CUDL Guide

Ask, and get pointed to the right page.

The guide sits in the corner of every page. Ask it which event fits you, what the current topics are, when competitions happen, what resources exist for your school, or how to sign up. It answers from this site and, when connected, from Google's free Gemma model.

Students working on laptops during a practice session

What it can do

Everything below works with no account and no setup. Answers link to the page they come from, so you can check them.

Find the right event

Tell it what you like (current events, philosophy, performing) and it points to the format guide and a two-minute drill to try.

Find resources for you

Ask for guides on rebuttals, weighing, Congress, judging, or starting a program. It searches every guide, case, and tool on the site.

Topics and competitions

The current Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, Policy, and Big Questions topics, the next release date, and where competitions are announced.

Your school and city

Add your school and city in the guide's settings. Answers about sign-up, transportation, and competitions then speak to your situation. Stored only on your device.

The right person

Students, teachers, volunteers, sponsors, and press each have a form. The guide sends you to the one that fits, or gives you the phone number.

Gemma, when connected

With Google's free hosted Gemma connected, the guide answers in its own words using the matched pages as its only source, and still shows the links.

Try these

What it will not do

It will not invent tournament dates, name schools as partners, or quote numbers that are not on this site. When it does not know, it says so and gives the phone number. In Gemma mode the model sees only the pages the guide matched, the current topics, and, if you added them, your school, city, and interest. Nothing you type is stored on CUDL's servers; the on-site mode never leaves your browser at all.

Updated September 14, 2026. Index covers 29 guides, 12 tools, 8 articles, and every page.

For CUDL staff: connecting Gemma

Get a free Google AI Studio API key.
Create a Cloudflare Worker on the free plan and paste in assistant/worker.js. Add the secret GEMINI_API_KEY and the variables MODEL (gemma-4-26b-a4b-it) and ALLOWED_ORIGIN (this site's address).
Set ASSISTANT_ENDPOINT in cudlbuild/build.py to the worker URL and rebuild. The key never reaches a browser.
To test before deploying a worker, open the guide, click the gear, and paste a key; it stays in that browser only. Set ASSISTANT_ALLOW_LOCAL_KEY = False to remove that option from the public site.

Model names change. The current list is at ai.google.dev/gemma. Full notes in assistant/README.md.

Prefer a person?

Call 704-650-2313 or use the sign-up and contact pages. A coach answers within two business days.