<p align="center"> <img src="docs/assets/banner.svg" alt="cortex-viz, the read-only visualization layer for Cortex: six live reading angles over your memory, sessions, and code, rendered but never remembered" width="100%"/> </p> <p align="center"> <img src="docs/assets/cortex-trace-galaxy.png" alt="cortex-viz Trace galaxy on the paper surface: every Claude Code session is a tight phyllotaxis disk of its own prompt → action → file → memory chain, clustered around its domain's olive hub; the selected chain's disks render solid gold in place while the rest of the galaxy stays legible, and the mono status bar streams the exact counts (CHAIN · 108 STEPS · 6 537/6 537 nodes · 8 696/8 696 edges), never rounded." width="100%"/> </p> <p align="center"> <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/mcp-claude--code-blue.svg" alt="MCP"> <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-blue.svg" alt="MIT License"> <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/python-3.10+-blue.svg" alt="Python 3.10+"> <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/version-2.7.1-brightgreen.svg" alt="Version 2.7.1"> <a href="https://www.bestpractices.dev/projects/13846"><img src="https://www.bestpractices.dev/projects/13846/badge" alt="OpenSSF Best Practices"></a> </p>

cortex-viz

The visualization layer for Cortex. A standalone MCP that turns Cortex's memory store, your Claude Code session history, and your codebase graph into six live reading angles over the same data: a galaxy of every project, that same graph rendered inside a 3D anatomical brain, a per-session execution trace, a consolidation kanban, a curated knowledge browser, and a wiki. It reads Cortex's shared PostgreSQL store plus the ~/.claude artifacts, and it never writes a memory: it renders, it never remembers. (It does keep its own derived graph/layout caches in that same database, listed under Boundary.)

Launch with the open_visualization tool (or /cortex-visualize). One launcher opens six reading angles; the default landing view is Trace.

The whole UI ships on the AI Architect design system: a paper-first reading surface with a persistent ink (night) toggle, greyscale chrome, and a data palette resolved from design tokens at runtime, flipping the surface re-inks every view in place without disturbing a settled layout, and every count on screen is exact and streamed, never rounded.

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Getting Started

The plugin marketplace is the supported install path. cortex-viz ships in the same cortex-plugins marketplace as Cortex:

claude plugin marketplace add cdeust/Cortex
claude plugin install cortex-viz

cortex-viz is a companion to Cortex that never writes a memory. Install Cortex first (claude plugin install cortex): cortex-viz reads its shared PostgreSQL store, and writes only its own derived caches there (Boundary). Point both at the same database: the database_url plugin setting defaults to postgresql://127.0.0.1:5432/cortex; set it to the same value you gave Cortex.

Restart your Claude Code session, then launch the visualizer:

/cortex-visualize

One launcher opens all six reading angles (Graph · Brain · Trace · Knowledge · Wiki · Board) in the browser, served live from the Cortex store, your session JSONL, the code graph, and git.

Works without Cortex

No Cortex, no PostgreSQL, no setup: cortex-viz is still useful on its own. The Trace view (the default landing view) reads only ~/.claude/projects/*.jsonl and your local git: every Claude Code session becomes a navigable domain → session → prompt → action → file chain, with per-file diffs and commit history. If you use Claude Code, the data is already on your disk.

• Just install the plugin and run /cortex-visualize. When Cortex's database isn't reachable, the server logs one line and starts in no-DB mode automatically: Trace is fully live; the five DB-backed