What is DRISTI
DRISTI is a modern, open-source, AI-enabled judicial case-management and data platform. It began with cheque-dishonour cases under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, with the 24x7 ON Court in Kollam as its first live deployment, and is growing into a full case lifecycle: e-filing, scrutiny, registration, cause lists, hearings, orders, applications, summons and warrants. DRISTI 2.0 is a ground-up, AI-native rebuild — a single, well-structured TypeScript / Next.js application on PostgreSQL, deployed on-premise on government (NIC) infrastructure and reachable by citizens over the public internet. AI runs through both how the platform is built and the tools it puts in front of court staff. The people it serves are judges, lawyers, litigants and court staff.
The shape of the role
This is a hybrid role, not remote. You will be based at one of our court locations and work in person for part of each week. Positions are open in Kollam, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru and Chandigarh; which one depends on the project you are assigned to, and you may be asked to relocate accordingly. The role involves regular travel, and in-person court visits and stakeholder meetings are a core part of the job, not an occasional extra.
What we're looking for
Technical skill matters, but it is not the filter. We want people who reason from first principles, get uncomfortable with unnecessary complexity, and feel a genuine pull toward work that matters. An AI-native working style is a must — you should already use tools like Cursor, Claude, Windsurf or GitHub Copilot as a natural part of how you code, and be able to review and course-correct what they produce. Comfort with stakeholders matters just as much: you will work alongside magistrates, court staff, advocates, High Court IT teams, the State Data Centre and litigants. Prior civic or government-tech experience is a bonus.
What you'll do
Engineering
- Build and ship features across the full stack — a TypeScript / Next.js app (App Router, API routes), PostgreSQL via Drizzle ORM, server-rendered PDFs, and an S3-compatible document store
- Triage and fix production bugs reported from live court deployments
- Own production operations on-premise: Docker-based deploys, blue-green releases behind Nginx, HTTPS/TLS certificate renewals, and periodic security audits
- Write the tests that matter — unit and integration with Vitest, end-to-end with Playwright — and create realistic test data to debug against
- Prototype quickly to validate an idea before committing to a full build
Stakeholder and field work
- Visit courts in person to observe workflows, understand ground-level problems, and translate them into product requirements
- Coordinate with High Court IT teams and the State Data Centre on integration, access and operations, and join regular data-backed process-reengineering reviews
- Explain trade-offs plainly to non-technical stakeholders, set expectations, and ask the right questions
The stack
- Language and framework: TypeScript (strict), Next.js (App Router), React, Tailwind CSS
- Data: PostgreSQL with Drizzle ORM — jsonb, full-text and trigram search in the database
- Auth and state: Better Auth, Zustand where client state is genuinely needed
- Documents and PDF: MinIO / S3-compatible storage, @react-pdf/renderer
- Infra and DevOps: Docker, Nginx (blue-green), Linux / Bash, on-premise NIC deployment, HTTPS / TLS
- Testing: Vitest, Playwright, Postman
- AI dev tools: Cursor / Claude / Windsurf / GitHub Copilot, prompt engineering
What makes you a strong fit
- You debug by understanding the system, not by trial and error
- You keep things simple and follow the team's coding standards
- You have shipped features real users depend on, ideally under real uptime pressure
- You use AI tools daily but can review and course-correct what they generate
- You can speak plainly to non-technical people and write clearly
- You are comfortable travelling regularly for in-person court visits, and open to relocating for the right project
- An interest in how courts, government systems or public infrastructure work is a bonus
Nice to have
- Prior experience in e-governance / civic tech
- Familiarity with on-premise or government (NIC) deployment environments
This is a mission-driven role. You will see your code running inside actual courtrooms, handling real cases.