Business & Revenue OpsFree tool
Contract Summary One-Pager and Obligations
A one-page summary of your signed contract that pairs every right with its deadline, plus a dated list of everything your side must do.
Free to start · Opens in your River workspace, ready to edit and share
How to write a one-page contract summary
A contract summary is a one-page digest of a signed agreement. It shows who the parties are, what each side must do, what it costs, how long it runs and how it ends. A good one also pairs every right with the condition for using it, such as a claim deadline. It dates every obligation your side owes and cites the clause behind each line, so anyone can check it.
The rule that matters most: a right is only worth what you can claim in time. Contracts often split a right from its deadline, so a summary of headline terms leaves out the half you'll need later.
Gather the whole contract first
Work from the signed version, not the last draft in someone's inbox. Collect everything that belongs to it: order forms, amendments, exhibits, side letters, and any online terms it names, such as a service level agreement (SLA).
Online terms can change after you sign, so save a dated copy. As of October 2026, Google's Cloud Storage SLA page lists 10 earlier versions going back to 20161.
Then find the order of precedence clause, which settles conflicts between documents, and note it at the top. Haven't signed yet? You want a contract review before signing instead.
What goes on a contract summary
Give each term one short line and its clause number. Where the contract is silent, write "not in the contract" and list the sections you read. A blank could mean absent or unread, and only one of those is a finding.
The parts of a one-page contract summary
| Part | What to record | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Parties and documents | Legal names, every document, which one wins | Master services agreement (MSA) plus Order Form 2. The order form wins on price (1.3) |
| Term and renewal | End date, renewal, notice to stop it | Ends February 28, 2027. Renews yearly unless notice arrives 90 days before (9.1) |
| Money | Fees, payment terms, price increases | $15,500 a month, invoices due in 30 days. Increases need 60 days' notice (4.2) |
| Service levels | The promise, the remedy, how to claim it | 99.9% uptime. A 10% credit if claimed within 30 days. Sole remedy (SLA 4) |
| Exit and data | Termination rights, cure periods, data return | Either side, for a breach uncured 30 days after notice (9.3). Data export window: 30 days (9.5) |
| Risk | Liability cap, exclusions, governing law | Capped at 12 months of fees, with data breaches outside the cap (11.2). Delaware law (15.1) |
Illustrative examples, clause numbers in parentheses.
Pair every right with its condition
Many rights don't switch on by themselves. In a contract, Cornell's Legal Information Institute explains, a condition precedent is an event that must occur before the parties are obligated to perform2. For a customer, that event is usually something you do: file a claim, send a notice or pay.
Take service credits. Amazon Web Services (AWS) credits 10% of a month's S3 Standard charges when monthly uptime falls below 99.9%, and 25% below 99%. Your claim must arrive by the end of the second billing cycle after the incident3. It needs "SLA Credit Request" in the subject line, each incident's date and time, and your request logs. Leave anything out and you're disqualified.
Google's Cloud Storage SLA runs a different clock: notify its technical support within 30 days of becoming eligible1 or forfeit the credit. Copy each condition from your own contract.
Right: a credit of 10% of the monthly fee when uptime falls below 99.9% (SLA 4.2).
Condition: a written claim to the account manager within 30 days of month end, with incident times (SLA 4.4). Sole remedy for downtime (SLA 4.6).
Status: April's uptime was 99.6%. The claim window closed May 30, so the $1,550 credit has lapsed.
- Cite both clauses. The right and its condition sit in different places.
- Turn periods into dates. "Within 30 days" becomes May 30.
- Price it. A dollar figure shows how hard to chase it.
If the vendor keeps missing, a vendor performance review tracks each month and the credits nobody claimed.
Record exactly how to give notice
A notice sent the wrong way may not count, and the rules can be lopsided. Under the AWS Customer Agreement4, AWS can notify you by email or a post on its website. You must notify AWS by fax, personal delivery, overnight courier, or registered or certified mail.
Clocks often start on receipt. Certified mail to AWS takes effect 3 business days after you send it, and the 30-day cure period for a material breach runs from receipt of notice4. Write the recipient, address and method on your summary, and count delivery time into every deadline.
The law can add notice conditions too. Under the Uniform Commercial Code, a US buyer who has accepted goods must notify the seller of a breach within a reasonable time, or be barred from any remedy5.
To send one, the breach of contract notice letter template works out what each delivery method does to your dates.
Find every obligation you owe
Obligations rarely stay under a heading called obligations. They turn up in definitions, service levels, exhibits and order forms. Read every page and mark each place your side "shall," "will," "must" or "is responsible for" something, plus every "only if" and "provided that."
Google's Cloud Storage SLA hides one in a definition. After an error, your application must wait at least 1 second before retrying, with the wait growing exponentially up to 32 seconds. Identical retries that ignore this don't count toward the error rate1, so your own code affects whether an outage counts.
Common customer duties:
- Pay invoices on time, and dispute them within any stated window
- Stay within licensed users or volumes, and report overages
- Return or destroy the vendor's materials at the end
Some duties protect a right you'll need later. Unless AWS ends the agreement for cause, you get 30 days after it ends to retrieve your content, but only if you have paid all amounts due4. That's two register rows: pay everything owed, then export your data in time.
