a binding drafting directive, and the assistant drafts inside the borders instead of improvising around them.

matter/
├── hint.yml                  ← project root, registers this book
├── _.hint                    ← the matter: parties' goals, governing law, red lines
└── contracts/
    ├── nda.md.hint           ← defines contracts/nda.md
    └── spa.md.hint           ← defines contracts/spa.md

Installation

hint install @openhint/hintbook-lawyer

This registers the book in your project's hint.yml. Then hint config | claude -p adds the book's system glossary to your agent context files so assistants know how to read the compiled tags.

Vocabulary at a glance

Write any of these as a markdown heading — # keyword Name {#optional_id} — at any nesting level:

| Area | Keywords | | ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Matter context | matter, jurisdiction, party, definition, recital, fact, read, precedent, style | | Document structure | clause, obligation, prohibition, right, condition, exception, breach, source, representation, remedy, indemnity, liability, termination, payment, deadline, notice, dispute, exhibit, signature | | Litigation & argument | claim, argument, authority | | Positions & constraints | redline, never (banned content), fallback, standard, risk, checklist | | Drafting discipline | example, good, bad, action, res | | Spec-internal | notes (excluded from compiled output) |

Natural long forms work as synonyms: provision/section/article → clause, warranty → representation, whereas → recital, schedule/annex/appendix → exhibit, carveout/proviso/unless/notwithstanding → exception, violation/default → breach, rule → redline, and more.

Full reference → docs/keywords.md.

Modes

| Mode | Invocation | The assistant's role | | ------------------- | ---------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | compile (default) | hint <paths> | Senior attorney drafting the document exactly as specified — defined-term discipline, no invented facts, figures, or citations, gaps reported instead of filled. | | fix | hint --mode fix <paths> | Senior attorney revising an existing document that deviates from the spec: smallest conforming edits, conforming provisions preserved, every revision justified. | | review | hint --mode review <paths> | Senior attorney auditing a document against the spec: quoted findings with severity, minimal correcting language, an explicit verdict — no edits. |

Every mode footer reminds the assistant that the output requires review by licensed counsel — the book makes drafting strict, not lawyers optional.

Details → docs/modes.md.

Example

# clause Confidentiality

## obligation NonDisclosure

The Receiving Party shall not disclose Confidential Information to any third party.

### exception Advisors

Disclosure to professional advisors bound by equivalent confidentiality duties.

### breach

Any disclosure outside the declared exceptions.

#### remedy

Injunctive relief without proof of damages.

## deadline Term

Five (5) years from the Effective Date; calendar days.

compiles (inside the matter/document context chain, header, and footer) into:

<clause name="Confidentiality" id="">

<binding_obligation name="NonDisclosure" id="">

The Receiving Party shall not disclose Confidential Information to any third party.

<exception name="Advisors" id="">

A narrow exception to the enclosing block. It applies exactly as stated and no further — never broaden it, and never let it swallow the rule it qualifies:

Disclosure to professional advisors bound by equivalent confidentiality duties.

</exception>

<breach name="" id="">

What constitutes a breach of the enclosing provision. Draft so that exactly this conduct — no more, no less — triggers the consequences declared inside:

Any disclosure outside the declared exceptions.

<remedy name="" id="">

Injunctive relief without proof of damages.

</remedy>

</breach>

</binding_obligation>

<time_provision name="Term" id="">

Five (5) years from the Effective Date; calendar days.

</time_provision>

</clause>

The whole anatomy of a norm — trigger (condition), carve-out (exception), what breaks it (breach), what follows (remedy), the law it answers to (source), the negotiation order (fallback) — is expressed by nesting headings a lawyer already writes. No new syntax, ever.

The __system__ glossary defines every tag as a binding drafting directive — including the anti-hallucination rules that matter most in legal work: defined terms used with total discipline, and citations never invented.

License

MIT