Configuration

Cortex configuration is split between the Cortex asset root and the resolved Claude directory.

Two Important Locations

  1. <CORTEX_ROOT>/cortex-config.json
  2. <resolved .claude>/settings.json

CORTEX_ROOT defaults to ~/.cortex. The resolved .claude/ directory is chosen from --scope or CORTEX_SCOPE.

cortex-config.json

In the current implementation, cortex-config.json is primarily a watch-mode defaults file.

Example 

{
  "watch": {
    "directories": ["~/Developer/my-project"],
    "auto_activate": true,
    "threshold": 0.75,
    "interval": 2.0
  }
}

Supported watch keys

  • watch.directories or watch.dirs
  • watch.auto_activate
  • watch.threshold
  • watch.interval

Environment Variables

Variable Purpose
CORTEX_ROOT Override Cortex home directory (default: ~/.cortex)
CORTEX_SCOPE Scope: project, global, or auto
CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT Explicit plugin assets path
CORTEX_HOOK_LOG_PATH Override hook log location

Scope Selection 

# Use project-local .claude/ directory
cortex --scope project status

# Use global ~/.claude/
cortex --scope global status

# Use explicit asset root
cortex --cortex-root /path/to/claude-cortex status

Watch Defaults In Practice 

# Use defaults from <CORTEX_ROOT>/cortex-config.json
cortex ai watch

# Override at runtime
cortex ai watch --dir . --threshold 0.8 --interval 1.5

Rules And Skills

Rules and skills are managed through their own command groups:

# Rules
cortex rules list
cortex rules status

# Skills
cortex skills list
cortex skills recommend

Slash commands are generated from installed skills, not maintained as a separate static catalog. See Commands for the current model.