2.13 · Where the (deferred) contextual assistant lives DEFER

There is no chatbot and no chat home screen in this design. This screen exists only to show where an AI assistant would live if and when it is built. Per Phase-4-consolidated-design-direction.md §3.6 / §5 / §8 and Phase-4-low-fi-ux-blueprint.md §5, the assistant is secondary, scoped and matter-aware — summoned for a specific cell or matter, never a permanent pane and never the landing screen. It is tagged DEFER for Phase 4 (only the existing query endpoint exists today).

Design rule (anti-goal): chat-first UI is explicitly rejected — “it demos well and fails quietly; it hides provenance behind prose.” The assistant must keep evidence inline and inspectable: every answer it produces lands as claims/supports in the cell inspector, with the same support glyphs, warnings and authority currentness as everything else — not as free-floating prose.

A · Summoned from the ⌘K command palette (matter-scoped)

The palette is the accelerator surface (visible in every app/matter bar). Typing a question surfaces matter-scoped assistant actions alongside ordinary commands — the assistant is one option among “add a question”, “find authority”, “filter to stale”, never a separate destination.

‹ Matters Acme v Beta · UK · Commercial ⚠ 2 cells stale ⌘K

What the user gets back: not a chat transcript. The assistant’s answer is written into the workbench — claims appear (or are highlighted) in the grid and the cell inspector with supports, locators, authority currentness and warnings. The lawyer still accepts / rejects / challenges each one.

B · Summoned from the cell inspector (“Ask about this cell”)

The second entry point is the most scoped of all: a single inspector action bound to the selected cell. It does not open a chat pane — it adds an “Ask about this cell” action beside the existing Add authority / Refresh evidence controls, and any response lands as inline evidence in the same panel.

MSA v3 · “Liability cap”

support: ~ stale · review: needs review · authority: ⚖? not checked

Claim

“Aggregate liability is capped at £1,000,000.” type: legal_rule

Supports (1)

●

“…shall not exceed £1,000,000…”

MSA v3 · p.14 §12.2

Assistant DEFER

Scoped to this cell’s claim, supports and authority. The reply is written back as claims/supports/warnings here — not as a chat bubble. No persistent chat thread is stored.

⚠ Warnings

blocker Source version stale — refresh evidence

needs review Currentness not verified

What this is — and what it is not

✓ The assistant IS

✓ Invoked on demand from ⌘K or the inspector.

✓ Scoped to the current matter / cell (respects ethical walls).

✓ Answer-as-evidence: results return as claims, supports, locators and warnings.

✓ Subject to the same accept / reject / challenge review as any cell.

✓ DEFER for Phase 4 — built later, minimally, on the query engine.

✗ The assistant is NOT

✗ A chatbot or chat home screen.

✗ A permanent side pane competing with the inspector.

✗ A prose answer that hides or replaces provenance.

✗ A place the user “lives” instead of the review grid.

✗ Able to mark anything client-ready on the lawyer’s behalf.

Sources. Direction §3.6 (“no permanent chat pane and no chat home screen”), §5 (“invoked from the palette/inspector… never the home screen and never a permanent pane”), §8 anti-goal (“Chat-first UI”); Blueprint §1 (“the assistant is something you summon for a specific cell, not a place you live”) and §5 (“Assistant/chat (contextual) → [DEFER] beyond query reuse”).