Cortex MCP server

Cortex

Give AI coding agents the right context from your repository.

Cortex builds a local map of your code, symbols, relationships, and project rules. Coding agents query that map through the CLI instead of guessing or reading the whole repository.

Your code stays on your machine. MCP is not required.

Start

Requires Node.js 20.9+ and Git.

npm install --global @danielblomma/cortex-mcp
cd your-project
cortex init --bootstrap

This indexes the repository, adds Cortex instructions to AGENTS.md, installs Git hooks, and starts the background watcher.

Check the setup:

cortex doctor

Use

# Find relevant code.
cortex search "where is authentication handled?" --json

# Follow relationships from a search result.
cortex related <entity-id> --json

# See what a change may affect.
cortex impact "authentication" --json

# Read repository rules.
cortex rules --json

# Compare a changed file with nearby patterns.
cortex pattern-evidence src/auth.ts --json

# Inspect deterministic active conventions for a file or indexed entity.
cortex conventions src/payments/retry.ts --json

# Get cited, deterministic context before implementing a code task.
cortex guidance src/payments/retry.ts --task "add bounded retry handling" --json

# Review the staged, unstaged, and non-ignored untracked candidate against HEAD.
cortex review --diff --json

# Refresh context after significant changes.
cortex update

Agents can run these commands directly. cortex init adds instructions that tell them to search before answering and check impact before refactoring. They do not need an MCP connection.

What Cortex adds

Without Cortex, an agent often searches by filename and reads many unrelated files. Cortex gives it structured repository context:

• semantic search across code, rules, and architecture decisions;
• symbol definitions and file relationships;
• caller and dependency traversal;
• impact analysis before refactoring;
• active rules, deprecations, and source-of-truth signals;
• deterministic, subsystem-scoped convention profiles with cited reusable symbols;
• incremental updates after Git and filesystem changes.

The pipeline is local and straightforward:

repository -> local index -> Cortex CLI -> coding agent

Commands you will use

Run cortex help for the complete command list.

cortex conventions uses only the local index. It returns bounded, live-backed version-1 profiles and does not call a model, planner, provider, or network service. See Repository convention profiles for the exact eligibility, limit, hashing, persistence, and safety contract.

Shortened. The full README is on GitHub.