You: "Add payment processing"

Claude Code:
  → Reads CLAUDE.md (if exists)
  → Reads README.md
  → Maybe searches some files
  → Picks random agents (unpredictable)
  → Misses your PaymentService
  → Creates duplicate from scratch

You: "Add payment processing"

Claude Code:
  → Reads CLAUDE.md (finds Cortex instructions)
  → Loads Cortex memory agent
  → Queries MCP: "payment processing"
  → Gets: PaymentService, StripeClient, docs
  → Extends YOUR existing code

flowchart TB
    subgraph INPUT["📁 Your Codebase"]
        A1[src/services/payment.ts]
        A2[src/utils/logger.ts]
        A3[docs/API.md]
        A4[README.md]
    end

    subgraph CORTEX["🧠 Cortex Processing"]
        B1[📄 Chunk Files]
        B2[🔢 Generate Embeddings]
        B3[(🗄️ Vector Database)]
    end

    subgraph QUERY["🤖 AI Assistant"]
        C1["User: Add email notifications"]
        C2[🔍 cortex_query]
        C3[📋 Results]
        C4[✅ Writes Code]
    end

    A1 & A2 & A3 & A4 --> B1
    B1 --> B2
    B2 --> B3

    C1 --> C2
    C2 -->|"search: notification"| B3
    B3 -->|"Found: NotificationService, EmailClient, logging patterns"| C3
    C3 --> C4

cd your-project
git submodule add https://github.com/Remskill/Cortex.git cortex
cd cortex && cp .env.example .env && npm install

cp docs/.cortexignore.default ../.cortexignore

docker-compose up -d

npm run setup

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cortex": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["tsx", "cortex/src/server.ts"],
      "env": {
        "DATABASE_URL": "postgres://cortex:cortex-dev-pass-123@localhost:5433/cortex",
        "OLLAMA_URL": "http://localhost:11434"
      }
    }
  }
}

npm run hook:install

/agents
# → Select "Create new agent"
# → Follow prompts to create an agent for searching codebase patterns
# → Name it something like "cortex-memory-agent"

# Copy the pre-built agent definition
cp cortex/docs/cortex-memory-agent.md .claude/agents/cortex-memory-agent.md

## Cortex Memory
**ALWAYS use the cortex-memory-agent before implementing ANY feature.**
This agent will query Cortex to find existing patterns and prevent code duplication.

Manual query example:
cortex_query("what you're building")

cortex_query("how we handle API errors")
cortex_query("existing notification system")
cortex_query("database connection patterns")

git commit -m "Add new feature"
# 🔄 Syncing changed files...
# ✅ src/feature.ts (12 chunks)
# ✅ docs/FEATURE.md (5 chunks)

// Find existing implementations
cortex_query("payment processing")
cortex_query("user session management")

// Find patterns
cortex_query("how we handle errors in API routes")
cortex_query("state management approach")

// Find documentation
cortex_query("deployment process")
cortex_query("environment configuration")

cp cortex/docs/.cortexignore.default .cortexignore

{
  "maxFileSize": 52428800
}

docker ps                    # Is Docker running?
docker-compose logs          # Check errors
docker-compose down && docker-compose up -d

cortex_stats()      // Check if data exists
cortex_list_files() // List what's indexed

docker-compose down -v   # Delete all data
docker-compose up -d     # Fresh start
npm run setup            # Reinitialize