Build the register and keep it current
Put each obligation on its own row, even when one clause holds three. Date each from the trigger its clause names, such as month end or receipt of notice. Recurring duties get their next date, and event-driven ones name the event. Never guess a date: name the missing fact instead.
What each register row holds
| Column | What it holds | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Obligation | What your side must do | Send written notice of non-renewal |
| Clause | Where it comes from | MSA 9.1 |
| Due | The date, or the event that starts the clock | Must arrive by November 30, 2026, 90 days before the term ends |
| Form | How it must be done, and to whom | Courier or certified mail to the General Counsel |
| Owner | The role responsible | Procurement lead |
| If missed | The cost, in the contract's own numbers | Another 12 months at $15,500 a month: $186,000 |
Sort the register by date and update it whenever an amendment or price notice arrives. Flag every closed window with what it cost, but don't write the right off yet. As Cornell notes, courts prefer to interpret a clause as a promise rather than a condition precedent to avoid forfeiture2, so a missed step doesn't always end a right.
When to call a lawyer
Get advice before you send a notice that ends the contract, claim a large credit, or act on a deadline you think has passed. This guide is general information for US readers, not legal advice.
Before you share the summary
- Every document is listed, with the one that wins
- Each right shows its deadline, form and recipient
- Every line cites its clause
- Silent terms say "not in the contract"
- Each obligation has a date or trigger, and an owner
Tracking several contracts? The contract renewal tracker keeps every agreement's decision date in one sheet. For one contract, paste it into the tool at the top of this page and River writes the summary and register.
How it works
Start with the signed contract and everything attached to it: order forms, exhibits, amendments and side letters. River reads them as one set, then writes a one-page summary and an obligation register in your workspace. Each right shows its deadline and the form a claim or notice must take. Each duty gets a date or trigger and an owner, and every line cites its clause.
River never invents a term or fills a gap with a typical market figure. When the contract is silent on something, such as a liability cap, the summary says so and names the sections it read.
Add your contract
Paste or attach the signed agreement with its order forms, exhibits and amendments, plus what's going on.
River reads every page
It reads definitions, service levels and exhibits too, pairing each right with its condition and finding your duties.
Get your summary
A one-page summary, the notice rules and a dated register, led by what to do this week.
Act on it
Edit anything, share it, or ask River to draft the nearest notice or turn the dates into reminders.
What you get
- What to do this week, soonest deadline first, including any window that has already closed
- A one-page summary where each right sits beside its deadline, required form and what missing it costs
- The notice rules in one place: who receives notice, at what address, and by what method
- A register sheet with one row per obligation: trigger, due date, form, owner and consequence
- Duties found outside the obligations clause, in definitions, service levels, exhibits and order forms
- A clause reference on every line, and terms the contract leaves out marked as absent
Common questions
What is a contract summary?
A contract summary, sometimes called a contract abstract, is a short digest of a signed agreement that lets people rely on it without rereading it. It records the parties, dates, fees, renewal and exit terms, service levels, liability limits and notice rules, each with its clause number. The most useful ones also give the deadline for using each right.
What is an obligation register?
An obligation register is a list of everything a contract requires your side to do, with one row per duty. Each row gives the clause, the date or event that sets it off, how it must be done, who owns it and what missing it costs. Sorted by date, it doubles as the contract's calendar.
How do I summarize a contract with River?
Paste or attach the signed contract, with its order forms, exhibits and amendments, in the box at the top of this page, and add a line on what's going on. River reads every page, then writes a one-page summary and an obligation register into your free River workspace, starting with what to do this week.
What if I only have part of the contract?
Share what you have. If the contract refers to a document you didn't include, such as a service level agreement, River names it as missing. It also says what that document probably covers, so you know what to request. A description alone isn't enough: River tells you which terms to look for and asks for the document.
Will it flag deadlines I've already missed?
Yes. River checks each window against today's date and anything you tell it. Windows already closed are listed with the date each closed and what was lost, priced from the contract's own numbers where it can. They appear in the list of what to do this week, next to the deadlines still open.
Is this legal advice?
No. River reports what your documents say, with the clause behind every line, and the summary states that it is a reading of the documents rather than legal advice. When a large sum, a termination or a missed deadline is involved, ask a lawyer to confirm the reading before you act on it.
Is the contract summary tool free?
Yes, it is free to start. Your summary and obligation register open in a River workspace, where you can edit them, share them with your team or ask River to change them. Paid plans add more AI use and access to the most advanced models.
Sources
Google Cloud. “Cloud Storage Service Level Agreement (SLA).” cloud.google.com (opens in a new tab)
Cornell Law School. “condition precedent.” law.cornell.edu (opens in a new tab)
Amazon Web Services. “Amazon S3 Service Level Agreement.” aws.amazon.com (opens in a new tab)
Amazon Web Services. “AWS Customer Agreement.” aws.amazon.com (opens in a new tab)
Cornell Law School. “§ 2-607. Effect of Acceptance; Notice of Breach; Burden of Establishing Breach After Acceptance; Notice of Claim or Litigation to Person Answerable Over.” law.cornell.edu (opens in a new tab)
Built by
Chandler Supple
Co-founder & CEO, River
Chandler has spent the last six years working in AI, building tools for millions of users and Fortune 100 companies. In 2025, he co-founded River to build a new kind of operating system for AI agents.