# Version Story

> Version Story compares two versions of a Word or PDF document and produces an exact redline lawyers can rely on. Available in Claude and ChatGPT, and as a REST API.

Integrating Version Story into a codebase? Follow the coding-agent prompt at https://www.versionstory.com/developers/quickstart.md: it signs the engineer in through the browser, gets an API key, runs a test comparison, and puts the PDF redline in their app first. A redline is a deliverable lawyers send and keep, so start with the PDF; the other formats are one parameter away.

Every developer page is listed below as Markdown, and all of them are in one file at https://www.versionstory.com/llms-full.txt. The OpenAPI specification is at https://api.versionstory.com/openapi.json. Version Story in Claude and ChatGPT is set up from the help center. The Redline is Version Story's essay newsletter, published at https://theredline.versionstory.com.

## Developer documentation

- [API documentation overview](https://www.versionstory.com/developers): Documentation for the Version Story REST API: compare Word and PDF documents and show the PDF redline in your app, then embed, edit, create and merge.
- [Quickstart](https://www.versionstory.com/developers/quickstart.md): Generate your first redline in minutes: paste one prompt into Claude Code, Codex or Cursor, or get a Version Story API key, compare two Word or PDF documents, and show the PDF redline in your app yourself.
- [Authentication](https://www.versionstory.com/developers/authentication.md): How to authenticate with the Version Story API: organization API keys, and the browser sign-in a coding agent uses to get a key with one click.
- [Guides: Compare](https://www.versionstory.com/developers/rest/compare.md): Submit two documents, poll for the redline, download it. The REST comparison endpoints in full.
- [Guides: Embed redlines](https://www.versionstory.com/developers/rest/embed.md): Frame a comparison's redline, or a single document, as one self-contained HTML file in your own app, with Version Story's Revisions panel in light or dark, or your own navigation and cards.
- [Guides: Edit](https://www.versionstory.com/developers/rest/edit.md): Upload a Word document, read its listing, send edits, and download the edited document and a redline of what changed.
- [Guides: Create](https://www.versionstory.com/developers/rest/create.md): Write a new Word document from the same edits POST /v1/edit takes, applied to a blank page, optionally in your own house style.
- [Guides: Merge](https://www.versionstory.com/developers/rest/merge.md): Combine several separately edited revisions of one document into a single draft whose tracked changes are labeled by their source.
- [Guides: Documents](https://www.versionstory.com/developers/rest/documents.md): Keep a document's versions in one history, with a redline between each version and the one before it, and follow a paragraph, table, row or cell from one version to another.
- [Reference: Files](https://www.versionstory.com/developers/rest/files.md): Upload a document once, then download it as a PDF, as Word, as embeddable HTML or as its listing, with or without its metadata.
- [Reference: Edit operations](https://www.versionstory.com/developers/rest/edit-operations.md): Every edit POST /v1/edit and POST /v1/create take: locators, text selectors, content runs, property values, how a request is applied, and each operation with its fields, examples and refusals.
- [Reference: Formats & limits](https://www.versionstory.com/developers/reference/formats-and-limits.md): Supported file types, output formats, size caps, link expiry, retention, trials, and quotas.
- [Reference: Data handling](https://www.versionstory.com/developers/reference/data-handling.md): How the Version Story API handles privileged documents: a deterministic engine with no model involved, no training, no human review, and zero-day retention.
- [Reference: Redline format](https://www.versionstory.com/developers/reference/redline-format.md): The Markdown a model reads: a document's listing, with every tracked change marked inline and each revision's author and date listed once.
- [Reference: Metadata types](https://www.versionstory.com/developers/reference/metadata.md): Every kind of hidden data a metadata clean finds in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files, and what the standard and strict presets do to each.
- [Reference: Errors](https://www.versionstory.com/developers/reference/errors.md): Every error code the REST API returns, and what to do about each.
- [Reference: Reference topics](https://www.versionstory.com/developers/rest/reference.md): The API's own reference text, served live: error codes, the redline markup, the document listing, and every edit type.
- [Reference: Document JSON](https://www.versionstory.com/developers/reference/json-format.md): format=json: a document and its changes as structured data, for code that acts on them. Not for display: show the PDF, or embed the HTML.

