feat: Intelligence Layer Phase 1 — orchestrator service

Adds the Gemini API orchestrator (ReAct tool loop → Claude responder):

Orchestrator engine + router:
- orchestrator_engine.py: Gemini API tool loop, Claude CLI handoff
- routers/orchestrator.py: POST /orchestrate (async job queue), GET /orchestrate/{job_id}

Tools (cortex/tools/):
- web.py: DuckDuckGo web search (no key required)
- ae_knowledge.py: ae_journal_search + ae_journal_entry_create (AE V3 API)
- ae_tasks.py: ae_task_list (reads agents_sync Kanban filesystem)
- files.py: file_read (path-allowlisted to safe dirs)

Config + deps:
- config.py: orchestrator, DuckDuckGo, and AE API settings
- requirements.txt: google-genai, duckduckgo-search
- .env.default: reference config with all new keys documented

Docs:
- CLAUDE.md, README.md, documentation/ added to repo
- Port references updated 7331 → 8000 throughout
- Default model updated to gemini-2.5-flash

Tested: ae_task_list, ae_journal_search, web_search all working end-to-end.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>

cortex/tools/ae_tasks.py

@@ -0,0 +1,100 @@
+"""
+Aether task list tool — reads the agents_sync Kanban board.
+
+Reads task JSON files directly from the agents_sync filesystem rather than
+making an HTTP call, since the tasks directory is always locally available
+(synced via Syncthing). This avoids needing a separate API endpoint for tasks.
+
+Structure:
+  agents_sync/tasks/01_todo/       — pending tasks
+  agents_sync/tasks/02_in_progress/ — active tasks
+  agents_sync/tasks/03_done/       — completed tasks (not included by default)
+"""
+
+import asyncio
+import json
+import logging
+from pathlib import Path
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+# Resolved at import time — agents_sync is always at ~/agents_sync on this machine.
+# If the path doesn't exist the tool returns a helpful error rather than crashing.
+_AGENTS_SYNC = Path.home() / "agents_sync"
+_TASKS_ROOT = _AGENTS_SYNC / "tasks"
+
+
+async def task_list(include_done: bool = False) -> str:
+    """List tasks from the agents_sync Kanban board.
+
+    Reads the todo and in_progress buckets (and optionally done).
+    Returns a markdown summary grouped by status.
+
+    Args:
+        include_done: If True, also include completed tasks (can be noisy).
+    """
+    return await asyncio.to_thread(_sync_task_list, include_done)
+
+
+def _sync_task_list(include_done: bool) -> str:
+    if not _TASKS_ROOT.exists():
+        return f"Task directory not found: {_TASKS_ROOT}"
+
+    buckets = [
+        ("01_todo", "Todo"),
+        ("02_in_progress", "In Progress"),
+    ]
+    if include_done:
+        buckets.append(("03_done", "Done"))
+
+    sections: list[str] = []
+    total = 0
+
+    for dir_name, label in buckets:
+        bucket_dir = _TASKS_ROOT / dir_name
+        if not bucket_dir.exists():
+            continue
+
+        tasks = _read_bucket(bucket_dir)
+        total += len(tasks)
+        if not tasks:
+            continue
+
+        lines = [f"## {label} ({len(tasks)})\n"]
+        for task in tasks:
+            title = task.get("title") or task.get("name") or "(untitled)"
+            assigned = task.get("assigned_to") or ""
+            task_id = task.get("id") or ""
+            desc = task.get("description") or ""
+
+            header = f"- **{title}**"
+            if assigned:
+                header += f" (assigned: {assigned})"
+            if task_id:
+                header += f" — `{task_id}`"
+            lines.append(header)
+
+            if desc:
+                # First sentence / 120 chars of description
+                short = desc.split(".")[0][:120]
+                lines.append(f"  {short}")
+
+        sections.append("\n".join(lines))
+
+    if not sections:
+        return "No tasks found on the Kanban board."
+
+    header_line = f"# Kanban Board — {total} task(s)\n"
+    return header_line + "\n\n".join(sections)
+
+
+def _read_bucket(bucket_dir: Path) -> list[dict]:
+    """Read and parse all JSON task files in a bucket directory."""
+    tasks = []
+    for path in sorted(bucket_dir.glob("*.json")):
+        try:
+            data = json.loads(path.read_text())
+            tasks.append(data)
+        except Exception as e:
+            logger.warning("Failed to read task file %s: %s", path, e)
+    return tasks