How to Contribute

AI Legal UK is a source-available project licensed under the Functional Source License (FSL-1.1-Apache-2.0). We welcome contributions across every part of the system -- from new legal skills to dashboard features, MCP server tooling, and documentation improvements.

Plate I — the broadsheet rebrand.

Plate I.a — the original, kept for reference.

Fork / Branch / PR Workflow

# 1. Fork the repository on GitHub
# 2. Clone your fork
git clone https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/ai-legal-uk.git
cd ai-legal-uk

# 3. Create a feature branch
git checkout -b feat/your-feature-name

# 4. Make your changes, commit, and push
git add .
git commit -m "feat: description of your change"
git push origin feat/your-feature-name

# 5. Open a Pull Request against the main branch

Branch Naming Convention

Use prefixes that describe the type of change:

• feat/ -- new features or skills
• fix/ -- bug fixes
• docs/ -- documentation only
• refactor/ -- code restructuring without behaviour change
• test/ -- adding or updating tests

Areas to Contribute

Area	Description	Key Files / Directories
New Skills	Add a new /legal command for a legal domain not yet covered	skills/legal-*/SKILL.md, legal/SKILL.md
Agent Improvements	Enhance subagent analysis depth, output format, or scoring	agents/legal-*.md
Dashboard Features	New pages, components, API routes, or UI improvements	dashboard/app/, dashboard/components/, dashboard/lib/
MCP Server Tools	Add legislation lookup tools or improve existing ones	mcp-servers/uk-legislation/src/
Documentation	Improve guides, add examples, fix errors	doc-site/
Sample Documents	Add realistic sample legal documents for demo mode	dashboard/lib/demo-data/, samples/
Tests	Improve test coverage for dashboard lib functions	dashboard/lib/*.test.ts
PDF Reports	Enhance the PDF report generator layout and styling	scripts/generate_legal_pdf.py

Ideas for New Skills

• Partnership law (Partnership Act 1890)
• Charity law (Charities Act 2011)
• Planning and construction (CDM Regulations 2015)
• Environmental compliance
• Marine and shipping law
• Insurance contract review (Insurance Act 2015)

Before You Start

1. Check existing issues -- someone may already be working on it
2. Open an issue first for large changes to discuss the approach
3. Read the coding standards -- see Coding Standards for rules that apply to all contributions
4. Run the tests before submitting your PR:

# Dashboard tests
cd dashboard
npm install
npm test
npm run lint

# MCP server tests
cd mcp-servers/uk-legislation
npm install
npm test

WARNING

Always run npm run build in the dashboard/ directory before submitting a PR. The CI pipeline runs a production build and will catch type errors that npm run dev might miss.

Pull Request Checklist

Before submitting a PR, verify:

• [ ] Your branch is up to date with main
• [ ] All existing tests pass (npm test in dashboard/)
• [ ] New code has appropriate test coverage
• [ ] No linting errors (npm run lint)
• [ ] Skill files include the standard disclaimer block
• [ ] Jurisdiction is limited to England & Wales only
• [ ] Risk indicators use the standard format (🔴 High Risk, 🟡 Medium Risk, 🟢 Low Risk)
• [ ] Commit messages follow conventional format (feat:, fix:, docs:, etc.)
• [ ] PR description clearly explains what changed and why

Community Guidelines

• Be respectful -- constructive feedback, no personal attacks
• Be specific -- when reporting bugs, include steps to reproduce, expected behaviour, and actual behaviour
• Be patient -- maintainers review PRs as time allows
• Ask questions -- if you are unsure about the right approach, open a discussion
• Credit others -- if your work builds on someone else's contribution, acknowledge it
• Focus feedback on the work, not the person -- all contributions are welcome regardless of experience level
• Welcome newcomers -- help new contributors get started and find their footing

License

This project is source-available under the Functional Source License (FSL-1.1-Apache-2.0). You may use, modify, and redistribute it for any purpose other than building a competing product or hosted service; two years after each release it converts to Apache 2.0. By contributing, you agree your contributions are licensed under the same terms.

Commercial licences (for competing or SaaS use) are available — contact licensing@the-counsel.co.uk.

INFO

All skill files (SKILL.md) and agent files are pure Markdown with no runtime code dependencies. This makes them straightforward to write and review -- no build step is required for skill-only changes.

Quick Links

Guide	Description
Adding Skills	Create a new /legal command
Adding Agents	Create a parallel analysis agent
Dashboard Development	Set up and develop the web UI
Coding Standards	Conventions and requirements

Getting Help

• Open a GitHub issue for bugs or feature requests
• Start a GitHub Discussion for questions or design proposals
• Review existing skills in skills/legal-*/SKILL.md for examples of the expected format