:Harvey:Support

Create & Edit Playbooks

Standardize and streamline contract review by creating a playbook directly from your contracts.

Last updated: Sep 3, 2026

Overview

Playbooks capture your organization's standard rules and preferred positions so Harvey can apply them consistently when reviewing and redlining contracts. This article explains how to create, edit, and share a Playbook.

For general guidance on using playbooks, refer to Use Playbooks to Review Contracts.

For admin instructions on managing playbooks across your workspace, refer to Managing Playbooks.

How to Create a Playbook

Users with the Playbook creator or Playbook manager permission have the ability to create playbooks in Harvey. There are two ways to create a playbook:

  • Create a playbook with the Playbook Builder, using natural language and guided prompts in Assistant.
  • Create a playbook from a Harvey template and build it manually.

Create a Playbook with the Playbook Builder

Harvey’s playbook builder lets you build or refine a playbook with Assistant for a more guided, conversational experience. You can switch between conversational editing in Assistant and manual editing in the playbook editor at any time.

Harvey’s Playbook Builder can start a playbook from any of the following:

  • An existing playbook
  • Existing contracts (upload up to 10 recently negotiated contracts as examples)
  • Vault files
  • A Harvey-curated template (such as an NDA or MSA)
  • Comments on a marked-up document
  • From scratch

As you work, the Playbook Builder can also:

  • Generate individual rules from context
  • Summarize each rule with an explanation and citations back to your source documents, so you can see why each rule was created
  • Offer one-click prompt suggestions to strengthen your playbook, such as “Find any gaps in playbook coverage,” “Make my rules more specific and enforceable,” and “Add fallback positions to each rule.”

To create a playbook:

  1. Open the Playbook Builder. There are two ways to do this:
    1. From Assistant: In Assistant, tell Harvey to build a playbook. For example, "Make me a playbook".
    2. From Build: From the main menu, select Build → Playbook builder → + Create (upper right corner) → Playbook builder.
  2. In the Assistant thread that opens, upload any relevant files in the prompt window, such as an existing playbook, standard form, template, or relevant executed precedents.
  3. Run your query. Harvey will propose rules, ask clarifying questions, and update the playbook as you go.
  4. Review and refine your playbook. Harvey will share a playbook draft along with a rule table, rule explanations and citations, and prompt suggestions. See below for more on editing a playbook.

Once your playbook is complete, you can share it or export it with other users in your organization. You can also edit it at any time.

Note: If you’re uploading a longer playbook (200+ pages) to the Playbook Builder as a reference document, the Playbook Builder may not extract all rules on the first pass. Prompt it to, "Add all the missing rules," or, "Recover all rules," to ensure all rules have been extracted.

Create a Playbook from a Harvey Template

  1. In the main navigation menu, select Build.
  2. Select Playbook builder.
  3. In the upper right corner, select + Create.
  4. From the popup, select Edit Harvey’s template.
  5. Choose one of Harvey’s playbook templates:
    1. NDA
    2. MSA
    3. Commercial contracts
  6. Review and refine your playbook. Harvey will share a playbook draft along with a rule table, rule explanations and citations, and prompt suggestions. See below for more on editing a playbook.

Once your playbook is complete, you can share it or export it with other users in your organization. You can also edit it at any time.

How To Edit A Playbook

Users with the Playbook creator or Playbook manager permission can edit a playbook manually with the playbook editor or edit with Assistant using natural language and guided prompts.

Edit a Playbook With the Playbook Editor

The playbook editor panel will appear whenever you create a playbook or open an existing one.

In the editor, you can:

  • Add, reorder, delete, and search across rules
  • Set global guidance that applies across the entire playbook
  • Capture more nuance with expanded rule fields, including guidance, positions, and support for conditional rules

To edit a playbook with the playbook editor:

  1. Open the playbook you want to modify. Each playbook rule will appear in a list to the left of your playbook.
    Image of rules appearing in a panel in Harvey's Playbook creation agent.
  2. In the playbook rules list, you can:
    Image of different sections of playbook rules labeled A, B and C
    1. Search: Use the search bar at the top of the panel to find a rule.
    2. Add: Select the + button to add a new rule to the playbook.
    3. Reorder: Select the ⠿ by each rule and drag it to reorder it.
  3. In the editor panel to the right, you can:
    Image of Harvey's playbook editor panel with sections labeled A, B, C, and D
    1. Test individual rules: Test run an individual rule against an attached contract.
    2. Improve your positions: Rewrite and optimize your copy with the context of the rule.
    3. Mark a rule as optional: Flag rules that aren't required for every agreement, so reviewers know they can be waived or negotiated.
    4. Delete a rule or position: Select the trashcan icon to remove irrelevant rules or positions.
  4. Set AI guidance that gives Harvey instructions on how to review / redline the contract or rule.
    Image of AI guidance fields being highlighted in Harvey's Playbook editor
  5. Set an Action on any rule that requires a human step or escalation during review. Each Action has a field for:
    Image of Playbook actions being highlighted in Harvey's Playbook editor
    1. Scenario [optional]: Describes when the action applies.
    2. Instruction: Describes what the reviewer should do.
  6. Once you’re finished refining your playbook, select Save.

Edit a Playbook with Assistant

  1. Open the playbook you want to modify.
  2. Select Edit. This opens a Harvey thread panel with your playbook attached so you can rewrite, improve, or re-structure rules.
    Image of button labeled "Edit with Harvey" being selected in the upper right corner of Harvey's Playbook editor
  3. In the thread, describe the changes you want. For example, “Tighten the indemnification rule to require mutual indemnity” or “Add an escalation for uncapped liability positions.” You can also tag specific rules to edit or query against in the thread by typing @ followed by the rule name.
    Image of Assistant thread panel on the left side of Harvey's Playbook editor.
  4. Review Harvey’s suggestions in the live Playbook panel alongside the conversation.
  5. Select Save to save changes to your playbook.

How To Share A Playbook

If you are the owner of a Playbook, you can share it with other members of your organization.

  1. Open the playbook you want to share
  2. Select Share in the upper right corner.
  3. In the Add recipients field, add the space, user(s), or group(s) you’d like to share with.
  4. Select Share.

Was this article helpful?

Use Playbooks to Review Contracts

Learn how to use playbooks to review contracts using the Harvey for Word add-in or the Harvey web app.

Managing Playbooks

Learn how workspace admins can assign playbook permissions, manage all workspace playbooks, set access levels, and view usage insights.