Should a board stop using a paper board book?

Not necessarily. Paper is fine for in-person boards that rarely change the packet. It breaks on late changes, search, recusal trails, and anyone reading remotely or with an agent.

What does Prepared Board add over paper?

Per agent-facts.json: a published pack that opens from a public /pack link without an account, the current pack on the chair path, votes and recusals recorded on the decision, and a seat count from attendance labeled as a count, not a legal opinion.

If we leave, do we get something we can print?

The /app/export ZIP includes minutes as markdown files plus CSV tables and record.json. /leaving-prepared lists what is included and what is not.

Honest comparison

Board portal vs a paper board book

A printed board book is not a relic. Many directors read more carefully on paper, a binder never needs a password, and signed minutes in a binder are a durable record. Where paper struggles is change, search, and anyone who was not in the room.

Every Prepared Board statement on this page is quoted from /facts and /agent-facts.json (as of 2026-10-10). This page does not name or make claims about any commercial vendor.

Who a paper board book is genuinely fine for

Boards that meet in person, read the book cover to cover, and rarely change the packet after it is printed.
Executive sessions where devices are discouraged and nothing should leave the room.
Boards whose archive needs are met by signed minutes in a binder that nobody searches.

If that describes your board, you may not need a board decision operating system yet. The rest of this page is for when it stops being true.

Where it breaks

Who voted, and how. The vote exists only if the secretary wrote it down; individual ballots are rarely captured.
Who recused, on which decision. A recusal is a note in the margin or the minutes, findable only by reading every page.
Evidence at close. The evidence is the pages in that binder; a late handout may never make it into the copy that is kept.
Quorum count. Quorum is a roll call at the start; late arrivals and early departures are rarely recounted.
Which pack directors read. A late change means an errata sheet or a reprint, and directors at the table may hold different versions.
Exit: taking the record with you. The archive is binders in a closet: durable, but not searchable and not readable by an outside agent.

Feature by feature

The Prepared Board column quotes only what agent-facts.json says it does today, and names the not-live limit that applies.

Criterion	A paper board book	Prepared Board (from agent-facts.json)
Who voted, and how	Whatever the secretary wrote down.	“A signed-in board can run meetings, decisions, votes, motions, a consent agenda, minutes” “If that decision stores Decision.outcome ADOPTED or DEFEATED (the same tokens as a certified VoteSession.result), the closed-record line says the vote was adopted or defeated.”
Who recused, on which decision	A margin note or a minutes sentence.	“If that decision has a conflict still stored as RECUSED, the closed-record line names who recused.” “A closed decision with no RECUSED conflict does not get a recusal clause.”
Evidence at close	The pages in the kept binder.	“the latest closed decision with evidence on the decision record” “It lists each closed decision with its resolution text, its outcome monitors (target, metric, status, due date, and last report), its revisit date, its follow-up actions done, open, or overdue, and its closure evidence, and says so when any of these is missing.”
Quorum count	A roll call at the start of the meeting.	“On a meeting with attendance marked, the meeting header shows whether the seat count was met: Present or Remote versus the seats required by that board's quorum settings.” “The line says this is a count, not a legal opinion.” Not live: ASPA is not implemented. Quorum is a seat count from board settings plus Present or Remote attendance. It is not a statutory opinion, and there is no ASPA written-consent engine.
Which pack directors read	Reprints and errata sheets; versions can differ at the table.	“the last sealed meeting, the current pack” “A published pack can be opened from a public /pack link without an account.” agent-facts.json does not claim a per-pack version history or a diff between pack versions, so this page does not either.
Follow-through after the vote	Action items in the minutes; tracked by memory until the next book.	“It does not judge whether a target was met, because no stored field records that; it shows the last report as written.” Not live: No bank, treasury, or payment account is connected. Prepared does not move money or show a live balance. Not live: There is no live filing feed to the IRS, a Secretary of State, county registry, or town clerk, and no Form 990 or state-charity e-file. /app/filings-window is a board-declared board-review window with an in-app attestation that the board reviewed a board copy — not IRS or state acceptance. Calendar filing rows remain reminders. Documents in a pack are board copies, not proof a filing was accepted.
Sign-in and access	Physical custody of the binder.	“Demo sign-in is email and password through NextAuth credentials.” Not live: WebAuthn passkeys are not production-live. Ceremony code may be wired, but a live passkey still requires WEBAUTHN_LIVE, which the demo does not turn on. Not live: SSO (SAML and OIDC) is built but not production-live. Enterprise SSO via WorkOS (Sign in with SSO by email domain, mapped to existing board memberships, never granting admin, audited) turns on only once production WorkOS credentials are connected and an email domain is mapped; the demo has neither. The older self-hosted handshake still requires SSO_LIVE, which the demo does not turn on. Not live: SCIM directory sync is not production-live. A directory handler may be wired, but live provisioning still requires SCIM_LIVE, which the demo does not turn on. Not live: The onboarding checklist row labeled portal access verified (MFA) is a checkbox the board marks; it does not inspect accounts. Two-factor sign-in itself is live (authenticator app, optional per member, can be required per board by the chair).
Handing the record to an outside agent	Not possible without scanning and transcribing.	“A published pack can be fetched as plain-text markdown for outside agents at /pack/{token}/agent” “Prepared does not call any AI model or push data to agents. A director can also connect their own AI assistant to the read-only MCP server / agent API (OAuth sign-in or a personal access token) when the chair allows it (/agents/connect).”
Exit: taking the record with you	Binders: durable, unsearchable.	“An Owner, Admin, or Chair can download the organization's full board record as a ZIP from /app/export” “Document bodies, evaluation responses, secrets, pack/sponsor link tokens and token hashes, and other organizations' rows are not included;”

What is not live in Prepared Board

Verbatim from agent-facts.json notLive. Weigh these before you switch.

