Ilu's School of Thoughts

Dare to know. Learn to reason.

A self-contained, single-file Learning Management System for philosophy and atheism education — built in dark academia style, deployable anywhere.

Live site → ilus-school-of-thoughts.onrender.com

---

What it is

Three progressive levels of study — Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert — covering the philosophical foundations of secular thought, the classical arguments for and against theism, and the deeper questions of meaning, mortality, and ethics.

Level	Name	Duration	Credential
I	First Light	~10 hrs · 4 wks	Certificate of Foundation
II	The Crucible	~18 hrs · 6 wks	Certificate of Argumentation
III	Illumination	~30 hrs · 10 wks	Advanced Certificate + Master Diploma

Each lesson follows the Learn → Drill → Spar → Reflect pedagogy:

• Read — a short editorial essay (~3 paragraphs)
• Terms — key concepts defined precisely
• Quiz — 3 multiple-choice questions with explanations
• Arena — debate prompts and Socratic challenges

---

Structure

index.html              ← the entire LMS (single file)
lesson-drafts/          ← 18 long-form essay drafts (source material)
  INDEX.md              ← index of all drafts
  tier-I-course-*.md
  tier-II-course-*.md
  tier-III-course-*.md
firestore.rules         ← Firestore security rules (progress, directory, friendships, debates)
functions/              ← Firebase Cloud Functions
  index.js              ← AI debate adjudicator (Claude judges live debates)
  package.json
firebase.json           ← Firebase deploy config (rules + functions)
.firebaserc             ← Firebase project alias (iluschoolotthoughts)
Dockerfile              ← nginx:alpine container
nginx.conf              ← static file serving config
docker-compose.yml      ← one-command local run
render.yaml             ← Render static site config

---

Social features (Friends + Live Debate)

Logged-in students can connect and debate each other, with Claude as the adjudicator:

• Friends — search the member directory by name, send/accept friend requests.
• Live Debate — challenge a friend to a real-time, three-phase debate (Opening → Cross-Examination → Closing) on a chosen motion, each side on a synchronized timer.
• AI adjudicator — when the closing bell rings, a Firebase Cloud Function sends both transcripts to Claude (claude-opus-4-8), which scores each side (argumentation, evidence, rebuttal, clarity), declares a winner, and returns written reasoning — shown live to both debaters.

Data lives in three Firestore collections: directory/{uid}, friendships/{pairId}, and debates/{debateId}. The Anthropic API key is held server-side in the Cloud Function as a Secret — it never touches the client.

Deploying the backend (one-time)

The static site deploys as before; the social/AI features additionally need Firestore rules + the Cloud Function:

# 1. Firebase project must be on the Blaze plan (Functions requires it; free tier covers light use)
# 2. Install the Firebase CLI and log in
npm i -g firebase-tools && firebase login

# 3. Install function deps and set the Anthropic key as a secret
cd functions && npm install && cd ..
firebase functions:secrets:set ANTHROPIC_API_KEY     # paste your Anthropic API key

# 4. Deploy rules + functions
firebase deploy --only firestore:rules,functions

The Firestore directory search needs a single-field index on directory.nameLower (Firestore usually auto-creates it; if a query errors, follow the console link it prints).

---

Run locally

Option A — just open the file:

double-click index.html

Option B — Python server:

python -m http.server 7575
# → http://localhost:7575

Option C — Docker:

docker compose up -d
# → http://localhost:7575
# (requires Docker Desktop with working port forwarding)

---

Deploy

Netlify Drop (instant, no account needed):

1. Go to app.netlify.com/drop
2. Drag index.html onto the page
3. Done — live in 5 seconds

Render (auto-deploys on every push):

1. Connect this repo at render.com
2. New → Static Site → select this repo
3. Publish directory: . · Build command: (empty)
4. Deploy

GitHub Pages:

1. Settings → Pages → Source: Deploy from branch master / / (root)
2. Done

---

Curriculum content

The lesson-drafts/ folder contains 18 long-form philosophical essays (~650 words each) covering the full curriculum. These were written in a belletristic, scholarly voice — contemplative, charitable to theism, never contemptuous.

Each draft includes:

• Drop-cap lede
• Three numbered sections (I. II. III.)
• Pull quote with real attribution
• 3–4 footnotes citing canonical philosophical texts
• ∴ closing flourish

These serve as both standalone reading and source material for the structured lesson format.

---

Tech

• Frontend — single-file HTML/CSS/JavaScript (no build step)
• Auth + data — Firebase Auth (Google + email) and Cloud Firestore (modular SDK 12.x)
• AI adjudicator — Firebase Cloud Function (Node 20) calling the Anthropic API (@anthropic-ai/sdk, claude-opus-4-8) with structured JSON output
• Fonts — Fraunces (display), Spectral (body), Spline Sans Mono (meta) via Google Fonts
• Design — dark academia: warm parchment, oxblood, brass, ink-black
• Data — curriculum defined in a single CURRICULUM JS array in index.html
• Lesson content — LESSON_CONTENT object in index.html (currently one showcase lesson)

---

Roadmap

• Populate all 54 lesson slots with read + terms + quiz content
• Record narration audio for the audio player
• User accounts and progress tracking
• Arena (debate / Socratic sparring) feature — vs-bot practice and live human-vs-human debates
• Friends / social graph
• AI adjudicator for live debates
• Custom domain

---

License

MIT — free to use, adapt, and build upon.

---

Built with Claude Code. Philosophy is for everyone.