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pdombkins makes Australian citation checks a choice, not a black box

This fork separates human-reviewed research from automated citation verification for Australian legal work.

searchcompliance

pdombkins has moved from a single research source to a selectable approach, after encountering practical limits around automated access and use conditions.

  • Human-verified research: the default route asks a person to complete verification when researching Australian case law and legislation.
  • Automated citation checks: an optional route supports automated validation, with notices that frame it for research and education use.

That split is more candid than treating legal research sources as interchangeable plumbing: automation can be useful, but access rules and reliability still shape what can safely be automated.

So what Australian firms and legal-product teams considering citation-checking automation should care because this fork exposes the operational trade-off instead of hiding it.

View this fork on GitHub →

Spotted something wrong? Or know the PR text has fresher detail than the writeup above?

Commits in this thread

5 commits from pdombkins/rose_lawyer, oldest first. Source extracted verbatim from the harvested git log.

SHA Subject Author Date
be319320 feat: add AustLII + Jade.io integration for Australian law research Peter Dombkins 2026-07-04 ↗ GitHub
8fe1654f fix: make Jade.io primary for citation validation, add legislation search 403 fallback Peter Dombkins 2026-07-05 ↗ GitHub
11d0955d refactor: remove AustLII; Jade-only AU legal research + research/education notices Peter Dombkins 2026-07-05 ↗ GitHub
commit body 
- Delete AustLII SINO search/fetch/validation, /austlii route and austlii_* tools
- Add Jade-only module (lib/jade.ts), tools (jadeTools.ts) and route (/jade)
- Citation validation + judgment fetch via Jade.io; search returns Jade.io links
- Rename tools to jade_*; system prompt is Jade-only
- README: research & educational use only; obtain Jade.io permission before use
- Sidebar: 'For research and educational purposes only' under the logo
072c9583 feat: pluggable citation verification (AustLII human / Jade automated) + admin toggle Peter Dombkins 2026-07-06 ↗ GitHub
commit body 
- Pluggable verification sources: registry + chain resolver; jade (automated),
  austlii (human). Add/remove sources without dispatch changes.
- Admin 'Have you obtained Jade.io approval?' toggle (default no) → AustLII-only
  human verification with no Jade fallback; yes → Jade automated with AustLII fallback.
- app_settings table + migration (20260705) + GET/PUT /admin/settings.
- verify_citation tool replaces jade_validate_citation; emits
  citation_verification_required for the human-in-the-loop gate.
- Frontend: admin toggle UI + in-chat verification panel (opens AustLII in a new
  tab, Verified / Not verified) that sends the outcome back so the model finalises.
14a64a7e docs: update README for citation verification (AustLII human default / Jade opt-in) + admin toggle Peter Dombkins 2026-07-06 ↗ GitHub

Capture this thread into my fork

Download a single Markdown prompt that tells Claude how to port every commit above into your working tree — adapting paths and structure to match your repo. Run it via claude -p < capture-thread-925.md from inside the repo you want the changes in.

⬇ Download capture-thread-925.md