A guide for your agent
Give your agent this page and tell it what you want to accomplish. It can check what is already connected, follow the supported setup if needed, and use Cortex while helping you with real work.
Read https://eduarda.ai/agent-guide and help me use Cortex for the work I describe. Start with what is already connected, keep knowledge maintenance with you, and tell me what you need from me.
The instructions below are for the agent. For the story behind this way of working, read How I use Cortex and One Growing Brain.
By Eduarda FerreiraPublished
Download the flash bundle for this module.
Start with the work
Use the person's stated goal and available project context. If the goal is missing, ask what they want to accomplish. Choose one useful next step and explain what a good result would look like. Do not ask them to design a knowledge graph or write an initial library of Modules.
Check what is connected
Inspect the Cortex tools and guidance available in this session. Confirm that the connection uses the person’s intended Account and authorized material before reading or changing knowledge; resolve any uncertainty with them first. If tools are available, make a real, read-only Cortex call to list or find the Modules the person can access. An empty result can be valid; an error or a description of what you would do does not verify a connection. Report tool access and loaded guidance separately.
Keep a working connection. If Cortex is unavailable, follow the current installation guide and agent integration guide for this host. Guided setup also offers “Ask my agent to help.” Handle the steps your tools and permissions support; give the person only the sign-in, consent or host actions that require them. If this host cannot connect, explain the supported alternative and what remains unverified.
Establish how to maintain knowledge
Read the maintained Cortex instructions. Check how this host receives persistent guidance; tools being available does not prove that guidance will load in another session. Follow the host's current setup guide and preserve its existing instructions.
Apply the person's existing preference for knowledge changes. If it is not clear, ask whether you should maintain useful knowledge as you work or propose changes for approval first. Save that preference when authorized. Guidance does not grant permissions or override the host's rules.
Do something useful
Before acting, find and Flash the narrowest relevant Module, including its declared Dependencies. Use that knowledge to guide the work, and check the current files, tools or other evidence separately. If there is no relevant knowledge yet, start from the person's goal and available evidence without inventing a Module just to demonstrate a call.
Carry out the agreed next step within your authority. As the person explains a requirement, makes a decision or corrects a result, preserve what will matter again and why. Update existing Modules where they fit, create missing ones where needed, and maintain their Dependencies under the person's chosen review policy. Keep sensitive information within its intended audience. Use Issues for unfinished work that needs coordination; a saved Module does not mean that work is implemented.
Read back what changed
After an authorized knowledge change, Flash the relevant Module again. Check that the returned knowledge contains the intended decision and its reason. Briefly tell the person what you accomplished, what you saved and how it affected the work. Distinguish a verified result from something still proposed, blocked or untested.
Continue in another session
Leave a short handoff with the goal, completed result, exact Module names to retrieve, remaining work and next action. Save it in the existing owning Issue when available and authorized, and include that Issue reference in your reply. Otherwise, tell the person what continuation information remains only in this chat. In the next session, check the connection and guidance, retrieve that knowledge, and inspect the current work before continuing. Do not assume this conversation was carried over or claim continuity until retrieval succeeds. Another host also needs its own supported connection and the required access.
The person keeps supplying intent, judgment and corrections. You handle retrieving and maintaining the knowledge that helps the next piece of work build on this one.