WebAuthn passkeys are not production-live. Ceremony code may be wired, but a live passkey still requires WEBAUTHN_LIVE, which the demo does not turn on.
SSO (SAML and OIDC) is built but not production-live. Enterprise SSO via WorkOS (Sign in with SSO by email domain, mapped to existing board memberships, never granting admin, audited) turns on only once production WorkOS credentials are connected and an email domain is mapped; the demo has neither. The older self-hosted handshake still requires SSO_LIVE, which the demo does not turn on.
SCIM directory sync is not production-live. A directory handler may be wired, but live provisioning still requires SCIM_LIVE, which the demo does not turn on.
Stripe billing is built but not live. Checkout, the customer portal, signed webhooks, and plan gating turn on only once production Stripe credentials are connected; until then billing pages say Billing not live yet — contact sales, plans are not enforced, and nothing is charged. Seat meters are not built.
ASPA is not implemented. Quorum is a seat count from board settings plus Present or Remote attendance. It is not a statutory opinion, and there is no ASPA written-consent engine.
Prepared does not quote, bind, or broker D&O insurance and is not carrier-connected. /app/do-insurance is a board-declared binder/policy-date tracker with an in-app board-review attestation only — not an insurance application, not coverage advice, and not a verified coverage amount. An annual director questionnaire tracker at /app/questionnaires can record board-declared checklist attestations in-app.
No bank, treasury, or payment account is connected. Prepared does not move money or show a live balance.
There is no live filing feed to the IRS, a Secretary of State, county registry, or town clerk, and no Form 990 or state-charity e-file. /app/filings-window is a board-declared board-review window with an in-app attestation that the board reviewed a board copy — not IRS or state acceptance. Calendar filing rows remain reminders. Documents in a pack are board copies, not proof a filing was accepted.
Outbound email is not live in the demo. Delivery is reported only after a configured provider (Resend or Postmark) returns HTTP 2xx. Without those credentials, no send is claimed.
There is no Clear evaluation response action. A director can Retract a response. Clearing is not a product path.
The onboarding checklist row labeled portal access verified (MFA) is a checkbox the board marks; it does not inspect accounts. Two-factor sign-in itself is live (authenticator app, optional per member, can be required per board by the chair).
Customer-managed encryption keys (BYOK) are not live.
No independent security audit or certification yet.
Prepared does not auto-delete or auto-purge documents. /app/document-retention is a board-declared category schedule with an in-app Adopted / board-reviewed attestation only — template aid, not legal counsel, and not a compliance determination.
A paid recruiter tier (higher contact limits / commercial shortlists) is planned, not live. Billing checkout is built but not live until production credentials are connected.
Newsletter confirmation and issue send are not live — no email provider is connected. Signups stay PENDING; Approved issues are not emailed.
Uploaded files are not antivirus-scanned. PDFs pass strict structural validation (no encryption, JavaScript, embedded files, launch or form-submit actions) before storage; that is not a malware scan. Upload only files from sources you trust.
Database point-in-time restore covers the last 6 hours only; there is no longer-term or off-provider database backup yet, and uploaded files have no point-in-time restore.

How to switch, and how to leave

Switching from a paper board book

Open the matching demo board below and read its published pack the way a director would.
Keep printing if your directors prefer paper; also publish the pack in Prepared so a director who is remote, or reading with an agent, opens it from a /pack link.
Record attendance, motions, votes, and recusals on the decision during the meeting rather than transcribing afterward.
agent-facts.json does not claim a bulk importer, so plan to carry open decisions and open actions forward by hand rather than expecting an automatic import.

Leaving Prepared Board

An Owner, Admin, or Chair downloads the full board record from /app/export as a ZIP (format prepared-board-record-export-v1). Leaving Prepared lists every table included and everything that is not — document bodies, for example, are not in the export.

Questions

Should a board stop using a paper board book?: Not necessarily. Paper is fine for in-person boards that rarely change the packet. It breaks on late changes, search, recusal trails, and anyone reading remotely or with an agent.
What does Prepared Board add over paper?: Per agent-facts.json: a published pack that opens from a public /pack link without an account, the current pack on the chair path, votes and recusals recorded on the decision, and a seat count from attendance labeled as a count, not a legal opinion.
If we leave, do we get something we can print?: The /app/export ZIP includes minutes as markdown files plus CSV tables and record.json. /leaving-prepared lists what is included and what is not.

Try a board like yours

Seacoast Chamber of Commerce: the fall Harbor Lights budget is live and the sponsor director recuses — the kind of item a printed book handles with a margin note.

Open Seacoast Chamber of Commerce from Try a board (no password typed), or read its published pack first: /sample-decision. Open first: Fall Board — Harbor Lights Festival.

Other comparisons: Email and a shared drive · A spreadsheet decision log · Vs board portals (category) · How to choose a board portal · Free decision templates