Cortex - Claude's Cognitive Layer

Metadata

name: cortex description: Cross-session memory with deep reasoning - query, reflect, learn, consolidate version: 2.0.0 triggers:

• /cortex
• memory
• remember
• what did I do
• past sessions
• learnings

Overview

Cortex provides persistent memory across Claude Code sessions. This skill exposes the Cortex MCP tools as user-friendly commands with visual feedback.

Commands

| Command | Description | Cost | |---------|-------------|------| | /cortex | Show status and available commands | Free | | /cortex help | Show detailed help with examples | Free | | /cortex query <search> | Search stored memories | ~$0.001 | | /cortex recall | Get context-aware memories for current task | ~$0.001 | | /cortex reflect <topic> | Deep meta-cognitive analysis | ~$0.01 | | /cortex infer <concepts> | Find connections between ideas | ~$0.01 | | /cortex learn <insight> | Store a new learning | ~$0.01 | | /cortex consolidate | Clean up and organize memories | ~$0.02 | | /cortex stats | Show memory counts and API costs | Free | | /cortex health | Verify all systems are working | Free | | /cortex log | View recent activity log | Free | | /cortex config | View/edit configuration | Free | | /cortex export [format] | Export memories (json/md) | Free | | /cortex session | Show current session summary | Free |

Visual Feedback

When Cortex processes, display neural activity:

    ╭──────────────────────────────────╮
    │  🧠 CORTEX ══════════════════════│
    │     ·  ∿  ·  ∿  ·  ∿  ·         │
    │    ◇━━━◇━━━◇     ◆━━━◆━━━◆      │
    │     Haiku          Sonnet        │
    │     querying...                  │
    ╰──────────────────────────────────╯

Instructions

When the user invokes /cortex or asks about memories/past sessions:

0. Help Command (/cortex help)

Display comprehensive help with groupings:

╭─────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│  🧠 CORTEX v2.0 - Claude's Memory Layer         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  QUICK                                          │
│    /cortex              Status overview         │
│    /cortex help         This screen             │
│    /cortex stats        Memory counts & costs   │
│    /cortex health       Verify everything works │
│                                                 │
│  MEMORY (Haiku - fast, ~$0.001)                 │
│    /cortex query "X"    Search memories         │
│    /cortex recall       Context retrieval       │
│                                                 │
│  REASONING (Sonnet - deep, ~$0.01)              │
│    /cortex reflect "X"  Meta-analysis           │
│    /cortex infer A B    Find connections        │
│    /cortex learn "X"    Store insight           │
│    /cortex consolidate  Clean up                │
│                                                 │
│  UTILITIES                                      │
│    /cortex log          Recent activity         │
│    /cortex config       View/edit settings      │
│    /cortex export       Export memories         │
│    /cortex session      Current session info    │
│                                                 │
│  NATURAL LANGUAGE                               │
│    "What did I do last time?"                   │
│    "Remember: always validate JWT first"        │
│    "What patterns am I seeing?"                 │
│    "How does X connect to Y?"                   │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

1. Status Command (/cortex or /cortex status)

Display current Cortex status:

╭─────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│  🧠 CORTEX STATUS                           │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  MCP Server: ✓ Connected                    │
│  Memories:   127 total                      │
│    • Skills:     23                         │
│    • Patterns:   34                         │
│    • Learnings:  45                         │
│    • Insights:   25                         │
│  Last Activity: 2 hours ago                 │
│  Session Cost:  $0.02                       │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────╯

To get this data:

1. Count lines in ~/.claude/memory/data/memories/*.jsonl
2. Check ~/.claude/memory/logs/ for last activity
3. Read stats from MCP server if available

2. Query Command (/cortex query <search>)

╭──────────────────────────────────────╮
│  🧠 CORTEX ═══════════════════════   │
│     ·  ∿  ·  ∿  ·                    │
│    ◇━━━◇━━━◇  Haiku searching...    │
╰──────────────────────────────────────╯

Use the cortex__query MCP tool with the search term. Display results with relevance scores.

3. Reflect Command (/cortex reflect <topic>)

╭──────────────────────────────────────╮
│  🧠 CORTEX ═══════════════════════   │
│         ·  ∿  ·  ∿  ·                │
│        ◆━━━◆━━━◆  Sonnet thinking...│
╰──────────────────────────────────────╯

Use the cortex__reflect MCP tool. This uses Sonnet for deep reasoning. Include depth parameter: quick (512 tokens), moderate (1024), deep (2048).

4. Learn Command (/cortex learn <insight>)

╭──────────────────────────────────────╮
│  🧠 CORTEX ═══════════════════════   │
│         ·  ∿  ·  ∿  ·                │
│        ◆━━━◆━━━◆  Sonnet analyzing..│
╰──────────────────────────────────────╯

Use the cortex__learn MCP tool to store the insight. Report quality score and whether it was stored.

