Build a contract tracker
How to build a contract tracker with AI
To build a contract tracker, describe who it is for and what they do in it, and let Forge64 plan and generate the app. A legal workspace for in-house teams and law firms: intake forms, template and clause-based drafting, versioned documents with comparison, multi-step approvals, signing with an evidence trail, an obligations and renewal register, matter management with time entries, and strict access control for privileged material. The core parts of a first version are firms, departments and clients, counsel, requester and approver roles, document versions and comparison, templates and clause library and contract approval workflow.
Last checked
What the first version needs
These are the parts a contract tracker needs before it is useful. Each one is something the plan covers.
- Firms, departments and clients: Support in-house teams, firms with client matters and ethical walls.
- Counsel, requester and approver roles: Business users request, lawyers draft, approvers sign off.
- Document versions and comparison: Keep every draft and show what changed.
- Templates and clause library: Draft quickly from approved language.
- Contract approval workflow: Route by value, risk and deviation from the template.
- Signing ceremony: Collect legally meaningful signatures with evidence.
- Obligations and renewal register: Never miss a renewal, notice window or deliverable.
- Access and change audit: Prove who viewed, edited, downloaded or signed.
- Search across documents: Find clauses, parties and dates.
Parts you can add in the first version
- Time entries and invoicing: Record billable time and bill clients.
- Retention and legal hold: Keep or dispose of records on schedule and freeze on hold.
The data it stores
Each table below becomes part of the Postgres database that belongs to your app.
- clients: conflict_key is normalised name used for new-matter conflict search.
- matters: confidential matters hide documents from non-members; an ethical wall is a matter membership exclusion.
- matter_members: RLS on documents joins this table.
- contracts: status: draft|in_review|approved|out_for_signature|executed|expired|terminated.
- document_versions: locked after signature request; files are immutable objects.
- templates: variables is a typed schema; generated documents store the variable values used.
- clauses: deviation from preferred text can trigger extra approval.
- approvals: tied to a document version so an edit invalidates earlier approvals.
- signature_requests: status: pending|partially_signed|completed|declined|expired|cancelled.
Pages and endpoints
| Route | Who can use it | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| /intake | authed | request form for business users to ask for a contract or advice. |
| /contracts | authed | repository with filters by status, counterparty, expiry. |
| /contracts/[id] | authed | document, versions and comparison, approvals, signatures, obligations. |
| /templates | authed | template and clause library. |
| /matters | authed | matters, membership, time and documents. |
| /obligations | authed | register of dates and deliverables. |
| /sign/[token] | public | single-use signing page with consent and certificate. |
| /api/documents/presign | authed | presigned upload after type and size checks. |
| /api/signature-requests | authed | create a signature request for a locked version. |
What to leave out of version one
- No AI legal advice or automated contract approval.
- No qualified electronic signatures in phase 1.
- No trust or client-account accounting.
- No court filing integrations.
- No automatic extraction of obligations without human confirmation.
- Scanned document text extraction: plan for it, build it later.
How Forge64 builds it
Forge64 matches your description to one of 25 reference architectures, writes the plan and data model into the project, generates the app, and runs a quality gate over the code before you see it. Each app gets its own Postgres database and sign-in with no per-user fee. Hosting on Forge Cloud and Forge Payments are rolling out.
This is a reference design for the category, not a promise that every item is generated today. Built-ins such as background jobs, file uploads and search are rolling out; email sent from your app is coming soon, so anything here that needs it is something you add yourself for now.
FAQ
- What does a contract tracker need first?
- Firms, departments and clients, counsel, requester and approver roles, document versions and comparison, templates and clause library, contract approval workflow and signing ceremony. The plan for a contract tracker covers all of these before it generates code.
- What should I leave out of the first version of a contract tracker?
- No AI legal advice or automated contract approval. No qualified electronic signatures in phase 1. No trust or client-account accounting.
- Which products define the contract tracker category?
- Well-known examples include Ironclad, DocuSign CLM, ContractWorks, Clio and LawVu. Use them to decide which features your users expect, then describe your own version.
Build your app with Forge64
One prompt to a running app with auth, database, hosting and payments. Start free, no credit card required.
Start building for free