In simple English
Mike is a self-hosted computer program that helps you read, write, and check legal documents using artificial intelligence. You can talk to your contracts, look up court cases, and work directly inside Microsoft Word. It costs you time to set up and maintain your own server, plus whatever you spend on artificial intelligence model fees. If you prefer to keep your sensitive legal files on your own machine instead of sending them to a big cloud service, this tool gives you that control.
What it is
Mike is an open-source legal assistant platform that combines a web dashboard, database storage, and document processing tools. It connects to external language models or local runners to let you search through case law, review clauses, and manage legal matters.
What it is good for
Solo lawyers, small firms, and builders who need a private legal workspace to review contracts and search case law without relying on expensive proprietary software.
- Runs on your own hardware to keep confidential client files private.
- Includes a Microsoft Word add-in so you can check documents while you write them.
- Connects to local language models or cloud providers for flexibility.
- Requires Docker (a way to run a program inside its own sealed box, so it cannot break anything else on your server) and some technical knowledge to install.
- Uses AGPL-3.0 (a software licence that requires you to share your modified code if you offer the app as a network service), which may worry some businesses.
- Needs external API keys or a local server running language models to power the assistant features.
Expensive commercial legal research tools and manual contract review.
Ollama (a program that lets you run artificial intelligence models locally on your own computer).
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git clone https://github.com/open-legal-products/mike.git cd mike cp .env.example .env cp backend/.env.example backend/.env docker compose up --build