Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18 or later
• PostgreSQL 14+ (with pgvector extension)
• Qdrant (vector database)
• OpenAI API key (for embeddings)

Quick Start

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/cortex-labs/cortex.git
cd cortex

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Set up environment
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your configuration

# Run database migrations
npm run db:generate
npm run db:migrate

# Start development server
npm run dev

Open http://localhost:4040 in your browser.

Environment Variables

# Database (PostgreSQL with pgvector)
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/cortex

# Vector DB (Qdrant)
QDRANT_URL=http://localhost:6333

# Authentication
AUTH_SECRET=your-random-secret-here
AUTH_URL=http://localhost:4040
AUTH_GITHUB_ID=your-github-client-id
AUTH_GITHUB_SECRET=your-github-client-secret

# AI/Embeddings
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-your-openai-key

# App
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL=http://localhost:4040
NODE_ENV=development

Database Setup

Neon (Recommended)

1. Create a Neon account
2. Create a new project
3. Enable pgvector: CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS vector;
4. Copy the connection string to DATABASE_URL

Local PostgreSQL

# Install pgvector
brew install pgvector

# Create database
createdb cortex

# Enable extension
psql cortex -c "CREATE EXTENSION IF NOT EXISTS vector;"

Qdrant Setup

# Docker (recommended)
docker run -p 6333:6333 qdrant/qdrant

# Or with persistent storage
docker run -p 6333:6333 -v qdrant_data:/qdrant/storage qdrant/qdrant

Demo Credentials

After setup, use these to log in:

• Email: demo@cortex.dev
• Password: cortex123

Next Steps