Cortex / Evidentiary Memory

Memory that can testify.

Cortex records what the system did and lets anyone verify it later. Canonical truth lives in append-only spine records anchored by Epoch Roots; retrieval indexes are disposable derivatives. Replay is read-only. Missing anchors fail closed.

What It Does

Proof-oriented capabilities.

  • Provides Evidentiary Memory, also called Verifiable Memory: every canonical fact is recorded so it can be independently checked, not merely asserted.
  • Separates canonical truth from disposable retrieval surfaces. The vector index is derivative. The spine record store is authoritative.
  • Orders retrieval with Gravitational Recall, where gravity weights are recall ordering only and never gate canonical truth.
  • Anchors memory state with Epoch Roots so any later claim can be verified against a fixed root, with read-only replay and counterfactual recall for inspection.
  • Fails closed on missing anchors and emits governed Evidence Packs with tamper-detectable manifests instead of unverifiable assertions.
What It Is Not

Boundary protected.

  • Cortex is not a vector database, RAG wrapper, or chat history cache.
  • Cortex does not decide whether an action may execute.
  • Cortex does not perform runtime execution governance or turn retrieval output into authority.
Boundary Definition

Memory is evidence. Retrieval is disposable. Permission lives elsewhere.

Cortex records, reconstructs, and verifies canonical memory while Runtime remains the execution boundary and Collective remains the cognition layer. Vector databases are semantic indexes. They are not memory. Gravity orders recall. It never gates canonical truth. Spine records are permanent; gravity weights are recall ordering only.

System Connections

Receives, outputs, never.

Receives from
Runtime
receipt-backed events and execution lineage
MCP Gateway
durable ingress receipts when gateway persistence is enabled
Control
inspection requests for lineage and proof surfaces
Outputs to
Control
temporal receipts, influence receipts, proof bundles, manifests, and replayable state
Proof
content-addressed proof bundles, invariant manifests, benchmark artifacts, and verification material
Collective
authorized context, never execution permission
Never does
decidesexecutesmutates history
Verifier-first positioning

Memory claims require proof.

Vector databases are not memory. They are semantic indexes.

Cortex separates canonical memory truth from disposable retrieval surfaces.

Gravity orders recall. It never gates canonical truth.

Do not trust the memory layer. Verify it.

Unified proof bundle

One command. Seven proof families. Deterministic output.

Command
cortex proof-bundle [--output FILE]

Single verify-all export for the full Cortex proof spine.

Coverage
I1-I7

Composes deterministic memory, tenant isolation, replay durability, authority/index separation, shard identity, decay/reinforcement, and governed signing evidence.

Identity
proof_bundle_id == merkle_root

The bundle is content-addressed by deterministic SHA-256 Merkle root.

Gate
byte-identical double-run

CI can diff repeated outputs and reject non-deterministic proof generation.

The proof bundle is portable, inspectable, CI-gated, and ready for downstream Evidence Pack integration.

Invariant manifest

Proof spine I1-I7.

I1cortex proof
Deterministic memory / core proof summary

Temporal memory receipts and the core proof summary are deterministic and byte-identical across proof gates.

I2cortex tenant-isolation-proof
Tenant isolation

Fail-closed tenant isolation rejects missing, empty, aliased, and foreign tenant paths before memory can leak.

I3cortex replay-proof
Replay / outbox durability

Replay, leasing, restart, retry, and outbox durability prove no lost writes across deterministic reconstruction paths.

I4cortex authority-proof
Authoritative store / derivative index

Canonical truth lives in the authoritative store while the vector index remains disposable and replayable.

I5cortex shard-identity-proof
Deterministic shard identity / idempotent ingestion

Identical canonical payloads resolve to the same shard identity and idempotent retries do not create duplicate records.

I6cortex decay-reinforcement-proof
Decay & reinforcement

Trust decay and reinforcement remain deterministic, with floors and ceilings preventing poisoned memory from winning by mass alone.

I7cortex governed-signing-proof
Governed signing / Evidence Pack integrity

Governed mode signs receipts with Ed25519 and verifies tamper-detectable Evidence Packs without making signing mandatory for open-core receipts.

