Capture thought at 120 FPS. Zero latency. Zero mouse dependency.
The note-taking software for people who live inside terminals. Native Rust binaries, Git version control, Vim modal bindings, and an ultra-fast SQLite index that searches 50,000 notes in < 4ms.
curl -fsSL https://cortex.sh/get | shAppend one-line thought into today's scratchpad buffer
Fuzzy scan 14,200 markdown files for system architecture RFCs
Atomic commit with cryptographic tree hash and fast-forward push
Expose personal vault as dynamic MCP resource for Cursor & Claude
Calculate top 10 foundational hub concepts in your personal graph
Enable modal modal normal/insert/visual buffer manipulation
Built Like High-Frequency Trading Systems
We stripped out webview bloat, telemetry trackers, and 500MB dependencies.
Git-Backed Everything
Every edit, deletion, or link update is automatically mapped to standard Git commits. Roll back any file with cortex undo or branch ideas in parallel.
Native MCP Server Protocol
Run cortex mcp to turn your second brain into a live Model Context Protocol server. Cursor and Claude can read your real-time notes directly without copy-paste.
Full Vim / Helix Motions
Navigate buffers without taking your hands off the home row. Includes custom `.cortexrc` configuration files, Lua hooks, and custom macro recording.
Honest, Developer-Friendly Pricing
The core CLI and local SQLite engine are 100% free and open-source.
Local Rust binary forever.
Zero-config encrypted relay across devices.