Cortex v4.0 — Always-On Learning

Claude gets smarter about you with every conversation.

Most AI conversations are disposable. Cortex makes them cumulative. It runs silently in the background — observing your preferences, capturing knowledge, learning from corrections — so every conversation builds on the last.

No commands required. Just use Claude normally. It learns.

Works on Cowork (Claude Desktop) and Claude Code.

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What's New in v4

The Always-On Brain

v3 required you to say /remember. v4 doesn't wait.

Behavior	What it does	Platform
Auto-recall	Loads your profile and project context at conversation start	Both
Passive observation	Silently learns preferences, corrections, and domain knowledge	Both
Contextual recall	Surfaces relevant knowledge when you mention a project/topic mid-conversation	Both
Auto-commit	Saves knowledge and observations when the conversation ends	Both
User profile	Persistent model of who you are and how you like to work	Both
Per-project config	Control capture aggressiveness per project via .cortex.json	Both
Claude Code support	Drop-in CLAUDE.md instructions + optional hooks	Claude Code

The Learning Loop

Conversation starts
  → Auto-recall loads your profile + project context
  → Claude adapts to your known preferences

Conversation happens
  → Passive observation accumulates new signals
  → Contextual recall surfaces relevant knowledge on mention
  → Claude adapts in real-time

Conversation ends
  → Auto-commit saves decisions, knowledge, and observations
  → Your profile and project nodes get smarter

Next conversation starts
  → Claude knows more. Repeats less. Helps better.

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Quick Start

Cowork (Claude Desktop) — Full Support

1. Download the plugin zip
2. Claude Desktop → Cowork tab → Customize → Upload custom plugin
3. Select cortex.zip
4. Start talking. Memory activates automatically.

Claude Code — Full Support (new in v4)

Minimal setup (no hooks):

1. Copy the contents of claude-code/INSTRUCTIONS.md into your ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md (global) or project-level CLAUDE.md
2. mkdir -p ~/Documents/Claude/memory
3. Start a new Claude Code session. Done.

With hooks (recommended):

1. Do the minimal setup above
2. Add the hooks from claude-code/hooks.json to your ~/.claude/settings.json
3. Hooks make auto-recall more reliable by feeding data at session init

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How It Works

Always-On Behaviors (no commands needed)

Auto-Recall

At conversation start, Claude reads your user profile and checks for attention items. If you have overdue P0s or stale threads, it tells you. If you mention a known project, it loads context automatically. All silently — no "loading memory..." preamble.

Passive Observation

During every conversation, Claude watches for:

• Corrections ("don't do that", "I prefer this") — highest priority, always saved
• Preferences (communication style, tool choices, working patterns)
• Domain knowledge (how your company works, industry terms, constraints)
• Relationship context (who's who, who owns what)

It never interrupts to capture these. It adapts in real-time and saves at conversation end.

Contextual Recall

When you mention a project, person, or topic with memory, Claude surfaces relevant knowledge naturally — "Heads up, Acme's procurement requires 3 vendor quotes" — without dumping a formal recall block.

Auto-Commit

When the conversation ends, Claude silently commits what was learned. No confirmation prompt. If the conversation was trivial, it skips. Corrections and preferences are always saved.

The User Profile

New in v4: a user node that accumulates knowledge about you:

• Communication preferences (terse vs. detailed, options vs. decisions)
• Working style (batching, cadence, delegation patterns)
• Corrections (things Claude should never do again)
• Domain expertise (what you know, what needs explaining)
• Relationships (who you work with, their roles)
• Tool preferences (which platforms you use)

This is what makes Claude feel like it "knows" you. It carries across all projects and both platforms.

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Explicit Commands

All commands from v3 still work. Use them when you want manual control.

Command	What it does
/remember	Full session commit with confirmation
/recall [project?]	Dashboard (no arg) or specific project context
/learn [node] [type?] [content]	Quick knowledge capture
/note [node] [content]	One-liner fact
/search [query]	Cross-project search
/review	Weekly synthesis digest
/timeline [project?]	Chronological activity
/forget [node]	Archive a project
/cleanup	Memory health audit

Always-On Skill

Skill	Behavior
observe	Runs silently in every conversation. No trigger needed. Captures preferences, corrections, and domain knowledge.

