A Mike fork reshaped for non-technical lawyers: simplified UX, guided workflows, and legal-practice terminology throughout.
foolish-bandit/gary is a product-focused fork of willchen96/mike targeting attorneys who won't configure API keys or manage infrastructure themselves. The bulk of the commit history is a layered UX simplification: Mike's developer-facing language stripped out, "Projects" renamed to "Matters", generic empty/loading/error strings replaced with practitioner-facing copy, and a simplified home screen with four action cards (Ask Gary, Upload Document, Review Contract, Draft Something) instead of a bare chat input.
On top of that baseline, foolish-bandit added three guided workflow shells - contract review at /review, "Explain This", and "Draft Something" - each built as a frontend-only wrapper over Mike's existing API routes. No new backend routes, no schema changes. The review shell hardcodes an eleven-topic review prompt (parties, dates, governing law, payment terms, termination, indemnity, confidentiality, assignment, dispute resolution, unusual clauses, missing clauses) and hands the result off to the standard chat thread.
Deployment work covers both frontend and backend: Cloudflare Workers via @opennextjs/cloudflare for the frontend, Railway/Render documentation for the backend, and a dev-auth bypass (NEXT_PUBLIC_GARY_SKIP_AUTH) for local testing without Supabase.
There is acknowledged follow-up debt: internal identifiers (MikeDocument, MikeProject, MikeIcon, the mike.selectedModel localStorage key) were deliberately left unrenamed to keep diffs manageable, and the /account/models route URL hasn't been redirected despite the tab label changing.
brandingcontract-reviewdrafting
foolish-bandit ↗ analysis ↗ GitHub foolish-bandit ↗ analysis ↗ GitHub foolish-bandit ↗ analysis ↗ GitHub foolish-bandit ↗ analysis ↗ GitHub foolish-bandit ↗ analysis ↗ GitHub foolish-bandit ↗ analysis ↗ GitHub foolish-bandit ↗ analysis ↗ GitHub foolish-bandit ↗ analysis ↗ GitHub foolish-bandit ↗ analysis ↗ GitHub foolish-bandit ↗ analysis ↗ GitHub foolish-bandit ↗ analysis ↗ GitHub foolish-bandit ↗ analysis ↗ GitHub foolish-bandit ↗ analysis ↗ GitHub foolish-bandit ↗ analysis ↗ GitHub foolish-bandit ↗ analysis ↗ GitHub foolish-bandit ↗ analysis ↗ GitHub A documentation suite that quietly settles the biggest question about this fork: who it's built for and how far along it actually is.
A documentation-only update that spells out exactly how this fork runs in production - not how it's supposed to.
The fork's backend won't run where the rest of the project lives, so foolish-bandit documented exactly where it should run instead - and which keys never leave home.
foolish-bandit documented the Express backend deployment in three commits: a 124-line `backend/DEPLOY.md` covering build settings, env vars, and host-specific steps, a removal of `backend/bun.lock` to stop Nixpacks from provisioning Bun, and a one-line fix adding `NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL` to `backend/.env.example` because Railway needs it.
Every answer now carries a visible trust signal - and a blunt warning when no source is attached.
foolish-bandit tightened the citation framing across the three guided workflow shells and the main assistant. A new `CitationExpectationNote` component in `AssistantMessage.tsx` renders an amber "No source citation shown. Treat this answer as unverified." warning when citations are absent, and a citation card list when they're present.
Every AI answer now wears its verification status on its sleeve - cited, or flagged as unchecked.
A copy-and-UI pass on the Gary fork tightens what users are told about citations across the assistant shell, Review, Draft, and Explain flows. A new `CitationExpectationNote` component renders clickable citation cards when citations exist and an amber "No source citation shown. Treat this answer as unverified." warning when they don't.
A clean, UI-wide rename swaps generic-software language for the word law firms actually use to organise their work.
foolish-bandit renamed "Project"/"Projects" to "Matter"/"Matters" in user-visible strings across 21 frontend files. Route names, identifiers (`projectId`, `useProjects`, the `/projects` route), and backend contracts were left unchanged - this is a label-layer change only.
foolish-bandit swapped legal-practice terminology into Gary's UI - Projects become Matters, uploaded files are consistently Documents - while leaving every URL, API route, database field, and TypeScript type untouched. Surface vocabulary only.
