Contract Review Before You Sign
Get a plain-English read of a contract someone else sent you: what each side must do, where it differs from the deal you agreed, the clauses to worry about, what to ask for, and what to take to a lawyer.
contract review · legal · agreement · terms · risk · small business
Paste the whole contract, attachments included. The clauses that cost you are often in the documents the main contract points to. This is a reading aid, not legal advice.
How to use this prompt
- Pick your AI model. Choose the tab for Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot. Each variant is tuned for that model.
- Copy the full prompt. Click Copy Full Prompt to copy the text to your clipboard.
- Paste into your AI tool. Open your chosen model and paste the prompt into a new chat.
- Replace the [placeholders]. Swap any bracketed fields for your company name, audience, product or tone.
- Run and refine. Review the output. If anything is off, ask the AI to tighten tone, length or format.
Prompt Variants by Model
<contract>
[PASTE THE FULL CONTRACT TEXT]
</contract>
Act as a contracts reviewer for a small business owner who is not a lawyer. Read the contract above, which the other side wrote, and tell me what I am agreeing to before I sign.
Who I am in this contract [CUSTOMER / VENDOR / TENANT / CONTRACTOR / PARTNER] · the other party [NAME] · what the deal is supposed to be [ONE OR TWO SENTENCES] · what matters most to me [PRICE / FLEXIBILITY / LIABILITY / EXIT / OTHER] · where I am based [COUNTRY, STATE]
Deliver:
1. Summary: what each side must do, what it costs, how long it lasts and how it ends, in under 150 words
2. Does it match the deal? Each point where the contract differs from what I said the deal is
3. Clauses to worry about, ranked by what matters most to me: for each, the clause number or heading, its words quoted, what it means in plain English, and what it could cost me
4. Not found: protections a contract like this usually has that are not in what I pasted
5. What to ask for: for the top five concerns, or all of them if there are fewer, the change to request, one sentence each
6. For a lawyer: the questions that need legal advice where I am based, starting with liability, indemnity, termination and governing law
Quote the contract's own words for every clause you discuss, explain each legal term in plain words the first time it appears, and say when a clause refers to a document I did not paste. Open with one line saying this is a reading aid and not legal advice. Leave the decision to sign to me, because it turns on things a reading of the text cannot show.
Success means every concern cites a clause and quotes it, nothing is described that is not in the pasted text, and I could hand section 6 to a lawyer as it stands.
Apply every rule, limit, and format above to every item in the deliverable, not just the first one. Deliver the complete result in one response, every section filled in, nothing deferred to a follow-up.
If a required input is missing, ask for it once before starting; otherwise proceed and label any assumption you made.Notes: R54 build; tuned to vendor prompting guidance
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Contract Review Before You Sign prompt do?
Get a plain-English read of a contract someone else sent you: what each side must do, where it differs from the deal you agreed, the clauses to worry about, what to ask for, and what to take to a lawyer.
Which AI models is this prompt written for?
Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot. Each one gets its own version up top, written the way that vendor says to prompt its own model. Pick the tab that matches yours.
Do I need a paid AI account to use this prompt?
No. This prompt is written to run on the free tier of Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot. Paid tiers simply give you longer context windows and faster responses.
Can I customize this prompt for my business?
Yes. Any text inside square brackets is a placeholder you replace with your own business details, such as company name, audience, product or tone. You can also ask the AI to adjust format, length or style after the first output.
When was this prompt last checked?
The date is on each version up top. We check every prompt in full every month, and when a major new model lands we rewrite the prompt for it. One glance tells you how current it is before you paste.
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