CortexDB Docs
Docs for CortexDB 0.14.1, the version running on CortexDB Cloud (api.cortexdb.ai).
API Reference

GET /v1/episodes

List episodes — consolidated narrative spans built from raw events.

GET
/v1/episodes
AuthorizationBearer <token>

Authorization: Bearer . Four credentials authenticate: (1) the operator key, the static CORTEX_API_KEY: the trusted operator, acting as the principal X-Cortex-Actor names (default user:local), in billing tenant default; (2) a PASETO v4 public token this server's minter signed (POST /v1/auth/tokens, POST /v1/auth/signup, the mint_offline tool), of audience CORTEX_V1_AUDIENCE or, with CORTEX_V1_TENANT_AUDIENCES=1, a billing tenant's own cortexdb:tenant:; (3) since 0.14.0 (principal_chain_v1), a JWT (RS256 or ES256) or PASETO v4 public token of an issuers-file entry (CORTEX_AUTH_ISSUERS_FILE; [auth] issuers_file on a cluster data node), whose subject, audience and token id (:) the entry maps; (4) a commitment transport token, on /v1/memory/commitments/* only. HS256, none and every symmetric JWT algorithm are refused. With auth disabled (no operator key: CORTEX_API_KEY unset on a loopback bind, or CORTEX_INSECURE_NO_AUTH) no token is verified and every request is served as the trusted operator, as the X-Cortex-Actor it names or user:local. On the operator key, with auth disabled and in the unsigned development mode, an X-Cortex-Actor that is not a principal id is 400 INVALID_HEADER, details {part: header, field: X-Cortex-Actor, reason: the parse error} (since 0.14.0; before, 401 INVALID_BODY). X-Cortex-Actor must equal the token's sub; a token of an issuers-file entry in prefix, hash or directory mode and a call of /mcp may leave it out (when present it must match). Any other token sent without it is verified first: a bearer of no known token form (a mistyped operator key) is 401 MISSING_TOKEN, any other bad token gets its own refusal, as with the header, and only a token that verifies answers 401 ACTOR_MISMATCH, the header is required. Every authenticated response carries X-Cortex-Token-Expires-In and X-Cortex-Token-Expires-At (and a Warning header within 72 h of expiry); every error of the auth layer carries X-Cortex-Request-ID.

Authentication refusals, the same on every authenticated route, none retriable unless marked. A token that carries none of the principal-chain claims and was not signed by an issuers-file entry gets each code with no details, as in 0.13.x; an entry's token, and a token that carries a chain claim other than minter, gets details.issuer (the entry's id, minter, commitment or unknown) and the details named here. 401 MISSING_TOKEN: no Authorization: Bearer header, or a bearer that is neither the operator key nor a PASETO v4 public or JWT token (a wrong operator key), with or without X-Cortex-Actor. 401 INVALID_TOKEN: a PASETO token no registered key verifies, a token signed by a key other than the issuer its iss names included. 401 INVALID_TOKEN_SIGNATURE: a bad signature, an iss no issuer is registered under, a JWT algorithm other than RS256 or ES256, a malformed token, or, on a token without chain claims, an iat ahead of the clock; for an issuers-file entry's token details.reason issuer_disabled, token_type, critical_header, algorithm, kid_revoked or unknown_kid (none for a bad signature). 401 EXPIRED_TOKEN. 401 REVOKED_TOKEN: the token's id is revoked (an entry's token goes by :). 401 WRONG_TENANT: an aud the token's issuer may not name, or one that names no tenant. 401 INVALID_TOKEN_CLAIM (since 0.14.0), details.claim and details.reason: a principal-chain claim malformed (malformed, not_an_agent, same_as_sub, not_a_service, person_with_agent, run_start_without_run, after_iat, run_too_old, out_of_range; unknown_critical_claim, with details.critical); an issuers-file entry's token without exp, iat or jti (missing), with iat or nbf ahead of the clock (ahead), or living longer than the entry's max_lifetime_s (claim exp, lifetime_over_maximum, details.lifetime_s, details.ceiling_s); a token this server's minter signed whose exp - iat is above the ceiling for its subject as this server runs it (CORTEX_MINT_MAX_LIFETIME_PERSON, _AGENT and _SERVICE since 0.14.1; by default 7,776,000 s for a user:, 604,800 s for an agent:, 2,592,000 s for a service: or system:) (claim exp, lifetime_over_ceiling, details.issuer minter, details.lifetime_s, details.ceiling_s; checked before the revocation, and counted instead while CORTEX_MINT_LIFETIME_ENFORCE=off); and, whatever issuer signed it, a token whose act names an AI employee of its tenant, the self of an employee record that is not delegable (claim act, act_not_delegable). 401 CLAIM_NOT_PERMITTED (since 0.14.0), details.claim: a chain claim the token's issuer is not bound to assert (an issuers-file entry's [issuer.claims]; minter from any issuer but this server's minter; the minter's own chain claims without the chain assertion), or an issuers-file entry's scopes entry outside its token's tenant root org: (claim scopes, details.entry). 401 SUBJECT_UNMAPPED (since 0.14.0), details.reason: an issuers-file entry's subject mapping produced no principal (missing, not_a_principal, kind, service, foreign_namespace, personal_data_in_id, malformed, too_long, not_in_directory, directory_not_here); and, on every route whatever issuer signed the credential, a principal whose entry in its tenant's directory (org:) is deactivated (deactivated; never the trusted operator). 410 TENANT_DELETED (since 0.14.0): the credential's tenant root, org:, is being deleted or was (POST /v1/erasures/tenant); never the trusted operator. 503 REVOCATION_UNAVAILABLE (retriable): the revocation list cannot answer, so every token is refused as an outage, never 401 REVOKED_TOKEN, and the list still fails closed: on a cluster data node while the node's revocation lease has expired (the metadata group has not confirmed its revocation set for 10 s, or the node has just started), and on a single node once the list's journal failed (a refused write latches the list). 503 ISSUER_KEYS_UNAVAILABLE (retriable): an issuers-file entry's JWKS cannot be fetched and no pinned or cached key verifies the token; Retry-After is the whole seconds until the key cache's next fetch (its backoff, 3 s doubling to 60 s; 3 s before the first fetch), at least 1, also in details.retry_after_seconds. 503 WAL_UNAVAILABLE (retriable): the directory did not read, so a directory-mode subject's principal, or a principal's deactivation, is unknown.

