Configuration

Complete reference for the CortexPrism configuration system.

Config File Location

Default: ~/.cortex/config.json

Override with:

--config / -c flag
CORTEX_CONFIG environment variable

Full Configuration Schema

{
  "version": 1,
  "defaultProvider": "anthropic",
  "providers": {
    "anthropic":  { "kind": "anthropic",  "model": "claude-sonnet-4-20250514",          "apiKey": "sk-..." },
    "openai":     { "kind": "openai",     "model": "gpt-4o",                            "apiKey": "sk-..." },
    "google":     { "kind": "google",     "model": "gemini-2.0-flash",                  "apiKey": "..." },
    "mistral":    { "kind": "mistral",    "model": "mistral-large-latest",              "apiKey": "..." },
    "groq":       { "kind": "groq",       "model": "llama-3.3-70b-versatile",           "apiKey": "gsk_..." },
    "deepseek":   { "kind": "deepseek",   "model": "deepseek-chat",                     "apiKey": "sk-..." },
    "openrouter": { "kind": "openrouter", "model": "openai/gpt-4o",                     "apiKey": "..." },
    "xai":        { "kind": "xai",        "model": "grok-2-latest",                     "apiKey": "..." },
    "together":   { "kind": "together",   "model": "meta-llama/Llama-3.3-70B-Instruct-Turbo", "apiKey": "..." },
    "bedrock":    { "kind": "bedrock",    "model": "anthropic.claude-3-5-sonnet-20240620-v1:0", "apiKey": "AKIA...", "secretKey": "...", "baseUrl": "us-east-1" },
    "cohere":     { "kind": "cohere",     "model": "command-r-plus",                    "apiKey": "..." },
    "ollama":     { "kind": "ollama",     "model": "llama3.2",                          "baseUrl": "http://localhost:11434" }
  },
  "agent": {
    "name": "Cortex",
    "maxTurns": 50,
    "streamOutput": true,
    "enableReflection": true
  },
  "router": {
    "enabled": false,
    "confidenceThreshold": 0.7,
    "cascade": [
      { "provider": "ollama", "model": "llama3.2:3b" },
      { "provider": "ollama", "model": "llama3.1:8b" },
      { "provider": "anthropic", "model": "claude-sonnet-4-20250514" }
    ]
  }
}

Environment Variables

Variable	Description	Default
`CORTEX_CONFIG`	Path to config file	`~/.cortex/config.json`
`CORTEX_DATA_DIR`	Data directory path	`~/.cortex/`
`CORTEX_VAULT_KEY`	Vault encryption passphrase	—
`OPENAI_API_KEY`	OpenAI API key	—
`ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`	Anthropic API key	—
`GOOGLE_API_KEY`	Google AI API key	—

Data Directory Structure

~/.cortex/
├── config.json
└── data/
    ├── cortex.db        → Core: sessions, jobs, policy rules
    ├── memory.db         → 5-tier memory + FTS5 + embeddings
    ├── lens.db           → Audit log
    ├── vault.db          → Encrypted credentials
    ├── plugins.db        → Plugin registry
    └── sess_*.db         → Per-session message history

Provider Configuration Details

OpenAI-Compatible Providers

Providers like Groq, DeepSeek, OpenRouter, xAI, and Together AI use the openai compatible API format with custom baseUrl:

{
  "groq": { "kind": "openai", "model": "llama-3.3-70b-versatile", "apiKey": "gsk_...", "baseUrl": "https://api.groq.com/openai/v1" }
}

AWS Bedrock

Bedrock requires secretKey in addition to apiKey, with baseUrl set to the AWS region:

{
  "bedrock": { "kind": "bedrock", "model": "anthropic.claude-3-5-sonnet-20240620-v1:0", "apiKey": "AKIA...", "secretKey": "...", "baseUrl": "us-east-1" }
}

Ollama (Local)

Ollama runs locally and doesn't need an API key, just a baseUrl pointing to the Ollama server:

{
  "ollama": { "kind": "ollama", "model": "llama3.2", "baseUrl": "http://localhost:11434" }
}