What is Astra for Law?
Astra for Law is OpenAI’s legal-specific version of GPT-6 Astra for professional legal work.
OpenAI describes the product as combining three pieces:
- GPT-6 Astra as the underlying model
- a dedicated Legal Search Index
- custom instructions for legal analysis and writing
This is an important distinction. A lawyer using ordinary GPT-6 Astra can still ask legal questions, but Astra for Law adds a specialized legal retrieval layer and legal-specific operating instructions that OpenAI built for professional legal workflows.
The model appears in supported accounts as:
GPT-6 Astra Law
Primary source: OpenAI Help Center — Astra for Law.
Who can access Astra for Law right now?
Astra for Law is currently an early-access product, not a normal model that appears automatically for every ChatGPT subscriber.
OpenAI says the initial rollout is limited to:
- selected law firms in the United States
- eligible lawyers
- people working under those lawyers’ supervision
OpenAI says the product is initially being offered through Trusted Access and Codex.
If your firm has not been selected or approved for the early-access program, paying for a standard ChatGPT plan does not by itself make GPT-6 Astra Law appear.
Why is GPT-6 Astra Law not showing in my model picker?
The most likely explanation is access eligibility.
OpenAI says the model will appear as GPT-6 Astra Law in the model picker for eligible users. If you cannot see it, check the following:
- Is your organization one of the selected U.S. law firms with Astra for Law access?
- Has your firm or OpenAI account team enabled access for your workspace?
- Are you an eligible lawyer or someone working under an eligible lawyer’s supervision?
- Are you using the workspace/account that received access?
- If your firm believes it should have access, contact your OpenAI account team rather than assuming the model is available to all Plus or Pro users.
Current status: Astra for Law is not a general public model-picker option. OpenAI’s own page says access is initially restricted to selected U.S. law firms.
What is the Legal Search Index?
The Legal Search Index is the retrieval layer that makes Astra for Law materially different from simply prompting regular GPT-6 Astra to “act like a lawyer.”
OpenAI says Astra for Law can use this index to retrieve U.S. legal authority and connect that authority to a lawyer’s facts, arguments and drafting tasks.
The index is also not static. OpenAI says it is updated with new sources daily.
That daily-update language matters because legal research is highly time-sensitive. A case, regulation or administrative decision can change the analysis, so a specialized legal product needs a retrieval layer that can surface sources newer than the model’s training cutoff.
What legal sources can Astra for Law search?
OpenAI’s current Help Center page lists five major categories in the Legal Search Index:
| Source type | Included? |
|---|---|
| U.S. case law | Yes |
| Statutes | Yes |
| Regulations | Yes |
| Court rules | Yes |
| Administrative decisions | Yes |
OpenAI currently describes this as a U.S. legal search capability. Its Astra for Law access page does not announce a comparable foreign-law index for other jurisdictions.
Index coverage: OpenAI Astra for Law documentation.
What can lawyers use Astra for Law for?
OpenAI gives several examples of the kind of professional legal work the product is designed to support.
- research legal questions based on client facts
- develop legal arguments
- develop deal terms
- consider the strongest objections to an argument
- find cases that weaken a proposed position
- analyze how a contractual exception changes who bears a particular risk
The wording is notable because OpenAI is not positioning the product only as a “find cases for me” search box. It is designed to combine retrieval with analysis and drafting.
That still does not make the model the final authority. OpenAI explicitly tells users to review the answers and cited sources before relying on them.
Astra for Law vs regular GPT-6 Astra
| Area | GPT-6 Astra | GPT-6 Astra Law |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | General frontier model for complex reasoning, coding, computer use, research and document creation. | Professional legal analysis, research and writing. |
| Legal Search Index | No dedicated Astra-for-Law legal index is documented for the standard model. | Yes. Searches U.S. case law, statutes, regulations, court rules and administrative decisions. |
| Legal-specific instructions | General model behavior. | Yes. OpenAI says it includes custom instructions for legal analysis and writing. |
| Availability | Broadly available through supported ChatGPT/API surfaces. | Initially limited to selected U.S. law firms. |
| Public API | Available. Model ID: gpt-6-astra. | Coming soon. OpenAI has not announced general Astra Law API availability yet. |
| Model picker name | GPT-6 Astra | GPT-6 Astra Law |
Regular GPT-6 Astra’s public API documentation lists a 1,050,000-token context window, 128,000 maximum output tokens and an April 30, 2026 knowledge cutoff. OpenAI’s Astra for Law Help Center page does not separately publish a legal-interface context window, so BeeVaults does not assume every public API specification automatically carries over unchanged to Astra for Law.
Regular Astra specifications: GPT-6 Astra API model documentation.
Current GPT-6 Astra Law credit rates
OpenAI’s current Business and Enterprise/Edu credit-based rate card lists GPT-6 Astra Law separately from standard GPT-6 Astra for supported ChatGPT Work and Codex activity.
| Model | Input | Cached input | Output |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPT-6 Astra | 250 credits | 25 credits | 1,250 credits |
| GPT-6 Astra Law | 312.5 credits | 31.25 credits | 1,562.5 credits |
On this specific credit-based rate card, Astra Law is listed at 25% more credits than regular Astra for input, cached input and output.