## Help center

- [Add Documents](https://www.versionstory.com/help/add-documents.md): Add documents to Version Story by drag and drop onto the project canvas, the Add button, the plus button on a version, or straight from Outlook.
- [Set Up the Claude Version Story Redlining Connector](https://www.versionstory.com/help/set-up-claude-connector.md): Add the Version Story connector to Claude in a few minutes: paste one URL, sign in, and allow network access. For one account, an organization, or a UK organization.
- [Compare Documents](https://www.versionstory.com/help/compare-documents.md): Every way to compare documents in Version Story: a simple A-to-B redline, one version against several others, and non-sequential versions.
- [Set Up the Version Story ChatGPT Redlining Plugin](https://www.versionstory.com/help/install-version-story-in-chatgpt.md): Add the Version Story plugin from ChatGPT's plugin directory and connect your account, so ChatGPT can compare two documents and return a true redline.
- [Merge Documents](https://www.versionstory.com/help/merging-documents.md): Merge several drafts of the same document into one: choose the versions, start the merge, review the combined changes, and export the result.
- [Connect a Slack Agent](https://www.versionstory.com/help/slack-agent-setup.md): Connect the Slack agent your team already runs to Version Story, so a request to redline two versions returns a true tracked-changes Word file and PDF.
- [Merge Conflicts](https://www.versionstory.com/help/merge-conflicts.md): When two drafts change the same passage, Version Story flags the conflict and shows you both proposals side by side.
- [Show Merge Changes by Author in Word](https://www.versionstory.com/help/show-merge-changes-by-author-in-word.md): After downloading a merged document from Version Story, set Microsoft Word’s track-changes colors to By author so each author’s edits keep their own color.
- [Allow Multiple Downloads](https://www.versionstory.com/help/authorize-multiple-downloads.md): Browsers block automatic multi-file downloads by default. Change that permission so Version Story can hand you several documents at once.
- [Compare Documents in Claude](https://www.versionstory.com/help/compare-documents-in-claude.md): Compare two versions of a Word or PDF document in Claude. With Version Story connected, Claude returns a true redline as a PDF or a Word file with tracked changes.
- [Compare Documents in ChatGPT](https://www.versionstory.com/help/compare-documents-in-chatgpt.md): Compare two versions of a Word or PDF document in ChatGPT. With the Version Story plugin installed, ChatGPT returns a true redline as a PDF or a Word file with tracked changes.
- [Compare a Word Document to a PDF](https://www.versionstory.com/help/compare-word-to-pdf.md): Compare a Word draft against a PDF or a scanned copy. Version Story reads both formats and produces one redline showing every change between the two.
- [Merge Edits in ChatGPT](https://www.versionstory.com/help/merge-edits-in-chatgpt.md): Several reviewers edited their own copies of one draft. With Version Story, ChatGPT merges them into one Word document with each person's changes tracked.
- [Find Changes Made Without Tracked Changes](https://www.versionstory.com/help/find-untracked-changes.md): A draft comes back with tracked changes off, or only partly tracked. Compare it against the version you sent to see every insertion, deletion, and move.
- [Trace Changes Across Drafts in ChatGPT](https://www.versionstory.com/help/trace-changes-in-chatgpt.md): Give ChatGPT a series of drafts and get one Word document from Version Story showing which draft, and which author, introduced each change.
- [Get a Word File with Tracked Changes](https://www.versionstory.com/help/get-tracked-changes-word-file.md): Asking Claude or ChatGPT to compare two drafts returns text in the chat. With Version Story connected, you get a real Word document with tracked changes.
- [Remove Metadata Before Sending a Document](https://www.versionstory.com/help/remove-metadata.md): Remove metadata from Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files with Version Story's Metadata Clean: standard and strict presets, a report of everything found, and a Clean metadata setting for every download.
- [Compare Privileged Documents in Claude or ChatGPT](https://www.versionstory.com/help/compare-privileged-documents.md): Compare attorney-client privileged documents in Claude or ChatGPT with Version Story: a deterministic engine produces the redline, no model reads the documents, nothing is used for training, and zero-day retention deletes them.

