using-cortex

Using Cortex

Cortex maintains a local, ranked index of this repository (graph, embeddings, rules). Never answer a code question from memory when Cortex is available.

The rule

Before answering any question about this codebase, run:

cortex search "<query>" --json

Cite the entity ids and paths you used. If a command fails because there is no .context/ directory or no index, say so and suggest cortex bootstrap (first time) or cortex update (stale index) instead of guessing.

Dispatch

Situation	Skill / command
"How does X work?", exploring code	repo-research skill
Planning a refactor or risky change	change-impact skill
Reviewing a file or diff	pattern-review skill
Finalizing a PR or full review	context-review skill
Architectural constraints	cortex rules --json
After significant changes	cortex update

MCP equivalents

If Cortex MCP tools are connected, context.search, context.get_related, context.get_rules, context.impact, and context.reload map to the CLI commands above. Prefer whichever is available; the CLI needs no registration.