Volunteer project — no response guarantee. Nobody is on duty here. Issues and pull requests are read, but replies are not guaranteed and can take a long time. The method works as-is without contacting anyone.
Not a coder? You do not need GitHub. Each method has a plain-language, step-by-step guide that works on a phone: https://buildtherecord.org/start.html
A method, a set of AI prompts, and a small amount of free infrastructure for a vehicle owner to build a professional-grade defect case file — the kind of evidence presentation a manufacturer's repurchase reviewer, an arbitrator, or an attorney takes seriously — without hiring anyone.
It was developed during a real, self-represented lemon-law repurchase claim, working with an AI assistant (Claude) as the builder. Everything case-specific has been removed; what remains is the process that made the record persuasive.
See what you end up with: the demo case file
— a fully fictional exemplar (every name, document, and image invented; fact
pattern modeled on published appellate opinions — see EXEMPLARS.md).
- A single source-of-truth catalogue of every incident you recorded, every repair order, every recall and technical bulletin, every call and email — dated, verified, deduplicated.
- A password-protected evidence website (free Cloudflare tier) with a plain-language narrative, an interactive timeline, a filterable evidence grid, and playable video exemplars — plus an access log so you can see when the manufacturer actually reviews it.
- A printable case-file PDF with a component repair ledger, chronological record, and a numbered exhibit index.
- A diagnostic-records request organized per demonstrated problem, so the manufacturer's own telemetry has to answer your timestamps.
- A short cover email that states what you are asking for in the first sentence.
- Get a copy:
git clonethis repo, or use GitHub's Code → Download ZIP button (no git required). - Read
METHOD.md— ten minutes; it is the part that matters most. - Open an AI assistant that can work with your files, and walk through
prompts/00-START-HERE.md. The prompts are numbered in working order; each produces a concrete artifact and tells the assistant what rules to enforce. You do not need to be technical — the assistant does the technical work; you make the decisions only you can make. - When you're ready to share evidence with the manufacturer, deploy the
password-gated site with
site/DEPLOY.md. - Before anything is sent anywhere: run the adversarial pass
(
prompts/08). It is the highest value-per-hour step in the method.
| Path | What it is |
|---|---|
METHOD.md |
The doctrine — evidence discipline, "the record argues by existing" |
prompts/00–10 |
Working-order prompts: inventory → bundle → ledger → phone log → records request → site → PDF → adversarial review → redaction → cover email |
site/ |
Cloudflare Worker evidence viewer + deploy runbook (free tier) |
schema/ |
The bundle (source-of-truth JSON) schema + fictional example |
templates/ |
Exhibit numbering scheme, repurchase finance worksheet |
docs/ |
The fictional demo case file (GitHub Pages) |
EXEMPLARS.md |
Real published opinions worth reading, and why the demo is fictional |
If you run the method — win, lose, or settle — the next owner benefits from what
you learned. Prompt fixes from real use, jurisdiction notes, manufacturer
diagnostic-system notes, and anonymized outcome writeups are all welcome; real
case documents are not (this repo stays 100% synthetic). See CONTRIBUTING.md.
Lawyers: an hour of practitioner review is the most valuable contribution of
all — see the note there, or write to mailbox@buildtherecord.org.
This is not legal advice, and no file in this repo is a substitute for a lawyer. Lemon-law and consumer-protection standards differ by state and country; deadlines are real; some situations (crashes, injuries, fraud) need counsel immediately. What this repo automates is the part lawyers and manufacturers both respect regardless of venue: a complete, honest, verifiable record.
The record argues by existing. State facts; never argue law in the record itself.
Every number is verified against a source at build time. A screenshot proves only
what is visible in it. Quote documents verbatim. Leave out weak evidence — and
never omit something whose absence would make you look dishonest. The full
doctrine is in METHOD.md.
Apache-2.0. Use it, adapt it, share it.