Digital Scholar
User Guide

Get real answers
from real experts.

Digital Scholar isn't a chatbot pretending to be smart. Every answer is grounded in an expert's published work, checked by a second self-critique pass, and cited so you can verify it. Here's how to get the most out of it.

What you can do

Four ways to work with an expert

Text chat

The fastest way to get a cited, verifiable answer.

Open an expert's page, type your question, get a reply in seconds. Sources appear as clickable pills below the answer — click any one to read the exact passage that grounded it.

Hands-free voice (default)

Just talk — no button-holding, no push-to-talk.

The expert page opens straight into voice. Tap once to grant mic access, then just speak naturally. The app uses on-device Voice Activity Detection to hear when you start and stop, sends your turn to the expert, and replies out loud in their cloned voice — then loops back to listening. Prefer typing? A one-click switch to text chat is right there.

Private Case Rooms

Bring your real documents — get answers grounded in them.

Spin up a Case Room, upload PDFs / DOCX / text (contracts, filings, board decks — whatever), and ask the expert questions that reference BOTH your files and their public corpus. Only you and site admins can see what's inside.

Open Case Rooms

Confidence & citations

Know when to trust the answer — and when to dig deeper.

Every reply carries a colored confidence pill based on how well your question matched the expert's corpus. High = strongly grounded. Medium = supported but check citations. Low = the expert probably hasn't covered this. Citations are always clickable.

Getting started

First five minutes, step by step

  1. 1

    Create your account

    Sign up with email or Google. Your first 10 questions are free — no card required. You need an account to open Case Rooms, so this is the door to everything.

  2. 2

    Pick an expert

    Head to Experts and open the one that fits your question. Read their tagline and bio so you're asking the right person.

  3. 3

    Tap once, then just talk

    The expert opens in hands-free voice by default. Tap the mic overlay to grant permission, then speak naturally — pause when you're done and the reply comes back in the expert's own voice. Prefer typing? Hit 'Prefer to type' to switch to text chat.

  4. 4

    Read the citations

    Click any [1] pill under the answer to see the exact passage. That's what makes the answer verifiable — and citable in your own work.

  5. 5

    For real matters, use a Case Room

    Upload the actual documents (contracts, memos, filings). Ask questions that reference them by name. Answers now cite BOTH your files (marked 'Case: filename') and the expert's public work.

Pro tips

Move from "cool demo" to "actual work"

Give the expert facts, not summaries

Uploading the raw document beats pasting your summary of it. The retriever finds the exact clause; your summary loses the specifics.

Follow up in the same thread

The expert remembers the last 20 messages in a Case Room. Ask a broad question, then keep drilling — you don't have to reset context.

Watch for the 'Revised by critic' badge

When you see it (in the admin review queue and audits), it means the self-critique pass caught something in the draft and rewrote it. That's the system working.

One Case Room per matter

Don't mix a board dispute and a fundraising question in the same room — retrieval will fight itself. Spin up separate rooms; they're free.

Low confidence? Ask a narrower question

If the pill is Low, the expert probably hasn't published on that specific corner. Reframe toward what they HAVE covered, or upload a case file that fills the gap.

Voice for exploration, text for the record

Hands-free voice is faster for thinking out loud — no button-holding, just talk. Once you know what you actually need, switch to 'Prefer to type' — the reply is easier to cite, copy, and share.

Why you can trust these answers

Every reply on Digital Scholar is grounded in the expert's own corpus (never made up), reviewed by an adversarial second-pass critic, banded by confidence, and logged for human review. If you want the full method — with citations to the underlying research and legal standards — read the Digital Twin Methodology.

Ready when you are.

Ten free questions. No credit card. Bring a real question.