Getting Started

Sign in, create your first topic, and find your way around DebateCardAI in five minutes.

Welcome to DebateCardAI. This page gets you signed in, sets up your first topic, and shows you where everything lives. It takes about five minutes, and you do not need a credit card.

Sign in

DebateCardAI uses Google sign-in only. There is no email-and-password option, no password to forget, and no confirmation email. Click Sign in, choose your Google account, and your account is created automatically the first time.

Create your first topic

A topic is a folder for one resolution. It holds the cards you save and keeps your prep for each resolution separate. The app does not create a topic for you, so your first step is to make one.

  1. Open your Library.
  2. In the Topics panel, click the + to start a new topic.
  3. Fill in:
    • Name (for example, "Jan PF" or "NATO Aff").
    • Resolution or description (optional, but handy).
    • Type: PF, LD, Policy, or Custom.
  4. Save it. If the current NSDA topics are available, you can also create one in a single click from the suggestions shown above the list.

Your active topic is what new saved cards get filed under, and it sets the default debate format in tools like Evidence Finder. You can switch topics anytime from the topic switcher in the top bar.

The app at a glance

Everything is in one app once you are signed in. Here is what each part does and where to learn it:

  • Cut Your First Card is the place to start: the quickstart.
  • Card Cutting menu: Single Card Snipe (one card) and Batch Input (a stack). See Cutting Cards.
  • Tools menu: Logos (search a million existing cards), Evidence Finder (search the web and cut), Rhetorify (condense cards), Speechify (write a speech), and Debater Search (look up a debater's tournament record).
  • Block Builder: prep your responses to arguments you expect to face. See Block Builder.
  • Bracket Math: figure out your record and likely opponents at a tournament. See Bracket Math.
  • Library: save, search, and organize your cards by topic. See Evidence Library & Topics.
  • Settings: control how your cards are cut and highlighted, and switch light or dark mode.

Free or Pro

You can do real work on the free plan. It includes 5 card cuts per day, 5 Evidence Finder searches per month, a few Speechify and Block Builder uses to try them, and unlimited Logos, Rhetorify, Bracket Math, and Library. Pro raises the limits. The full breakdown is in Plans & Limits.

Your first move

Head to Cut Your First Card and turn a source into a finished card. It is the fastest way to see what the app does.