Auto-firing Skills

Commands also fire from natural language:

Trigger	Skill
"save this", wrapping up, farewell	remember (auto-commit)
Conversation start, greeting, "catch me up"	recall (auto-recall)
"TIL", "gotcha:", "the trick is...", "I was wrong about"	learn
"note that", "jot down", "quick note"	note
"any gotchas with", "what's blocked", "how does X work"	search
"weekly review", "summarize my week"	review
"we're done with X", "archive X"	forget
"what have I been working on"	timeline
"clean up memory", "what's stale"	cleanup

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What Gets Captured

Project State (what changed)

• Decisions made and reasoning
• Open threads with staleness tracking
• Blockers and who/what is blocking
• Artifacts created (docs, decks, proposals)
• Next actions (P0/P1/P2/WAITING)

Knowledge (what was learned)

Type	Example
Insight	"Churn is an onboarding problem, not a product problem"
Lesson	"Same-day proposals fail. 48-hour tailored decks close 3x better"
Model	"Their approval: dept head → finance → VP → procurement"
Gotcha	"Fiscal year starts April, not January — adjust all budget timing"
Recipe	"For exec buy-in: lead with their metric, show the gap, propose one action"
Correction	"Not price-sensitive — they need ROI framing for internal approval"

User Observations (who you are)

Type	Example
Preference	"Prefers terse responses — told Claude to stop summarizing"
Correction	"Don't add emojis to professional communications"
Pattern	"Starts mornings with email triage, then deep work blocks"
Domain	"Deep expertise in AI go-to-market — skip 101 explanations"
Relationship	"Reports to [Name] (CEO), weekly 1:1s on Mondays"

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Per-Project Config

Control behavior per project via .cortex.json in the project root:

{
  "node": "client:acme-corp",
  "capture": "aggressive",
  "auto_recall": true,
  "auto_commit": true,
  "observe": true
}

Capture Level	Behavior
"aggressive"	Capture everything. Use for high-value client work.
"normal"	Standard capture. Default.
"minimal"	Only explicit commands. No auto behaviors.

See cortex.config.md for the full spec.

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Memory Storage

Memory lives on your computer at ~/Documents/Claude/memory/. Shared between Cowork and Claude Code.

~/Documents/Claude/memory/
├── DASHBOARD.md          ← Master index
├── user.md               ← Your profile (NEW in v4)
├── archive/              ← Archived nodes
├── client/
│   ├── acme-corp.md
│   └── northstar.md
├── bizdev/
│   └── partnerships.md
├── strategy/
│   └── q2-growth.md
├── hiring.md
└── brand.md

All files are plain markdown. Human-readable. Editable. Backupable.

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Node Conventions

Use kebab-case. Organize however fits your work:

Pattern	Example
Client work	client:acme-corp
Business dev	bizdev:stripe-partnership
Internal ops	company-ops, hiring, finance
Strategy	strategy:q2-growth
Products	onboarding-program, crm-dashboard
Learning	learning:sales-ops
Domain	domain:healthcare-compliance
Infrastructure	infra:data-pipeline
Personal	personal
User profile	user (auto-managed)

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Platform Comparison

Feature	Cowork	Claude Code
Plugin system	Native	Via CLAUDE.md
Auto-recall	Skill auto-fire	CLAUDE.md instructions + hooks
Auto-commit	Skill auto-fire	CLAUDE.md instructions
Passive observation	Always on	Always on
Contextual recall	Always on	Always on
User profile	Shared	Shared
Per-project config	Supported	Supported
Explicit commands	All 10	All 10
Memory files	Shared location	Shared location

Both platforms read/write the same memory files. Learn something in Cowork → Claude Code knows it. And vice versa.

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Changelog

v4.0.0 — Always-On Learning

• Passive observation engine: Claude silently learns about you during every conversation
• User profile node: Persistent model of preferences, corrections, patterns, domain expertise
• Auto-recall: Context loads at conversation start without commands
• Auto-commit: Knowledge saves at conversation end without commands
• Contextual recall: Relevant knowledge surfaces mid-conversation on mention
• Claude Code support: Full integration via CLAUDE.md instructions and optional hooks
• Per-project config: .cortex.json for per-directory behavior control
• Silent mode: Auto-triggered commits produce no output (unless creating new nodes)
• The learning loop: Every conversation makes the next one better

v3.0.0

• File-based storage at ~/Documents/Claude/memory/
• Two-tier structure: DASHBOARD.md + individual node files
• Dynamic directory creation from node prefixes
• Archive support

v2.2.0

• Business-operator friendly language and examples
• Strategy/planning node types

v2.1.0

• Knowledge-first redesign with six knowledge types
• Added /learn and /note for quick capture
• /review weekly digest

v2.0.0

• Added /search, /forget, /timeline, /cleanup
• Priority system, staleness tracking, cross-project signals

v1.0.0

• Initial release with /remember and /recall