Cortex-Inara/inara/HELP.md

Cortex UI — Help & Reference

This file is loaded into Inara's context at Tier 2+ so she can help Scott navigate the interface. It is also displayed in the web UI via the ? button.

Last updated: 2026-03-17

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Header Controls

Button	What it does
Sessions	Open the sessions panel — list, resume, or start sessions
Files	Open the identity file editor (SOUL, MEMORY, etc.)
⚙ N	Open the Context & Memory panel (N = current tier)
claude / gemini	Active backend — click to toggle primary
Aa / A+ / A−	Cycle font size: normal (16px) → large (18px) → small (14px)
☾ / ☀	Toggle dark / light theme
?	Open this help panel

All header settings (theme, font size, tier, memory layers) persist in localStorage across page refreshes.

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Chat

• Send: Ctrl+Enter by default. Click ⌃↵ in the input controls to toggle to plain Enter mode.
• Stop: Click Stop to cancel an in-progress response at any time.
• Edit a message: Hover over any message → click edit. Ctrl+Enter saves, Esc cancels.
• Delete a message: Hover over any message → click del. Removes from session history.
• Copy a response: Hover over any assistant message → click copy.
• New line while typing: Shift+Enter (in Ctrl+Enter mode) or Shift+Enter / Enter (in Enter mode).

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Sessions

Sessions are named conversation threads that persist across page refreshes.

• Click Sessions → + New to start a fresh session.
• Click any listed session to resume it — full history loads instantly.
• Sessions from Nextcloud Talk appear as nct_* prefixed IDs.
• A blue ● badge appears on the Sessions button when Talk activity arrives in a session you're not currently viewing.

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Notes

Notes are injected into a session without triggering an LLM response.

• Click Note to toggle note mode. The input border changes colour.
• Private note (amber border) — visible only in the UI, never sent to the LLM.
• Context note (teal border) — persisted to session history so the LLM sees it on the next turn. Useful for nudging context without a full message.
• Click the private / public label to switch between note types.

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Backends

• Claude CLI and Gemini CLI are both available. One is primary, the other is fallback.
• Click the backend button (claude or gemini) to switch which is primary.
• If the primary fails or times out, the fallback is used automatically. A ⚡ notice appears in the chat when this happens.
• Timeouts: Claude 60s, Gemini 120s.

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Nextcloud Talk Bot

Inara is registered as a bot in Nextcloud Talk.

• Messages sent in enabled Talk conversations are received by Cortex, processed, and replied to by Inara.
• The webhook returns 200 OK immediately; the LLM call and reply happen asynchronously.
• Real-time updates stream to the web UI via SSE — you see Talk messages and responses appear live.
• To enable the bot in a conversation: open Talk conversation settings → Bots → enable Inara.

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Files (Identity Editor)

The Files button opens an editor for Inara's identity and memory files:

File	Purpose
SOUL.md	Core personality, values, and voice
IDENTITY.md	Role, capabilities, and context
USER.md	Scott's profile, preferences, and history
PROTOCOLS.md	Behavioural rules and communication protocols
CONTEXT_TIERS.md	Defines what gets loaded at each context tier
MEMORY_LONG.md	Permanent curated long-term memory
MEMORY_MID.md	Rolling mid-term digest (LLM-distilled)
MEMORY_SHORT.md	Recent session rollup (auto-aggregated)
HELP.md	This file

Toggle preview / edit to switch between rendered markdown and raw text. Ctrl+S saves, Esc closes.

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Context & Memory ( ⚙ panel )

Context Tiers

Controls how much context is prepended to each LLM call:

Tier	Loads	~Tokens
T1	SOUL + IDENTITY + USER summary	~1,500
T2	+ USER full + PROTOCOLS + HELP + memory layers	~5,000
T3	+ last 2 raw session logs	~15,000
T4	+ last 7 raw session logs	~50,000

Default is T2. Use T1 for small/local models. Use T3–T4 for complex multi-session tasks.

Memory Layers

Three independently toggleable memory files, loaded Long → Mid → Short (short sits closest to the conversation turn for better LLM recall):

Layer	File	Contents
Long	MEMORY_LONG.md	Permanent facts — origin, key decisions, Scott's profile highlights
Mid	MEMORY_MID.md	Rolling digest of recent weeks — LLM-distilled from Short
Short	MEMORY_SHORT.md	Recent session rollup — auto-aggregated from session log files

Toggle any layer off to save tokens for a focused conversation where history isn't needed.

Memory Distillation (manual)

Distillation builds up the memory layers from raw session logs. Currently manual — trigger via the ⚙ panel:

Button	What it does
short	Rolls recent session log files → MEMORY_SHORT.md (fast, no LLM)
mid	LLM summarizes MEMORY_SHORT.md → MEMORY_MID.md
long	LLM integrates MEMORY_MID.md → MEMORY_LONG.md
all	Runs short → mid → long in sequence

Recommended workflow:

• Run short after any productive session to capture it.
• Run mid weekly to distil short → mid.
• Run long monthly to absorb mid into permanent memory.

Token budgets for each layer are set in .env (MEMORY_BUDGET_LONG, MEMORY_BUDGET_MID, MEMORY_BUDGET_SHORT).

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Keyboard Shortcuts

Keys	Action
Ctrl+Enter	Send message (default mode)
Enter	Send (when in Enter mode)
Shift+Enter	New line in message input
Ctrl+Enter	Save inline message edit
Esc	Cancel inline edit
Ctrl+S	Save file (Files modal)
Esc	Close any open modal

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API Reference

For direct access or scripting:

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/chat	Send a message — returns SSE stream
GET	/backend	Get current primary/fallback backends
POST	/backend	Set primary backend ({"primary": "claude"})
GET	/sessions	List all sessions
GET	/history/{id}	Get session message history
PUT	/history/{id}	Replace full session history
GET	/events	SSE stream for real-time Talk activity
POST	/note	Inject a context note into a session
GET	/files	List identity files
GET	/files/{name}	Read a file
PUT	/files/{name}	Write a file
POST	/distill/short	Aggregate session logs → MEMORY_SHORT
POST	/distill/mid	Summarize short → MEMORY_MID (LLM)
POST	/distill/long	Integrate mid → MEMORY_LONG (LLM)
POST	/distill/all	Run all three distillation steps
GET	/distill/status	Show scheduler status and next run times
GET	/health	Health check — returns {"status": "ok"}

Chat request body (POST /chat):

{
  "message": "string",
  "session_id": "string | null",
  "tier": 1,
  "model": "claude | gemini | null",
  "include_long": true,
  "include_mid": true,
  "include_short": true
}

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In Progress / Planned

• Auto memory distillation (long) — short and mid run automatically; long-term integration is off by default (set AUTO_DISTILL_LONG=true in .env to enable)
• Ollama local model backend — direct Ollama API support (no CLI wrapper)
• OAuth token auto-refresh notifications — alert when Claude CLI token is near expiry
• Multi-user support — per-user identity/memory files; currently single-user (Scott)

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Cortex is Scott's personal AI orchestration system. Inara is its primary resident agent. Built on FastAPI + Claude CLI + Gemini CLI. Named after Firefly.