Evidentiary Memory

Memory that can be replayed and verified.

Evidentiary Memory

Cortex is Evidentiary Memory, also called Verifiable Memory. Every canonical fact is recorded so it can be independently checked, not merely asserted.

Immutable spine records

Canonical truth lives in append-only spine records that preserve exactly what happened and cannot be reordered or rewritten.

Gravitational Recall

Gravitational Recall orders what surfaces during retrieval. Gravity weights are recall ordering only and never gate canonical truth.

Epoch Roots

Epoch Roots anchor the state of memory at each epoch so any later claim can be checked against a fixed, verifiable root.

Read-only replay and counterfactual recall

Replay and counterfactual recall reconstruct prior memory states for inspection. Both are read-only and cannot mutate canonical history.

Missing anchors fail closed

When a required anchor is missing, recall fails closed rather than returning unverifiable memory as if it were truth.

Proof and benchmark artifacts

Deterministic outputs you can audit.

Unified proof bundle
cortex proof-bundle

One portable auditor-grade bundle composing I1-I7 with content-addressed Merkle identity and all_checks_passed aggregate status.

Proof artifacts
cortex proof • cortex invariant-manifest

Core proof summary, invariant manifest I1-I7, deterministic JSON output, and byte-identical proof gates.

Benchmark artifacts
cortex benchmark

Deterministic benchmark reports with provider metadata, stable ordering, CI upload support, and regression-grade comparison outputs.

Governed Evidence Packs
governed mode verification

Ed25519 receipt signing, deterministic manifest/hash tree generation, tamper detection, and historical-key verification coverage.

Open core

Unsigned open-core receipts remain allowed where governed signing is not enforced.

Governed mode

Governed signing, key lifecycle support, and Evidence Pack integrity provide tamper-evident verification for verifier-heavy deployments.

CI uploads proof and benchmark artifacts, invariant-manifest checks cover I1-I7, proof_bundle_id equals the deterministic Merkle root, and byte-identical double-run gates keep proof outputs reproducible across reruns.

Why Cortex differs

Remembering useful context is not enough.

Most agent memory systems optimize for remembering useful context. Cortex optimizes for proving memory correctness under failure, tenancy, replay, indexing drift, trust decay, and governed audit.

Cortex provides durability and replay proof. Transactional outbox, leasing, replay proofs, idempotence, and byte-identical artifacts make every execution reconstructable and verifiable.

Market contrast

Most memory systems optimize recall. Cortex optimizes correctness.

Recallcorrectness

Most memory systems optimize recall. Cortex optimizes correctness.

Context retrievalmemory lineage

Most memory systems retrieve context. Cortex proves memory lineage.

Index trustindex disposal

Most memory systems trust their indexes. Cortex treats indexes as disposable derivatives.

After-the-fact logsdeterministic proof artifacts

Most memory systems log after the fact. Cortex emits deterministic proof artifacts you can verify.

Cryptographic auditability

Memory you can verify, not just trust.

Ed25519 signing

Governed mode signs receipts with Ed25519.

Valid signature acceptance

Verifier accepts valid signatures.

Tamper rejection

Verifier rejects tampered receipt payloads.

Revoked key rejection

Verifier rejects signatures from revoked keys.

Retired key acceptance

Verifier accepts signatures from retired historical keys.

Deterministic Evidence Pack

Manifest/hash tree is deterministic and tamper-detectable.

Proof bundle composition

Governed signing composes into the unified proof bundle as I7.

Cortex provides cryptographic auditability. Ed25519 signing, tamper rejection, revoked key rejection, retired key acceptance, deterministic Evidence Pack manifest and hash tree, and proof bundle composition let any verifier confirm memory integrity independently.

Surface contract

What this surface owns.

Purpose

Use Cortex when you need memory that preserves canonical truth and can be verified later.

Primary question

How do you verify that the memory layer is correct?

Allowed
  • unified proof bundle
  • I1-I7 proof spine
  • content-addressed proof identity
  • Evidence Pack verification
Forbidden
  • vector database positioning
  • chat history cache framing
  • runtime execution governance
  • canonical truth stored in the index
Next Action

Continue through the correct surface.

Verify a receipt