Knowledge Cortex — Mine Mine your Gmail history into structured flat files — contacts, clients, communications, and key facts — stored in ~/.cortex/ . No server required. Files you own. When invoked Read {skill_path}/references/file-schema.md for the storage format before any file operations. Commands What user says Action "run the cortex" / "cortex run" Run mining pass "cortex dry run" Mine without writing — pass --dry-run "cortex from DATE" Mine from specific date — pass --from YYYY-MM-DD "set up the cortex" Run first-time setup Setup (first run) Check prerequisites: which gws || echo "MISSING: npm install -g @googleworkspace/cli" python3 -c "import anthropic" 2
/dev/null || echo "MISSING: pip install anthropic" ls ~/.cortex/state.json 2
/dev/null || echo "FIRST RUN" If gws missing: tell user npm install -g @googleworkspace/cli then gws auth setup . If anthropic missing: tell user pip install anthropic (or pip install anthropic --break-system-packages on managed Python). If first run: initialise storage. mkdir -p ~/.cortex/originals echo '{}'
~/.cortex/contacts.json echo '{}'
~/.cortex/clients.json touch ~/.cortex/communications.jsonl ~/.cortex/knowledge.jsonl ~/.cortex/files.jsonl Write ~/.cortex/state.json : { "version" : "1.0" , "cursors" : { "gmail" : null } , "last_run" : null , "totals" : { "contacts" : 0 , "clients" : 0 , "communications" : 0 , "knowledge" : 0 , "files" : 0 } , "runs" : [ ] } Mining python3 { skill_path } /scripts/cortex-mine.py python3 { skill_path } /scripts/cortex-mine.py --dry-run python3 { skill_path } /scripts/cortex-mine.py --from 2024 -01-01 python3 { skill_path } /scripts/cortex-mine.py --batch-size 25 The script prints a run report on completion. Show it to the user verbatim. Common errors: gws: command not found — install gws CLI AuthError / 403 — run gws auth setup ANTHROPIC_API_KEY not set — set env var or add to ~/.cortex/.env ModuleNotFoundError: anthropic — pip install anthropic Scheduling Claude Code Desktop: Cowork > Scheduled > New Task > Run the cortex-mine skill Daily CLI: /loop 24h run the cortex-mine skill Cron: 0 6 * * * cd ~ && ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-... python3 /path/to/cortex-mine.py Exporting data See {skill_path}/references/export-adapters.md for patterns to export cortex data to Obsidian, SQLite, Notion, CRM systems, or custom APIs. Environment Variable Default Purpose CORTEX_DIR ~/.cortex Storage root ANTHROPIC_API_KEY — Required for extraction CORTEX_BATCH_SIZE 50 Threads per run CORTEX_OWNER_EMAIL — Your email — excluded from contacts References File schemas: {skill_path}/references/file-schema.md Pre-filter rules: {skill_path}/references/prefilter-patterns.md Export patterns: {skill_path}/references/export-adapters.md