This is not a public Astra for Law API price. OpenAI says the Astra for Law API is still coming soon. The numbers above apply to supported ChatGPT Work and Codex activity under the credit-based pricing system.
For context, regular GPT-6 Astra already has public API pricing of $10 per 1 million input tokens, $1 per 1 million cached input tokens and $50 per 1 million output tokens on its current model page. Those standard Astra API prices should not be reused as Astra Law API pricing before OpenAI publishes a legal-model API rate.
Credit rates: OpenAI ChatGPT Rate Card. Regular Astra API pricing: GPT-6 Astra model page.
Is Astra for Law available through the API?
Not generally yet. OpenAI’s current Astra for Law page says API access is coming soon.
This is different from regular GPT-6 Astra, which is already available through the public API using:
gpt-6-astra
Until OpenAI publishes Astra for Law’s API model ID, availability and pricing, developers should not assume that adding “law” to the regular Astra model name will produce the legal-specific retrieval experience.
Important: the Legal Search Index is part of the Astra for Law product. Calling ordinary gpt-6-astra through the public API is not the same as accessing GPT-6 Astra Law.
Astra for Law can also work with legal plugins
OpenAI’s Astra for Law announcement does not stop at the Legal Search Index. It also points lawyers toward partner-built and community legal plugins.
Plugins can package reusable skills and connected tools, allowing ChatGPT or Codex to work with systems and knowledge that a law firm already uses.
OpenAI specifically names community legal work from:
- LegalQuants
- LECG
- Skills.law
Availability still depends on the plugin, the user’s plan, workspace, role, region and any required external account permissions.
Plugin behavior and installation: Plugins in ChatGPT and Codex.
iManage and DeepJudge show how internal firm knowledge fits in
OpenAI gives two concrete examples of partner-built legal plugins:
iManage
OpenAI says a lawyer could draft a negotiation brief in ChatGPT and save it back to the relevant matter file through iManage.
DeepJudge
OpenAI says DeepJudge can bring prior deals into a comparison.
These examples reveal an important architecture distinction:
| Layer | What it provides |
|---|---|
| Legal Search Index | External U.S. legal authority such as cases, statutes, regulations, court rules and administrative decisions. |
| Legal plugins | Firm-specific tools, matter files, prior deals, internal workflows and reusable legal skills where the underlying integration permits access. |
This is one of the clearest reasons Astra for Law is better understood as a legal workflow environment rather than simply a legal chatbot.
Can ChatGPT Plus or Pro users access Astra for Law?
OpenAI does not currently describe Astra for Law as a standard Plus or Pro entitlement.
The official access page says the initial rollout is for selected law firms in the United States through Trusted Access and Codex.
So buying or already having ChatGPT Plus or Pro does not, by itself, provide Astra for Law access.
If a user is part of an eligible firm, the relevant question is whether that organization and workspace were granted access by OpenAI.
Is Astra for Law available outside the United States?
OpenAI’s current early-access announcement is specifically limited to selected law firms in the United States.
The Legal Search Index is also currently described in terms of U.S. legal sources.
OpenAI has not announced a broad Astra for Law rollout for firms in the United Kingdom, European Union, Canada, Australia, Nigeria or other jurisdictions on the current Help Center page.
That may change later, but BeeVaults does not treat future international expansion as confirmed until OpenAI publishes it.
Lawyers still need to review answers and cited sources
OpenAI’s own Astra for Law documentation includes an explicit instruction: review the answers and cited sources before relying on them.
That remains important even with a dedicated legal index. A retrieved authority can be misunderstood, superseded, procedurally irrelevant, jurisdictionally inapplicable or incomplete for the client’s specific facts.
Astra for Law is therefore best treated as a research, analysis and drafting accelerator rather than a substitute for professional verification, legal judgment or the lawyer’s responsibility to the client.
Practical rule: use the model to surface and analyze authorities, then open and verify the cited source before incorporating it into advice, a filing, a deal document or a client-facing conclusion.
How to request Astra for Law access
OpenAI gives two official paths for organizations interested in early access:
- Contact your OpenAI account team if your firm already has an OpenAI commercial relationship.
- Contact OpenAI Sales if your organization wants to request early access.
OpenAI does not currently publish a self-serve button that instantly unlocks Astra for Law for an individual subscriber.
Before requesting access, a firm should be prepared to confirm that it falls within the current early-access scope and identify the lawyers and supervised users who need the model.
BeeVaults takeaway: Astra for Law is GPT-6 Astra plus a specialized legal retrieval layer and legal-specific instructions. Its strongest differentiator is the Legal Search Index for U.S. legal authority, not merely a different system prompt. Access is still restricted to selected U.S. law firms, the API is coming soon, and the current GPT-6 Astra Law credit rate is higher than regular Astra under OpenAI’s Work/Codex credit-based rate card. Even with the legal index, OpenAI tells users to verify the model’s cited sources before relying on them.