Authorization refusals any route gives where it checks a capability or a roster, none retriable. 403 POLICY_DENIED, details.capability and details.denied_by_tier (deployment, tenant, actor or scope): the deployment's or the tenant's policy denies the capability, the token's caps leave it out, a scopes entry names it but not at this scope, or the scope's roster does not admit the caller. Since 0.14.0 a token that carries scopes holds only the capabilities an entry names (: its subtree, ! that one scope, :* every scope and the checks made without one); any other is refused with details.link confinement, and counted instead while CORTEX_TOKEN_CONFINEMENT_ENFORCE=off. An agent chain token (one that carries act or run, or app or client resolving to agent) is confined so whatever the switch, and without scopes holds no capability. A tenant-audience token's :* entry at a scope outside its own org: root is details.link tenant. A token another principal minted (minter a principal other than its sub) also needs that minter to hold the capability under the deployment's and the tenant's policy and the role on the scope's roster: details.link minter, denied_by_tier scope, counted instead while CORTEX_MINTER_LINK_ENFORCE=off. A read whose credential stops being current while it runs (expired or revoked, or its issuers-file entry disabled or reloaded without its audience) is refused 403 POLICY_DENIED before it delivers. 403 APP_NOT_ADMITTED (since 0.14.0): in a tenant whose root sets apps_enforced, a chain whose application (app, or unlisted) is not admitted at the scope. 403 RUN_REQUIRED (since 0.14.0), details.scope: on the write routes (POST /v1/experience, each item of /v1/experience/bulk and /v1/experiences, each JSONL import line, POST /v1/beliefs), a token with act and no run.

