Discovery Desktop Development Guide

A web application for e-discovery teams to manage case vaults, upload legal documents, perform OCR, and execute semantic searches.

Live site: https://discovery-desktop.casedev.app/

Architecture

code

src/
├── app/
│   ├── api/cases/              # Case CRUD operations
│   ├── cases/[caseId]/         # Case dashboard (upload, search, documents)
│   └── page.tsx                # Home - case listing
├── components/
│   ├── ui/                     # shadcn/ui primitives
│   ├── upload/                 # Drag-drop upload, progress tracking
│   └── search/                 # Search bar, results, export
└── lib/
    ├── db/                     # Drizzle schema, client
    ├── casedev/                # Case.dev API wrapper
    └── utils.ts                # cn(), formatters

Core Workflow

code

Create Case → Upload Documents → OCR Processing → Semantic Search → Export
     ↓              ↓                  ↓                ↓              ↓
  Vault API    Case.dev Upload    Automatic via     Natural       CSV with
  password-       bulk             Case.dev API     language      relevance
  protected                                         queries        scores

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	Next.js 16, React 19, Tailwind CSS
Backend	Next.js API Routes
Database	SQLite + Drizzle ORM
External APIs	Case.dev (Vaults, OCR, Search, LLMs)
Deployment	Orbit / Node.js compatible

Case.dev API Integration

All document processing uses Case.dev APIs. See references/casedev-api.md for detailed patterns.

Authentication

typescript

// lib/casedev/client.ts pattern
const CASEDEV_API_KEY = process.env.CASEDEV_API_KEY;

headers: {
  'Authorization': `Bearer ${CASEDEV_API_KEY}`,
  'Content-Type': 'application/json'
}

Key Operations

Operation	Purpose
Vault Management	Create password-protected storage per case
Document Upload	Send files (PDF, DOC, images) for OCR
OCR Status	Poll for processing completion
Semantic Search	Natural language queries with relevance scores

Database Operations

SQLite with Drizzle ORM. See references/database-schema.md for complete schema.

Commands

bash

npm run db:generate  # Generate migrations from schema changes
npm run db:push      # Push schema to database (dev)
npm run db:studio    # Open Drizzle Studio GUI

Core Tables

•cases: id, name, description, passwordHash, vaultId, createdAt
•documents: id, caseId, filename, status, casedevDocId, ocrText

Development

Setup

bash

npm install
cp .env.example .env.local
# Add CASEDEV_API_KEY to .env.local
npm run db:push
npm run dev

Environment

code

CASEDEV_API_KEY=sk_case_...   # Required - get from app.case.dev

Build & Deploy

bash

npm run build
npm start

Common Tasks

Adding a New API Route

typescript

// src/app/api/cases/[caseId]/newfeature/route.ts
import { NextRequest, NextResponse } from 'next/server';
import { db } from '@/lib/db';

export async function POST(
  request: NextRequest,
  { params }: { params: { caseId: string } }
) {
  // Implementation
}

Extending Database Schema

•Modify src/lib/db/schema.ts
•Run npm run db:generate
•Run npm run db:push

Adding Case.dev Integration

See references/casedev-api.md for endpoint patterns, error handling, and rate limits.

E-Discovery Context

See references/ediscovery-glossary.md for legal terminology.

Key concepts: Discovery, document production, privilege review, relevance scoring, ESI (electronically stored information).

Supported File Formats

Type	Formats
Documents	PDF, DOC, DOCX, TXT
Images	JPG, JPEG, PNG, TIFF
Bulk	Hundreds of files per upload session

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
OCR stuck	Check Case.dev status, verify file format
No search results	Confirm OCR complete, check vault_id
Auth errors	Verify CASEDEV_API_KEY
Migration fails	Check schema syntax, use `db:push` for dev