Inspiration
What it does
How we built it
Challenges we ran into
Accomplishments that we're proud of
What we learned
What's next for f1ghtback: Guided Filing and Packet Studio
Inspiration
Family court can confront a self-represented person with urgent timing, disability barriers, unfamiliar forms, and more information than anyone can comfortably hold at once. f1ghtback was built by Faith Atwater-Cheltenham, a Black mother and disabled technologist, from lived experience navigating that overload.
The goal is not to let a model choose a form or decide what is legally sufficient. It is to help someone reach one contained next step, preserve their own language, and arrive at human review better prepared.
What it does
The source-backed router turns three non-personal choices into one next action, a short checklist, focused review questions, and official California, Utah, or accessibility links. Cross-state uncertainty blocks state-form recommendations.
Two guided walkthroughs support California FL-320 response preparation and Utah family answer preparation. A person identifies the papers, records dates for human review without deadline calculation, maps requested orders or petition paragraphs, writes in their own words, creates a declaration or document scaffold, lists exhibits without uploading them, and tracks filing and service questions.
The browser creates a marked DRAFT - NOT FILED PDF and text companion packet. Personal answers remain in the tab and are never sent to GPT, Sites, D1, analytics, or persistent browser storage.
How we built it
The app uses Next.js, React, TypeScript, vinext, OpenAI Sites, Cloudflare Workers, D1, pdf-lib, and the OpenAI Responses API.
GPT-5.6 is optional and explains only a selected guide step. It receives guide ID, step ID, detail level, and curated official source metadata, with no names, dates, narratives, case numbers, addresses, or answers. Requests use no tools, store:false, strict structured output, a global capped budget, reusable finite-output caching, and deterministic fallback.
Codex helped inspect the larger private system, isolate a public-safe product, consolidate the source registry, build the guide-pack schema and walkthroughs, implement local packet generation, add bounded GPT explanations, write privacy and legal-boundary tests, run browser QA, and prepare the Sites and GitHub releases.
Challenges
The central challenge was building a useful long-answer tool without turning a public website into an intake database. The answer is architectural: personal answers live only in React memory, model calls accept bounded IDs only, packets are generated on-device, jurisdictions remain separated, stale sources fail closed, and every output calls for human review.
Accomplishments
- Two form-matched, one-question-at-a-time response coaches
- Exact-word preservation and browser-side PDF/text packet generation
- No account, upload, case database, analytics, or answer persistence
- Optional GPT-5.6 explanations that never receive personal answers
- Source versions, review dates, link monitoring, and stale-guide shutdown
- Cross-state safeguards and deterministic source-only operation
What is next
The same guide-pack engine can add reviewed California DVRO responses, fee waivers, ADA accommodations, and custody requests, followed by Utah protective orders, temporary orders, modifications, enforcement, support, and fee waivers. Direct court-form PDF writing remains held until revision hashes, field maps, round trips, and visual tests pass.
Try it
Legal information only. f1ghtback does not provide legal advice, file papers, or create an attorney-client relationship.
Built With
- cloudflare-workers
- d1
- next.js
- openai-codex
- openai-responses-api
- openai-sites
- pdf-lib
- react
- typescript
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.