You can now walk through the whole interface without first standing up an account system.
A build-time toggle lets you show off the interface without standing up a real login system first.
A single commit adds a frontend-only Supabase auth bypass gated on `NEXT_PUBLIC_GARY_SKIP_AUTH=true`. When set, `AuthContext` skips the auth flow and seeds a fake demo user. An amber banner renders in the protected layout. Backend calls still 401 - the bypass is for UI inspection only.
foolish-bandit added a build-time flag that lets the frontend run as a fake demo user without a real Supabase session. Set `NEXT_PUBLIC_GARY_SKIP_AUTH=true` at build time and `AuthContext` skips the auth flow entirely, seeding a fixed demo identity. An amber banner at the top of the protected layout makes the mode visible.
The account screen now talks to lawyers, not engineers.
A copy overhaul rewrites Gary's settings to read like a legal product, not a setup screen for engineers.
A single commit rewrites ~24 user-visible strings in the `/account/models` flow, swapping developer vocabulary for plainer terms: "Models & API Keys" becomes "AI configuration," "Model Preferences" becomes "Default assistant," "Tabular review model" becomes "Assistant for tabular reviews," and API key labels drop the "API Key" suffix to just "Anthropic (Claude) key." No behavior changes.
foolish-bandit ran a frontend-only copy pass replacing API-vendor language in the account settings, model picker, and key-prompt surfaces. "Models & API Keys" becomes "AI configuration", "API key required" becomes "GaryOSS isn't configured yet". No identifiers, no routes, no backend changes.
A new drafting screen walks you from "what kind of document" to a finished request, instead of handing you a blank chat box.
A new drafting flow walks lawyers from "what do I need" to a first draft without making them stare at a blank chat box.
Commit `7c520d4f` adds a `/draft` page that mirrors the `/review` shell: a guided two-step UI for drafting legal documents entirely on the frontend, with no backend changes. The home "Draft Something" card is rewired from `/workflows` to `/draft`.
Commit `7c520d4f` adds a `/draft` page with a two-step UI: choose one of eight document types, fill in description and optional audience/tone, optionally attach a document, then hand off to the existing assistant chat. No backend changes. The PR merged in minutes.
A guided two-step flow that turns any uploaded document into a structured first-pass review, without touching the backend.
A new three-step flow walks a lawyer from picking a contract to a structured first-pass review without any new backend work.
Commit `16c7bffd` adds a 434-line `/review` page that gives lawyers a guided path to contract review -- pick or upload a document, confirm what the assistant will look for, then land in the chat with a pre-built prompt attached. No backend changes.
foolish-bandit built a two-step contract review flow at `/review` without touching any backend routes. Upload or select a contract, see what Gary will check, kick off the review - then land in the existing chat thread. The review prompt is baked into the frontend bundle.
A sweep of the interface swaps debug-speak error and empty-state messages for copy a working lawyer actually understands.
Every blank screen and error message in the interface now tells you what to do next, in plain English.
A 25-file frontend pass rewrites the generic developer-default strings that ship in the upstream codebase. Empty states now describe what the user can do, not what's absent. Error boundaries grow a working Try Again button. Loading strings name what's actually happening.
foolish-bandit swept 25 frontend files to replace generic placeholder strings - "No chats yet", "An error occurred", "Processing..." - with action-oriented copy that names what the user should do next. +93/-79, no backend touched.
Two small README commits clarify what Gary actually is: a fork of willchen96/mike aimed at attorneys who are less tech-savvy. That stated audience is the signal worth reading here.
The empty chat greeting becomes a four-card launchpad that points users at what the assistant can actually do.
The assistant's home screen now greets users with four obvious things to do, not an empty prompt and a blinking cursor.
foolish-bandit reworked the authenticated home view so a non-technical lawyer lands on four plain-English starting points instead of a bare chat input. All four wire into routes that already existed - no backend changes, no new APIs.
Commit `d761a8da` replaces the empty-state "Hi, {name}" screen in `InitialView.tsx` with a 2x2 grid of lawyer-facing action cards. This is the seed of the guided-mode UX direction the fork builds out across the subsequent three workflow shells.
