# Counsel triggers: setup for any coding agent

1. Save https://mandatelaw.ai/api/counsel-triggers.json to `.counsel/triggers.json` in your repository.
2. Add this to `AGENTS.md`, `CLAUDE.md`, or your agent's rules file:

```
## Legal review
Before building a change, check it against `.counsel/triggers.json`.
If the change matches a trigger, or a catch_all rule, stop before implementing
that part and tell a human which trigger matched and why. Other work can continue.
A match means the change needs legal review before it ships. A non-match is not
legal advice and does not mean the change is compliant.
On any security incident, tell a human immediately.

## Legal privilege
Communications with counsel are privileged. Commit only the deliverable parts
listed in deliverable.handling.safe_to_commit (build spec, verification
checklist, counsel triggers). Never put counsel's memo, questions, or responses
in commits, pull requests, issues, shared chat, or memory files. Keep the
matter token in a secret store or environment variable, never in the repo.
```

3. Optional: connect the MCP server at https://mandatelaw.ai/mcp so your agent can call `check_scope` (free) and, for clients, `feature_check`.

Claude Code users can install the plugin instead, which does all of this.

This file is legal information, not legal advice. Mandate Law is attorney advertising; Allen Gibby is admitted in the District of Columbia.