Cortex – Local context retrieval for AI coding agents

Cortex, a new open-source tool by Daniel Blomma, provides local context retrieval for AI coding agents by indexing code, symbols, and relationships into a searchable map. It requires Node.js 20.9+ and Git, and can be installed via npm. The tool aims to improve coding agent accuracy by enabling them to search and understand repository context without reading the entire codebase.

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. 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 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 Agents can run these commands directly. cortex init adds instructions that tell them to search before answering and check impact before refactoring. Git hooks and the watcher normally update Cortex automatically. cortex status cortex watch status cortex update Run cortex update manually after a large change or when results look stale. Make lexical and graph search available first while semantic indexing continues in the background: cortex bootstrap --background --profile interactive cortex indexing status --json This mode supports macOS, Linux, and WSL. Native Windows should use normal foreground bootstrap. npm install --global @danielblomma/cortex-mcp@latest cortex init --force cortex bootstrap cortex update Project configuration and rules are preserved. See CHANGELOG.md /DanielBlomma/cortex/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md for version-specific notes. The normal Cortex workflow uses the CLI. If a client explicitly requires MCP, run cortex connect . MIT