Four commits to get the Next.js frontend shipping to Cloudflare Workers: a `next` version bump to satisfy the peer range, a minimal `wrangler.jsonc`, explicit `cf:build`/`cf:deploy`/`cf:preview` npm scripts, and deletion of `frontend/bun.lock` to stop Cloudflare's auto-detection from picking Bun.
Three commits add a documented, working deploy path to Cloudflare Workers: Next.js bumped to 16.0.11 to satisfy `@opennextjs/cloudflare`'s peer requirement, a `wrangler.jsonc` added, and `cf:*` npm scripts plus README instructions documented.
A surface-wide rebrand that touches everything a user sees and nothing underneath.
A fresh fork swaps every visible "Mike" for "Gary" - while the plumbing underneath still answers to its old name.
foolish-bandit renamed everything a user would see - page titles, the sidebar, system prompts, DOCX author attribution - while deliberately leaving all internal identifiers alone. Clean diff discipline with acknowledged follow-up debt.
The foundational soft-fork rename: HTML titles, sidebar, AI system prompts, DOCX tracked-changes author, the default R2 bucket name, and npm package names all swap from Mike to Gary. Internal identifiers are explicitly left in place.
A fresh set of planning and handoff docs tells you exactly what this fork is, what it isn't, and what's actually running.
A broad frontend pass adding a set of handoff/architecture/roadmap docs, a new Explain page alongside Review and Draft, a migration from runtime `next/font/google` to locally bundled `@fontsource/inter`, and a set of shadcn-style UI primitives (card, alert, label, separator, tabs, textarea, skeleton) adopted across pages.
Commit `58ef971c` introduces `frontend/src/components/ui/` with seven shadcn/ui primitives and wires them into the Explain This page, globals.css, and layout. This is the first structural divergence from upstream Mike's plain-Tailwind approach.
A third workspace lands in this fork of Mike: drop in dense legal language, get a plain-English read back.
PR #15 lands a combined change: seven shadcn/ui component primitives, a self-hosted Inter font replacing `next/font/google`, a new `/explain` page built on those primitives, and a set of UX fixes across the draft/review flows and sidebar.
A new page in the Gary fork turns dense legal language into a structured, four-part explanation anyone can follow.
Commit `b3287856` adds a 159-line `/explain` page -- the third and last of foolish-bandit's guided workflow shells. Paste legal text, optionally provide context and goal, and the page assembles a structured prompt and routes to the chat.
A new screen lets you drop in any chunk of legal text and ask for it back in plain English.
Commit `b3287856` adds a 159-line `/explain` page that wraps pasted legal text into a structured prompt and hands off to the assistant chat. It also standardises the error strings across draft and review flows and adds a handful of sidebar and auth-screen fixes.
A polish pass swaps vague "try again" errors for an honest message: the backend isn't connected.
foolish-bandit did a manual walkthrough of the new Gary flows and pushed a small cleanup: a localStorage desktop-sidebar bug fix, softened error messages for when the backend isn't reachable, a sidebar nav relabel, upload error surfacing in `InitialView`, and a dev-bypass notice on the login/signup pages.
When a feature isn't wired up yet, Gary now says so plainly instead of telling you to try again.
A small cleanup pass after walking the authenticated Gary flow. Error strings that previously said "Could not start the draft. Try again." now say "This will be available once GaryOSS is connected to the backend." The sidebar's "Assistant" entry was renamed to "Ask Gary." A localStorage bug was fixed where the desktop sidebar state was being persisted using the wrong variable.
foolish-bandit proposed a batch of frontend changes centered on a new `/explain` page, unified backend-unavailable messaging, an "Ask Gary" sidebar rename, and a font strategy swap from `next/font/google` to `@fontsource/inter`. The PR was closed without merging; none of it landed in Gary's main branch.
foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit #16 Add handoff docs, UI primitives, Explain flow, font migration, and backend-unavailable messaging foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · merged 2mo ago by foolish-bandit #14 Add 'Explain This' page, switch to Inter font, and surface dev/back-end availability messaging foolish-bandit · opened 2mo ago · closed 2mo ago