README

This category is where the CORTEX personal AI system gets defined.

Each topic here is a single requirement — a concrete, nameable thing that CORTEX must do or be. Requirements come from anywhere: a gap in current AI tool capability, something discovered during actual use of Claude or other AI systems, an integration need with LOGOS, a privacy or ownership concern, or a design decision about how CORTEX should grow and learn.

What a Requirement Topic Contains

• What it is — a clear statement of the capability or behavior required
• Why it's needed — the source: what gap, experience, or design principle generated it
• Acceptance — how you'd know CORTEX satisfies it
• Cross-references — links to related LOGOS requirements, limitations, or design discussions

What This Is Not

This is not a wishlist of AI features in general. Every requirement here is grounded in a specific need — something that the current approach (Claude API, local models, RAG) doesn't adequately address, or something that must be true for CORTEX to be genuinely personal and private rather than just another AI wrapper.

Topic Types

Idea — a candidate requirement not yet fully understood. The need is real but the shape isn't clear yet. Open for discussion and refinement.

Problem — a requirement understood well enough to act on. Clear statement, known source, acceptance criteria. Status model:

• New — captured and understood, design thinking not started
• Planned — approach is taking shape
• Started — actively being designed or implemented
• Done — satisfied in the CORTEX system

An Idea becomes a Problem when it is understood well enough to define acceptance. The maturity stages of CORTEX (RAG → LoRA → Full fine-tuning) mean some requirements are only reachable at a certain stage — noting that in the topic is useful context.