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Your Zarova account is used to sign in and restore your authorised session.
Cortex for macOS
Search what you remember.
Cortex turns an ordinary folder on your Mac into one connected workspace across documents, PDFs, presentations and spreadsheets, without moving your files into a proprietary document store.
Cortex v0.1.3 requires an Apple Silicon Mac running macOS 11 or later.
Cortex v0.1.3 · macOS · Apple Silicon · Build Week Preview · Approximately 8.92 MB · macOS 11+
Ad-hoc signed · Not notarised
Cortex doesn’t ask you to reorganize your work.It helps you rediscover it.
You remember the idea. Not the filename.
Important information is spread across folders, formats and projects. Cortex helps you find the conclusion, phrase, number or context you remember, even when you no longer remember where it was saved.
- Find what you remember.
- Search across the formats you use.
- Open the original file.
Experience Cortex.
See Cortex in action
A guided walkthrough of the current Cortex Build Week Preview, from setup and vault creation to search, previews, imports and updates.
Cortex: Search What You Remember | OpenAI Build Week 2026
Watch on YouTubeThe YouTube player loads only after you choose to play the demo.
The Cortex product demo has not been loaded.
How Cortex works.
- 01
Choose or create a vault
Select the ordinary folder Cortex should use as your workspace.
- 02
Add your files
Keep supported files and folders in the vault you control.
- 03
Cortex indexes locally
A local catalogue prepares supported files for Search and previews.
- 04
Search what you remember
Find remembered phrases, numbers and context across supported files.
- 05
Preview and continue with the originals
Review the evidence, then open the original file in place.
Your files remain your files.
Cortex works with ordinary folders on your Mac. It builds a local catalogue for Search and previews while the original files remain inside the vault you choose.
- Vault
- Local catalogue
- Search and previews
A Zarova account is required for authentication. The current release does not run AI inference against the vault.
Works across the formats you already use.
Text-based PDFs are supported. OCR is not included in the current preview.
- DOCX
- PPTX
- XLSX
- Markdown
- TXT
Before you use Cortex.
Internet is required for initial sign-in.
Initial sign-in and account-related actions require a connection. Once Cortex restores a usable session, the current local Search, Library, preview and Activity workflows can continue without an active connection.
Your vault content stays local.
Cortex does not upload the contents of your selected vault files to Supabase or OpenAI in the current release. Zarova handles account information separately for authentication.
Update checks require connectivity.
Cortex can be used online or offline, but it needs an internet connection to check for updates. Eligible automatic checks and user-requested manual checks never install an update silently.
Built for today. Designed to grow.
Cortex begins with a practical local workspace for finding and exploring the files you already own. Future intelligence will build on that same user-controlled foundation.
AVAILABLE IN v0.1.3
Now product direction
Search and indexing
Index supported files locally, follow nested folder changes and search with live suggestions, highlighted excerpts and links to the original source.
Cortex is being built iteratively. Planned capabilities reflect the current product direction and may evolve as the product is tested and refined.
Installation and release
Download Cortex v0.1.3.
Submission readiness fixes
- Stronger guided-tutorial recovery and progression.
- Improved updater, vault-dialog and Activity layouts.
- Safer updater progress handling.
- More consistent empty-vault and tutorial interactions.
- Reduced redundant Keychain access.
- Shorter visible build identifier with full source provenance retained.
- Platform
- macOS
- Architecture
- Apple Silicon
- Channel
- Build Week Preview
- File size
- Approximately 8.92 MB
- Signing
- Ad-hoc signed
- Notarisation
- Not notarised
- Minimum macOS
- macOS 11+
Cortex v0.1.3 requires an Apple Silicon Mac running macOS 11 or later.
Download not starting? Open the GitHub release page.
- Download the DMG
- Drag Cortex into Applications
- Approve the preview through Privacy & Security if macOS blocks first launch
- Sign in and create or select a Cortex vault
- Add files or save downloads directly into the active vault
Choose the Cortex vault as your browser’s download destination, or save files into it through Finder. Cortex watches the folder and indexes supported files automatically.
Having trouble opening Cortex?
First-launch instructions
Preview notice
Cortex v0.1.3 is an early Build Week Preview and is not yet notarised by Apple. macOS may block the app on first launch.
Opening the preview
- Download Cortex from this page.
- Open the DMG.
- Drag Cortex into Applications.
- Try opening Cortex from Applications.
- If macOS blocks it, click Done.
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security.
- Find the Cortex warning and click Open Anyway.
- Confirm with Touch ID or your Mac login password.
After this one-time Gatekeeper approval, Cortex should open normally from Applications.
Why Cortex may request Keychain access
Cortex uses macOS Keychain to protect and restore the saved account session. On first use or after an ad-hoc-signed application update, macOS may request the Mac login or Keychain password.
- Always Allow
- Allows the official Cortex copy in Applications to retrieve its saved Keychain session. macOS may still ask again after an ad-hoc-signed update.
- Allow Once
- Grants access for the current attempt only, so macOS may ask again later.
- Deny
- Prevents Cortex from retrieving the saved session and may require you to sign in again.
Choose Always Allow only when the prompt identifies Cortex and you launched the official copy installed in Applications. Later ordinary launches on the same build should normally restore the session.
An update may require one Keychain approval. In some cases, you may need to sign in once after an update. The password requested by macOS is normally your Mac login or Keychain password, not your Cortex account password.
Troubleshooting
Cortex will not open
- Confirm Cortex is installed in Applications.
- Confirm it was downloaded from the official release.
- Use System Settings, Privacy & Security and Apple’s Open Anyway flow.
Cortex repeatedly asks for Keychain access
- Confirm the prompt identifies Cortex.
Search what you remember.
Download Cortex v0.1.3 for an Apple Silicon Mac.