Carpeta

Inspiration

Everyone here can build an upload portal, and good ones exist. María won't use one. She has a lawyer, a work-permit application pending, dozens of papers to find, and a phone where the only app she trusts is WhatsApp. Her paralegal spends the week chasing her. We built the folder that fills itself over WhatsApp, with the legal line built in.

What it does

A paralegal invites a client to a WhatsApp number with a code. The client sends photos. Carpeta files each one into the right slot of a 12-item asylum work-permit checklist (Form I-765, category c8) and answers "Ya tiene 3 de 12", a count that comes from the database, never from the model. Blurry photos get a retake line; a document in someone else's name is held for review; "¿Dónde lo consigo?" gives steps for each paper. Legal questions (am I eligible, when, which form) are refused in code and sent to the paralegal's review queue; general questions are answered by Rob's agent from USCIS PDFs with the source shown. The client can type VERIFICAR to confirm the office is real. On delivery the images are wiped: only a count and a fingerprint remain. BORRAR TODO erases everything.

The paralegal gets one English page (Spanish toggle): clients sorted by days to deadline, a 12-segment bar each, a review queue, a per-item switch for what the attorney wants collected, and a team assistant to ask about a case.

How we built it

Base44 is the spine: the native WhatsApp agent, six entities as the source of truth, one backend function for filing, delivery and wipe, the paralegal page, and a big-screen stage view with an offline replay. Rob's FastAPI agent is the intelligence layer: it reads each photo first and answers gated questions over USCIS documents; if it is unreachable, Carpeta falls back to Base44 and keeps working. Everything in the demo is fictional.

Challenges

Keeping the legal line in code, not in a prompt. Deciding what never to collect (IDs become "bring the original"). Working inside the Free plan's credit budget. Making a count judges can audit.

Accomplishments

A live WhatsApp loop from a real phone to a paralegal screen, with refusal, escalation, delivery and wipe all working; a trust playbook with ten sourced principles behind every design choice.

What we learned

Trust is borrowed from a person and an office, never from an app. The number on screen has to be a database row. Paralegals do most of the work, so the product is theirs.

What's next

Show it Monday to Catholic Charities NY, NYLAG and Make the Road NY; measure first document within 48 hours and paralegal minutes saved; private storage with expiring links; a voice line for clients who cannot type; more processes as more folders.

Built With

• base44
• fastapi
• react
• whatsapp