## Products

- [Document Comparison Software for Lawyers](https://www.versionstory.com/product/compare): Document comparison software for lawyers. Compare Word and PDF versions, get an exact redline down to the footnote, and merge changes from multiple contributors.
- [Version Story Analytics](https://www.versionstory.com/product/analytics): Generate diligence and document-review reports in minutes, with the same deterministic redline precision Version Story applies to every comparison.
- [Document Comparison REST API](https://www.versionstory.com/product/api): A REST API for document comparison. Compare Word and PDF versions over plain HTTP and get lawyer-grade redlines as Word tracked changes, PDF, Markdown, or JSON.
- [Compare Documents in Claude](https://www.versionstory.com/product/claude): Compare documents in Claude. Connect the Version Story MCP server, then ask in plain English for a true tracked-changes redline of any two versions.
- [Compare Documents in ChatGPT](https://www.versionstory.com/product/chatgpt): Compare documents in ChatGPT. Install the Version Story plugin from ChatGPT’s plugin directory, then ask in plain English for a true tracked-changes redline of any two versions.

## What a comparison covers

- [How Comments and Replies Are Handled When Comparing Word Documents](https://www.versionstory.com/product/capabilities/comments): How Version Story handles Word comments when comparing two versions: added, removed, edited, and unchanged comments and replies, including comments on deleted text.
- [Remove Metadata from Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF Files Before Sending](https://www.versionstory.com/product/capabilities/metadata-removal): Clean metadata from Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF files with Version Story: a standard preset removes what nobody sees on the page, a strict preset also removes comments and accepts tracked changes, and a report lists everything found.
- [Comparing Documents That Already Contain Tracked Changes](https://www.versionstory.com/product/capabilities/tracked-changes): How Version Story compares Word documents that still contain pending tracked changes: changes are accepted first, then the two versions are compared, so every difference is found.

## Benchmarks

- [What It Costs Claude to Compare Two Documents Without a Comparison Tool](https://www.versionstory.com/resources/benchmarks/ai-agent-document-comparison-cost): Benchmark on 25 real contract revisions: Claude, comparing two documents with no comparison tool, averaged 5.7 minutes and 858,000 tokens. The Version Story API took a median 2.8 seconds.
- [Markdown, Word or PDF: What a Redline Costs an AI Agent to Read](https://www.versionstory.com/resources/benchmarks/markdown-vs-word-vs-pdf-redlines): Benchmark on 100 production redlines: an AI agent reading a redline as Markdown used 44% fewer tokens than Word tracked changes and 69% fewer than PDF, and finished 1.8 to 2.7 times faster.

## Company

- [About](https://www.versionstory.com/company/about): Version Story builds document comparison and version control for lawyers. An independent, Y Combinator-backed company built by a team from Stanford, Simpson Thacher, and LinkedIn.
- [Security and Confidentiality](https://www.versionstory.com/security): How Version Story protects privileged legal documents: a deterministic comparison engine with no model training and no human review, zero-day retention, SOC 2 Type 2, and AES-256 encryption on AWS.
- [Trust Center](https://app.versionstory.com/trust)

## Optional

- [Git for Lawyers, Right on Time](https://www.versionstory.com/blog/git-for-lawyers-right-on-time): How Blackletter, an AI-native law firm, integrated Version Story's redlining API in days, and why its CTO asked how we handle merging conflicting edits.
- [The Redline: Don't trust people who don't use Claude Code](https://theredline.versionstory.com/p/dont-trust-people-who-dont-use-claude): For they have not seen the future
- [The Redline: The future of Legal Tech will be built by lawyers](https://theredline.versionstory.com/p/the-future-of-legal-tech-will-be): And what secure vibe-coding infrastructure for law firms could look like
- [The Redline: Why can’t $4.3B in legal AI investment outcompete $20/month for ChatGPT?](https://theredline.versionstory.com/p/why-cant-43b-in-legal-ai-investment): And why venture capital disincentivizes building good legal products.
- [The Redline: On the Immortality of Microsoft Word](https://theredline.versionstory.com/p/on-the-immortality-of-microsoft-word): And why tech people refuse to accept it
- [The Redline: Legal Version Control is 30 Years Out of Date](https://theredline.versionstory.com/p/legal-version-control-is-30-years): ...and law firms are exposed to millions of dollars in liability
- [The Redline: Why Lawyers Will Never Use Google Docs](https://theredline.versionstory.com/p/why-lawyers-will-never-use-google-edd): Last November, I published "On Building Git for Lawyers" about building Version Story, the first concurrent version control system for lawyers.
- [The Redline: On Building Git for Lawyers](https://theredline.versionstory.com/p/on-building-git-for-lawyers): Over this past weekend, Twitter discovered the problem that I have dedicated the past four years of my life to solving. Why don't lawyers and other non-coders use git?