Getting it into your agent
One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.
npx agentmods add instructions/igrechuhin/cortex/agents-mdgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/igrechuhin/CortexWhat it costs to keep this loaded
Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5 | $0.05621 | $0.05621 |
| Opus 5 | $0.02811 | $0.02811 |
| Sonnet 5 | $0.01124 | $0.01124 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00562 | $0.00562 |
Grade A, and why
Cortex AGENTS.md scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.
A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.
Nothing flagged
None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 241 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
AGENTS
Workspace-wide rules for all IDE/AI agents in this repository.
Use Cortex MCP (MANDATORY)
This project has a Cortex MCP server that provides tools for everything agents need. Always use Cortex MCP tools instead of reading files or running commands directly.
Tools (14 — write/execute operations)
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
manage_file() |
Memory bank read/write (zero-arg reads activeContext.md) |
plan() |
Plan create/list/get/complete/register/archive_completed |
update_memory_bank() |
Roadmap/progress/activeContext mutations |
session() |
Session start, orientation, compact |
run_quality_gate() |
Phase A quality checks and Step 12 final gate (zero-arg) |
autofix() |
Auto-fix lint/format/types/markdown (zero-arg) |
think() |
Reasoning scratchpad |
ingest() |
Stage raw external sources under memory-bank for /cortex/ingest |
run_docs_gate() |
Phase B docs validation (zero-arg) |
pipeline_handoff() |
Inter-phase state exchange (init/write/read/clear) |
write_artifact() |
Allowlisted skill JSON and Synapse rule artifact writes |
compress_memory_bank() |
Compress project CLAUDE.md and memory-bank markdown to reduce session tokens |
memory_wal() |
Memory-bank WAL read, anomaly hints, snapshot/restore |
propose_framework_optimization() |
Draft/self-test a Synapse prompt/rule change in an isolated, always-removed worktree |
Resources (6 — read-only, all static/zero-arg)
| URI | Purpose |
|---|---|
cortex://health/connection |
Health check |
cortex://structure |
Path/structure discovery |
cortex://context |
Context loading (task from session config) |
cortex://rules |
Coding standards (task from session config) |
cortex://validation |
Timestamps/roadmap sync validation |
cortex://analysis |
End-of-session analysis (target from session config) |
Quick reference
| Need | Use | Do NOT |
|---|---|---|
| Project context | cortex://context resource or manage_file() |
Read .cortex/memory-bank/ files directly |
| Coding rules, standards | cortex://rules resource |
Read .cortex/rules/ or .cortex/synapse/ directly |
| Type annotations | Read rules via cortex://rules before coding; Pydantic models for internal data; object only for MCP tool params |
Use Any type; skip loading rules |
| Markdown formatting | docs/guides/markdown-formatting.md | Use bold for section titles (use #/##/### instead) |
| Quality fixes | autofix() |
Run language-specific formatters/linters manually |
| Tests and pre-commit | run_quality_gate() |
Run pytest/ruff/black/pyright directly |
| Quality pipeline reference | docs/api/tools.md — zero-arg quality tools | Legacy parameterized pre-commit tools or job polling when the bridge strips args |
| Memory bank, roadmap, plans | manage_file(), plan(), update_memory_bank() |
Edit .cortex/ files directly |
| Project structure, paths | cortex://structure resource |
Hardcode .cortex/ paths |
What this file has done since we first saw it
Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.
- 2d ago First seen · 241 lines · 5,621 tokens per session scan A 8af657462440
Cortex AGENTS.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository igrechuhin/Cortex (3 stars, last pushed 2d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 5,621 tokens to every session, about $0.0281 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.
Other instructions, from other repositories
spec-kit AGENTS.md
AGENTS.md instructions for github/spec-kit, covering agents.md, about spec kit and specify, quickstart — add a new integration in 5 steps, integration architecture and integrationmanifest — file tracking.
vscode buildNext.instructions.md
Working notes and architecture documentation for the new esbuild-based build system in build/next. Use when making changes to the new build pipeline (transpile/bundle commands, NLS plugin, source-map handling, resource copying, or self-hosting watch tasks).
codex AGENTS.md
AGENTS.md instructions for openai/codex, covering rust/codex-rs, the codex-core crate, code review rules, crate api surface and model visible context.
langchain AGENTS.md
AGENTS.md instructions for langchain-ai/langchain, covering global development guidelines for the langchain monorepo, corridor security analysis, project architecture and context, monorepo structure and development tools & commands.
vscode oss-third-party-notices.instructions.md
Instructions for microsoft/vscode, covering vs code oss third-party-notices pipeline, architecture, pipeline flow in ci, applying the notice (cutover) and fallback chain (never fail the build).
next.js AGENTS.md
Instructions for vercel/next.js, covering next.js development guide, codebase structure, monorepo overview, core package: packages/next and other important packages.