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cortex-works (minimal)

One binary. 13 tools. Built to make AI agents faster, cheaper, and more precise.

cortex-works-minimal is a lean MCP server for AI-powered IDEs. It replaces slow, token-hungry IDE tooling with a disciplined surface of 13 surgical tools — covering repo mapping, symbol analysis, structural editing, filesystem work, and bounded shell execution.

✅ Cross-platform tested: macOS, Windows, and Ubuntu (other Linux distros may work too).

cargo build --release -p cortex-mcp
./target/release/cortex-mcp   # wire to your IDE via MCP stdio

Why Agents Perform Better Here

Standard IDE tools expose the filesystem as a flat text surface. Agents waste tokens reading full files to find the three lines they need, burning context on boilerplate and build artifacts that should never appear in a prompt.

cortex-works is designed around the opposite principle: return exactly what the agent needs, nothing more.

Token Efficiency by Design

The stack enforces a layered, progressive-disclosure model:

Stage Tool What the agent learns
L1 — Discover workspace_topology Roots, manifests, language hints — <500 tokens
L2 — Map map_overview / skeleton File tree + symbol list for selected dirs only
L3 — Read read_source / deep_slice Exact symbol body or focused file slice

An agent that follows this pattern typically spends 5–10× fewer tokens on codebase orientation than one using raw file reads.

Structure-Aware Edits, Not Line Patches

Line-number-based edits break as soon as another tool touches the same file. cortex-works edits by name:

  • cortex_act_edit_ast — replace a Rust/TS/Python function or struct by symbol name
  • cortex_act_edit_data_graph — update a JSON or YAML key by JSONPath target
  • cortex_act_edit_markup — rewrite a Markdown section by heading or HTML node by tag/id
  • cortex_act_sql_surgery — swap a DDL statement by type and object name

The agent supplies the new content; the tool handles byte offsets, bottom-up ordering, and post-edit validation automatically.

Fail-Safe AST Editing

cortex_act_edit_ast validates syntax after edits and aborts safely if the output is invalid. This avoids writing broken code to disk.

Multi-Root Path Routing, Built-In

VS Code multi-root workspaces, Zed multi-project, and JetBrains polyrepo sessions all work transparently via prefixed path convention: [FolderName]/path/to/file. No manual path juggling required.

One Round-Trip for Sequential Workflows

cortex_act_batch_execute collapses multi-step workflows — explore → checkpoint → edit → verify — into a single MCP call, cutting back-and-forth latency by up to an order of magnitude.

The 13 Active Tools

Intelligence (read-only)

Tool Use when
cortex_code_explorer First look at an unfamiliar repo; topology, maps, deep slices
cortex_symbol_analyzer You already know the symbol; read source, find usages, blast radius
cortex_chronos Save a rollback point before risky refactors; compare before/after
cortex_manage_ast_languages A non-core parser is missing (Go, PHP, Ruby, Java, C, C++, C#, Dart)

Structural Mutations

Tool Use when
cortex_act_edit_ast Editing a Rust, TypeScript, or Python symbol by name
cortex_act_edit_data_graph Updating JSON or YAML keys structurally
cortex_act_edit_markup Rewriting Markdown sections, HTML/XML nodes by heading/tag/id
cortex_act_sql_surgery Replacing a DDL statement (CREATE TABLE, CREATE INDEX, …)
cortex_fs_manage Creating, copying, moving, deleting files and dirs; patching .env/.ini

Search, Execution, and Runtime

Tool Use when
cortex_search_exact A literal string, regex, or identifier you know exactly
cortex_act_shell_exec Short diagnostic commands; manifest-aware run_diagnostics mode
cortex_act_batch_execute Collapsing a sequential workflow (explore → edit → verify) into one call
cortex_mcp_hot_reload After rebuilding, reload the worker on the same stdio channel without restarting the IDE

Quick Start

# 1. Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/cortex-works/cortex-works-minimal
cd cortex-works-minimal
cargo build --release -p cortex-mcp

# 2. Wire to VS Code (add to mcp.json)
{
  "cortex-works": {
    "type": "stdio",
    "command": "/absolute/path/to/target/release/cortex-mcp"
  }
}

Recommended Agent Workflow

1. cortex_code_explorer(workspace_topology, repoPath="/abs/path")
   ← discover workspace roots cheaply (always pass repoPath)

2. cortex_code_explorer(map_overview, target_dirs=["crates/my-crate/src"])
   ← inspect only the dirs that matter

3. cortex_symbol_analyzer(read_source, path="crates/my-crate/src/lib.rs", symbol_name="MyStruct")
   ← read exact code before editing (use `path`, not `file`)

4. cortex_chronos(save_checkpoint, path="...", symbol_name="...", semantic_tag="pre-refactor")
   ← rollback point before risky changes

5. cortex_act_edit_ast / edit_data_graph / edit_markup / …
   ← narrowest structural edit matching the file type

6. cortex_act_shell_exec(run_diagnostics=true, cwd=".")
   ← verify the change compiled

Common Pitfalls

Wrong Correct
cortex_symbol_analyzer(read_source, file="...") path="..." (not file)
cortex_symbol_analyzer(find_usages, path="...") target_dir="." (not path)
cortex_chronos(compare_checkpoint, semantic_tag="...") tag_a="before" + tag_b="after" (or tag_b="__live__")
cortex_fs_manage(action=read, ...) No read action — use cortex_symbol_analyzer or deep_slice
cortex_fs_manage(action=delete, paths=["/tmp/..."]) Delete is workspace-guarded; use workspace-relative paths
cortex_act_edit_data_graph(edits=[..., value=..., code=...]) Field is value, not code
cortex_code_explorer(workspace_topology) without repoPath Always pass repoPath (absolute) — omitting it triggers a safety block

Runtime Layout

cortex-mcp  (IDE gateway — MCP stdio transport)
    │
    ├── cortex-ast  (intelligence: topology, slices, symbols, checkpoints, grammar loading)
    │
    ├── cortex-act  (mutations: AST edits, data/markup/SQL edits, search, shell exec, batching)
    │
    └── cortex-db   (persistence: local checkpoint storage)

All four crates compile into one binary (cortex-mcp). The IDE talks only to that binary.

Documentation

Doc Content
docs/ARCH.md Architecture, component roles, multi-root routing, progressive disclosure model
docs/USAGE.md Workflow patterns, path conventions, batch examples, JSON vs YAML rules
docs/DEVELOPING.md Build commands, test suite, schema source-of-truth, dependency management