5. Stats Command (/cortex stats)

Read and display:

• Memory file sizes and counts
• API token usage from server stats
• Estimated costs (Haiku: $0.25/1M, Sonnet: $3/1M)

╭─────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│  🧠 CORTEX STATS                            │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  MEMORIES                                   │
│    Skills:      23 entries (12 KB)          │
│    Patterns:    34 entries (8 KB)           │
│    Learnings:   45 entries (15 KB)          │
│    Insights:    25 entries (6 KB)           │
│    ─────────────────────────────────        │
│    Total:      127 entries (41 KB)          │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  API USAGE (This Session)                   │
│    Haiku:      1,234 tokens  ~$0.0003       │
│    Sonnet:     5,678 tokens  ~$0.017        │
│    ─────────────────────────────────        │
│    Total Cost: ~$0.02                       │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────╯

6. Health Command (/cortex health)

Run comprehensive health check:

╭─────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│  🧠 CORTEX HEALTH CHECK                         │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  MCP Server      ✓ Connected                    │
│  Memory Files    ✓ 5 files (127 entries)        │
│  API Key         ✓ Valid (sk-ant-...)           │
│  Hooks           ✓ SessionStart, SessionEnd     │
│  Last Activity   2 hours ago                    │
│  Disk Usage      41 KB                          │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  STATUS: All systems operational ✓              │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

To verify:

1. Check MCP connection: claude mcp list | grep cortex
2. Check files exist: ls ~/.claude/memory/data/memories/
3. Check API key: [ -n "$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY" ] && echo "Set"
4. Check hooks: grep -A3 "SessionStart" ~/.claude/settings.json

7. Log Command (/cortex log)

Show recent activity from logs:

╭─────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│  🧠 CORTEX ACTIVITY LOG (last 10)               │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  14:32  query "authentication"        → 3 hits  │
│  14:28  learn "JWT pattern"           → stored  │
│  14:15  recall (session start)        → 2 items │
│  13:45  reflect "debugging approach"  → complete│
│  ...                                            │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Read from: ~/.claude/memory/logs/*.log

8. Config Command (/cortex config)

Show current configuration:

╭─────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│  🧠 CORTEX CONFIGURATION                        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  SESSION START                                  │
│    Max memories injected:  5                    │
│    Relevance threshold:    0.3                  │
│                                                 │
│  SESSION END                                    │
│    Quality threshold:      0.4                  │
│    Max extractions:        10                   │
│                                                 │
│  LADS (Learning)                                │
│    Evolution enabled:      yes                  │
│    Evolution interval:     24h                  │
│                                                 │
│  Config file: ~/.claude/memory/data/configs/   │
│               current.json                      │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Read from: ~/.claude/memory/data/configs/current.json

9. Export Command (/cortex export [format])

Export memories to file:

/cortex export           # Default: markdown
/cortex export json      # JSON format
/cortex export md        # Markdown format

Output example for markdown:

# Cortex Memory Export
Generated: 2026-01-27

## Skills (23 entries)
- Authentication: Use JWT with refresh tokens...
- Error handling: Always log context...

## Learnings (45 entries)
- "Always validate JWT expiry before permissions"
- "Use circuit breaker for external API calls"
...

10. Session Command (/cortex session)

Show current session summary:

╭─────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│  🧠 CORTEX SESSION                              │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Started:         14:00 (2h 32m ago)            │
│  Working Dir:     ~/.claude/memory              │
│  Git Branch:      master                        │
│                                                 │
│  INJECTED AT START                              │
│    • JWT authentication pattern                 │
│    • Error handling best practices              │
│                                                 │
│  WILL EXTRACT AT END                            │
│    • MCP Resources implementation approach      │
│    • Skill enhancement patterns                 │
│                                                 │
│  API Usage:       ~$0.02                        │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

This shows what memories were injected at session start and previews what will be extracted at session end.

Auto-Activation

This skill should auto-activate when the user says:

• "What did I do last time?"
• "Do you remember when..."
• "Check my past sessions"
• "What have I learned about..."
• "Search my memories for..."

When auto-activated, show the visual feedback and use the appropriate tool.

Error Handling

If MCP server is not connected:

╭──────────────────────────────────────╮
│  🧠 CORTEX ═══════════════════════   │
│     ✗ MCP Server Not Connected       │
│                                      │
│  Try: claude mcp list                │
│  Check: ~/.claude.json               │
╰──────────────────────────────────────╯

Examples

User: /cortex query authentication Response: Shows neural animation, then displays matching memories about authentication patterns.

User: "What approach did I use for the login system?" Response: Auto-activates, queries memories, shows relevant past decisions.

User: /cortex learn "Always validate JWT expiry before checking permissions" Response: Analyzes insight quality, stores if good, reports result.