LexLint for government software
Some duties bind a public body, some bind the company that sells to it, and some bind the body but are met in its software. LexLint asks one question so every finding says whose it is.
One question
When you declare your app, LexLint asks whether it is government software. The answer is yours to give, and LexLint never infers it from your code.
| Your answer | Who it describes | For example |
|---|---|---|
| A public body runs it | An agency, a city, a court or a school district, running its own software | A police department's own records system |
| It is sold to public bodies | A company whose customers include public bodies | A company selling a report-writing tool to police |
| Both | A public body that also builds for others | A state technology office that builds for counties |
| Neither | Almost everything else | A consumer app |
# lexlint.yml
profile:
activities: [generates_content]
jurisdictions: [us/ca]
public_sector: [supplier]
The answer is saved beside your activities and places. Until someone gives it, LexLint reports every duty as it did before it asked.
Whose duty it is
LexLint routes each duty, not each law, and every finding says whose it is.
| The finding says | It means | Where it goes |
|---|---|---|
| yours | You owe it | Your work list |
| customer duty | Your public-sector customer owes it, and meets it through your software | Its own product lane |
| elsewhere | Someone else owes it | Kept for context, never as work |
A customer duty is not your legal obligation, but it is usually a change to your product. It is often the work that wins or loses the contract.
An example: AI in police reports
Law Enforcement AI Report Disclosure Act (SB 524), US-California: since . Here is where each of its 7 duties lands for three teams that lint the same app.
| Duty | Police | Vendor | Anyone else |
|---|---|---|---|
| Keep a policy on AI-drafted reports | yours | elsewhere | elsewhere |
| Name each AI program used | yours | customer duty | elsewhere |
| Say on the report that AI wrote it | yours | customer duty | elsewhere |
| Officer signs that it was reviewed | yours | customer duty | elsewhere |
| Keep the first AI draft | yours | customer duty | elsewhere |
| Keep an audit trail of AI use | yours | customer duty | elsewhere |
| Do not reuse the agency's data | elsewhere | yours | elsewhere |
The vendor has 1 duty of its own and 5 its product has to support. The police department has 6 duties.
Law for particular public functions
LexLint holds 188 laws that bind only public bodies, and 31 more with duties that do. Some of them, by the function they govern:
As of . since in force from , in 14 months not yet in force proposed
European Union
United Kingdom
Brazil
Paraguay
Ecuador
United States
CanadaWhich function your software serves In development
Next, LexLint will ask which public function your software serves. A police records vendor then sees police law, and not school rules.
The government's own rules In development
Much of the law that matters to government software is about government itself: public records, open meetings, website accessibility, oversight and budgets. UnGovr researches that law at law.ungovr.org.
For software a public body runs or buys, LexLint will read the parts of that law that software has to meet. Each finding will link to its law.ungovr.org page.
Start
Run /lexlint in Claude Code or Codex, and answer the government question when it asks.