> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.useportia.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# How Portia handles limitations

> Portia is built to be honest about what it can and cannot do, and to stop rather than guess when it does not have what it needs. Here is what that means for you.

Portia is built on a simple idea: it is better to be honest about a limit than to paper over it. That shapes how the tool behaves when it reaches the edge of what it can properly do.

## It stops rather than guesses

If Portia does not have what it needs to help with something well, it says so, rather than producing a confident-looking result that is not soundly based. For example, if there is not enough evidence behind part of a document, the honest response is to tell you what is missing and what would help, not to fill the gap with something invented. A limit, stated clearly, is more useful than a guess dressed up as an answer.

## It tells you the next step

When Portia cannot do something, the aim is always to leave you with a clear, usable next step, not just a dead end. "This part needs evidence about X, adding it would help" is more useful than a bare refusal. The limit is framed as something you can act on.

## It does not pretend to judge your case

The biggest limitation is deliberate: Portia does not tell you whether you have a case, how strong it is, or what to do. That is not a shortcoming to be fixed later; it is a line held on purpose, because that judgement belongs to a regulated professional or to you. See [what Portia will and won't do](/trust/what-portia-will-and-wont-do).

## Why build it this way

In a real dispute, false confidence is a genuine harm. Someone who over-trusts a result that was never soundly based can end up worse off than if they had been told plainly where the limits were. Building the tool to be honest about its edges, and to stop rather than overreach, is what makes it safe to use for the things it does well.

## Related reading

* [What Portia will and won't do](/trust/what-portia-will-and-wont-do)
* [Is this legal advice?](/trust/is-this-legal-advice)
* [Your data and privacy](/trust/your-data-and-privacy)

***

Portia is a document-organisation tool for people handling civil disputes in England and Wales. It is not a law firm and does not give legal advice. [Learn what Portia does](https://useportia.ai).