We developed an <i>in vitroi> DNA detection system using a pair of dCas9 proteins linked to split halves of luciferase. Luminescence was induced upon colocalization of the reporter pair to a ∼44 bp target sequence defined by sgRNAs. We used the system to detect <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosisi> DNA with high specificity and sensitivity. The reprogrammability of dCas9 was further leveraged in an array design that accesses sequence information across the entire genome.