Quick Start

Get to the first memory moment before learning daemon internals.

1. Install or build Cortex

Use the latest desktop installer, or build the 0.6.0 source CLI:

git clone https://github.com/AdityaVG13/cortex.git
cd cortex/daemon-rs
cargo build --release

2. Start local memory

Open Cortex Control Center and start Cortex from the app. CLI-only users can run:

cortex serve

3. Check readiness

cortex status --json

Success is "status": "ready". If status is needs_action or error, follow the returned nextAction / repair before continuing.

4. Connect one AI tool

Claude Code:

claude plugin marketplace add AdityaVG13/cortex
claude plugin install cortex@cortex-marketplace

Codex:

codex mcp add cortex -- cortex.exe mcp --agent codex

Restart the AI tool after changing MCP config.

5. Store and recall one memory

From a connected MCP client, call cortex_store, then cortex_recall. From the repo, run the matching smoke script:

Windows:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\first-run-smoke.ps1

macOS / Linux:

bash scripts/first-run-smoke.sh

That smoke checks status, stores one disposable local memory, and recalls it. Normal use does not require benchmark adapters, provider keys, or LongMemEval.

More tool-specific setup: Info/connecting.md.

POST /store

Save decisions, lessons, preferences. Conflict detection is automatic.

GET /recall

Hybrid keyword + semantic search. In-process ONNX embeddings, no external service.

GET /boot

Compiled identity + delta capsule. ~300 tokens served instead of ~15,000 raw.

Accessibility and settings

  • Settings panel: Accessibility, Appearance & Motion, Connection, Budgets, and Keyboard & Navigation
  • Runtime preferences: high contrast, reduced motion, keyboard hints, and compact navigation
  • Accessibility gates: stronger focus states, ARIA/live regions, contrast checks, and 375px reflow checks

Governance

  • Retention classes across store, MCP, OpenAPI, export, and import
  • Local endpoint budgets with stable HTTP 429 / JSON-RPC denial metadata
  • Budget UI in Control Center, backed by the local budgets.toml
  • Boot audits plus GET /boot/audit and the read-only cortex_boot_audit MCP tool
  • Admin rollback with dry-run/apply workflow and audit events

Recall quality

  • cortex-http-pure adapter as the canonical helper-free measurement floor
  • Purity gates, CAS-100, and triangle judge tooling for safer quality claims
  • bge-base-en-v1.5 default embeddings with MiniLM profiles and qwen3-embedding-0.6b opt-in
  • Cross-encoder reranking behind off/shadow/primary modes; default remains off

Reliability

  • Claude plugin MCP is attach-only and no longer starts a second daemon from plugin MCP paths
  • Control Center supervises the app-managed daemon and honors intentional stops
  • Handler panics return JSON 500 responses, with local panic breadcrumbs
  • Storage hygiene compacts FTS, prunes stale embeddings, and migrates canonical vectors to PQ8 int8 blobs

Connected agents in Control Center

Multi-agent, one brain

  • Each boot call registers a session. Control Center shows active sessions, deduplicated by agent identity.
  • Read-path tools (recall, peek, unfold) reattach to existing sessions. No duplicates.
  • Session descriptions preserved across reconnects and daemon restarts.
  • What one agent stores, every other agent can recall.

Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and custom scripts can all be connected simultaneously. Each tracks its own session while sharing the same memory.

Tool Connection Setup
Claude Code MCP (plugin) or desktop app Plugin: claude plugin install cortex@cortex-marketplace
Codex MCP codex mcp add cortex -- cortex.exe mcp --agent codex
Cursor MCP Point MCP server at cortex mcp --agent cursor
Factory Droid MCP cortex mcp --agent droid
Aider CLI / HTTP cortex boot --agent aider
Custom tools HTTP Three endpoints: /boot, /recall, /store
Local LLMs HTTP / MCP Same protocol, any runtime

Platform Desktop installer Daemon archive
Windows .exe (NSIS installer) .zip
macOS .dmg .tar.gz
Linux .AppImage / .deb .tar.gz 
git clone https://github.com/AdityaVG13/cortex.git
cd cortex/daemon-rs
cargo build --release

claude plugin marketplace add AdityaVG13/cortex
claude plugin install cortex@cortex-marketplace

Mode How it works
Desktop app Control Center owns the daemon. Restart and monitor from the app.
CLI cortex serve starts the daemon. Exits cleanly if one is already running.
Plugin Attach-only MCP bridge. It connects to the running app/service daemon and does not silently spawn a second daemon. 

cortex status --json

Windows:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\first-run-smoke.ps1

macOS / Linux:

bash scripts/first-run-smoke.sh

# Daemon unit tests
cargo test --manifest-path daemon-rs/Cargo.toml

# Desktop test suite
npm --prefix desktop/cortex-control-center test

# Lifecycle smoke test
npm --prefix desktop/cortex-control-center run verify:lifecycle:dev

# Security audit
npm audit --omit=dev --audit-level=high
cargo audit

Document Covers
Connecting Setup, MCP, HTTP, auth, troubleshooting
Architecture Codebase map, entry points, data flow, config, tests
MCP Tools All 29 MCP tool definitions and parameters
Research Papers, inspirations, adaptation notes
Roadmap What shipped, what's planned, and why
Security Threat model, auth rules, vulnerability reporting
Team mode Shared-server setup for engineering teams
Contributing Development setup and PR guidelines
Command Description
cortex serve Start the daemon
cortex --help Full command reference
cortex doctor Run diagnostics
cortex paths --json Show file and port paths
cortex plugin ensure-daemon Ensure daemon health (plugin mode)
cortex plugin mcp MCP stdio bridge to HTTP API
cortex setup --team Initialize team mode and generate API keys
cortex export Export data (json or sql)
cortex import Import from a previous export
cortex admin rollback --session-id <id> Soft-delete a session's memory writes (dry-run default; --apply to persist)