How citations work.

Every answer Steamshovel gives shows where it came from. Click the citation today, get the source document. Click it a year from now, get the same source document. Here is what's actually in the citation, and what a colleague gets when they open one.

What's in a citation

When Steamshovel writes an answer into a spreadsheet cell or a paragraph in a doc, it also writes a small fingerprint next to it. The fingerprint identifies the question, the documents that were read, and the model that wrote the answer.

question         which agreements allow termination on change of control?
when             2026-06-06, 14:22 ET
scope            the 200 contracts in this matter's data room
how              searched, ranked, summarized by a pinned model

documents read
  ·  Contract 1005 — Side letter on termination carve-out
  ·  Contract 1006 — Section 7.4, change-of-control provisions
  ·  Contract 1013 — Schedule B exhibits

fingerprint      wf_a8f93c12c7e44

A reader who wants to check the work doesn't have to understand any of this. They click a row, and the source document opens to the relevant clause. That's the whole interaction.

What happens a year later

Someone picks up your file. They want to know which contracts the analysis was based on. They click any citation; the source opens. They want to know if the answer would still be the same; they re-run the same question, and Steamshovel either gives them the same fingerprint (the documents haven't changed) or tells them which documents have shifted since.

Without this: the firm has a memory of how the work was done, which is fine while the person who did it is still there. With this: the work travels.

Three things this is not

• It is not a guarantee the answer is right. It is a guarantee that the same answer comes back the same way against the same documents. The judgment about whether the answer is correct is yours.
• It is not a security perimeter. Your documents stay on your Drive. Steamshovel reads what you point it at; the citations describe what was read. Anyone with access to the file sees the citations; nothing about the source is shared outside it.
• It is not a watermark. If you copy the answer into a different document, the citation comes with the text by default. If you delete the citation, the text stands on its own. Steamshovel doesn't try to track or claim it after that.

How the same answer comes back

The little code next to each answer captures three things at once — what was asked, which files were read, and which model wrote the response. Run the same question against the same files; the code matches and you know the work is reproducible. Anything has changed and the code is different — Steamshovel tells you exactly which file shifted.