Tenor got the agreement out of the PDF. The next step is evaluating it against the decision.
Tenor's post-close credit operations platform uses AI-driven document extraction to convert complex credit agreements into structured operational data. That is meaningful — it is the first layer needed for any agreement-aware monitoring. The harder problem — continuously evaluating whether the borrower's current position invalidates the basis the credit committee approved — is the decision governance layer.
What Tenor does well, and where the line is.
What Tenor is built for
AI extraction of credit agreement terms into structured operational data.
Tenor takes the PDF-to-structured-data problem seriously. For post-close credit operations — covenant tracking, compliance certificate processing, amendment management — getting the agreement out of the PDF into a queryable form is the necessary first step. Tenor is among the better executions of that first step.
What it is not built for
Evaluating the current position against the original credit committee approval.
Extraction produces a structured agreement. It does not, by itself, produce a decision evaluation. Tenor surfaces what the agreement says and whether the borrower is compliant. It does not maintain the credit committee's approval basis as a live object and evaluate whether the current trajectory still supports that basis.
Where Capital Refinery sits next to it
The decision layer above the extracted agreement.
Capital Refinery parses the credit agreement into structured policies-as-code, then binds it to the original credit committee approval — the underwriting thesis, the specific assumptions, the identified mitigants. Live borrower data flows in, is evaluated against the agreement and the approval basis, and produces decision validity scoring plus time-to-consequence ranking. Tenor makes the agreement queryable. Capital Refinery evaluates the decision the agreement was meant to govern.
Where the lines fall.
| Capability | Tenor | Capital Refinery |
|---|---|---|
| AI extraction of credit agreements | Strong — focused capability | Same layer — agreement as structured data |
| Covenant tracking and compliance | Strong | Yes — bound to decision validity |
| Compliance certificate processing | Strong — operational focus | Not the goal — consumes compliance signals |
| Credit committee approval as live object | No | Yes — underwriting thesis and assumptions bound |
| Decision validity scoring | No | Yes — live across the book |
| Time-to-breach + required action | No | Yes — consequence framing, not threshold alerting |
The research behind this.
- Private Credit Just Got Its First Real Stress TestTenor as the first layer of agreement awareness — and what sits above extraction in the stack.
- The Decision Integrity CategoryExtraction is necessary but not sufficient. Decision validity is a different category.
- The Decision Integrity Gap48 sources, 14 vendors. Tenor, the rest of the credit stack, and the missing 7th.
Institutional readiness measurement
Tenor solves credit agreement and document extraction for credit underwriting workflows. Capital Refinery operates a category Tenor doesn’t: institutional readiness measurement on the borrower’s operating business — graded against the same 10-axis framework that buy-side ICs, lender credit committees, and LPs use to evaluate. The artifact carries a deterministic fingerprint and a public verification URL.
The two product surfaces don’t compete — they operate at different layers of the stack. Tenor handles document extraction; Capital Refinery handles structural readiness measurement on the borrower and decision integrity through the credit lifecycle. See for lenders and the same-engine architecture for the dimension Tenor doesn’t address.
Extraction is layer one. Decision validity is the layer above.
If your credit team already uses Tenor for agreement extraction, the next question is whether each approved position's basis is still intact. Bring us five positions — we'll show you on real data.
Keep Tenor if you need structured extraction of credit agreements. Use Capital Refinery when you need a neutral, evidence-backed readiness artifact that shows what will survive institutional review.
Capital Refinery is the institutional measurement layer. It does not replace Tenor; it sits next to it. The decision to engage is a routing decision, not a swap.
Working with an advisor or AI consultant? Use CR as the independent measurement layer via the Modernization Impact Review. Want to shape the methodology? Apply as a design partner.