The operator key under CORTEX_OPERATOR_DATA_READS (since 0.14.0, operator_break_glass_v1): allow, audit or deny; unset, deny on the cloud_shared_saas preset and allow on the other presets and with auth disabled; a tenant's own mode (PUT /v1/admin/access/tenant-settings) overrides it in that tenant. 403 BREAK_GLASS_REQUIRED, details {mode, class, route}: under deny, without a well-formed X-Cortex-Break-Glass, an operator-key action of class stored_rows (a route that returns stored rows, or a forget or erasure preview whose selector names about_subject, about_entity or predicate), admin_content (a content-returning admin route), private_region (a read whose scope or extra_scopes lie in a private region) or in_band (a mint of a token that carries a data capability, can mint, carries a registry-write capability or is for an Owner of a private region; a registration, an auto-provisioning first write included; a roster or tree edit that widens a private region or adds a service: principal; a write into a private region or a shared org-tree scope; a migration out of a private region; lowering a tenant's mode from deny; a deployment minter's mint of a token that carries a data capability). 400 INVALID_HEADER, in every mode: that header malformed, sent twice or longer than 512 bytes, details {part: header, field: X-Cortex-Break-Glass, reason: what is wrong with it}. Both refusals write the request's audit row as decision deny, each with its denial (check operator_access, path request#x-cortex-break-glass, decided_by_tier request; reason the 403's class, or break_glass_invalid for the 400, which names no scope), within the operator key's bound (its billing tenant and X-Cortex-Actor) (AuditRow). Its form: reason=incident|legal|support|security|migration|restore|other; ticket=1 to 64 characters of [A-Za-z0-9._:-]; optionally note=percent-encoded UTF-8 of at most 256 bytes; no other key, separated by semicolons. It is read only on the operator key's requests and on a deployment minter's POST /v1/auth/tokens, and ignored on every other credential; a cross-origin browser page cannot send it. 503 NOTICE_UNAVAILABLE: under deny, a header-bearing read of a private region whose notice to the region's person did not commit, so nothing was delivered: details.reason moving, limit, members_behind (Retry-After: 30) or refused (details.refusal), each retriable; arming_disabled and reserved_path_in_use, not retriable. A by-id read's notice is its row's region's, committed once the row is read (since 0.14.0; scope_unnamed is gone).

Before authentication, a build that enforces licenses answers every data route 402 LICENSE_EXPIRED, or 402 LICENSE_REQUIRED when it never held a license, not retriable; health, version, ready, /metrics, the published contract (the OpenAPI document, GET /v1/schemas and /v1/schemas/{name}), the console, every GET /v1/admin/* route, GET /v1/auth/whoami, POST /v1/export and, since 0.14.0, deleting data (POST /v1/forget and its preview, POST /v1/erasures and its preview, /v1/erasures/person, /v1/erasures/tenant, /v1/erasures/{id}/cancel, and GET /v1/erasures/{id}, /verify and /receipt) pass. Not an authentication refusal, and answered only where a write needs a newer shard apply format than the node's shard is armed for (change sets, application records, directory and SCIM writes, a person's erasure and a tenant's deletion, writes that carry atoms or provenance, rehomes and watermarks, a declared belief with provenance): 503 FORMAT_UPGRADE_PENDING, details {reason, format, node, paths, count} (reason, format and node alone on the directory, SCIM, rehome and watermark writes; reason alone on an application record or a reference root), retriable with Retry-After: 30 for members_behind only (arming_disabled and reserved_path_in_use wait for the operator). A plain node arms for format 10 at its first boot of 0.14.0 under the default ceiling, one way, and then never answers it.

In: header

Query Parameters

scope*string

The scope path to read (422 INVALID_SCOPE_GRAMMAR when it does not parse).

view?string

local (the default), granular, raw and structured read the scope exactly (structured still needs scope.read.holistic); holistic adds the authorized ancestors (never descendants); descend reads the authorized subtree. A walk never enters a private region it did not start in (DB-10). Any other value, lineage included, is 422 INVALID_BODY (invalid view); the value is case-sensitive.

Default"local"

Value in

  • "local"
  • "granular"
  • "raw"
  • "structured"
  • "holistic"
  • "descend"
limit?integer

Page size, default 50, clamped to 1..1000.

Range1 <= value <= 1000
Default50
cursor?string

The previous page's next_cursor: a decimal offset into the filtered, ordered result (422 INVALID_CURSOR for any other value). Absent: the first page.

include_vectors?boolean

Since 0.14.0, true returns each record's summary_embedding (a fact's embedding, a belief's or an episode's summary embedding), read back from the side store records are stored lean beside (binary16, within about 1e-3 of the vector embedded); a record that has none stays without. Omitted by default.

Defaultfalse
overlapping?string

.., each side a date expression (2024-03-01, march 2024, 2019): keeps episodes whose [started_at, ended_at) overlaps the range from the start of the left expression to the end of the right one (2024-03..2024-04 covers both months). An episode without ended_at is ongoing; a zero-length one is an instant. 422 INVALID_RANGE when a side does not parse (a relative phrase such as yesterday or last year included, since 0.14.0), there is no .., or the range is empty.

actor?string

Keeps episodes whose actors_involved holds exactly this actor id (for example user:alice).

with_causal_chain?boolean

true gives every item a causal_chain: the builder's role-tagged entries ({event, role, summary?}) when it made any, else one {event_id} per event in order; at most 50 entries.

Defaultfalse
at_least?string

consistency_tokens_v1: a consistency token from an earlier response, unchanged. Before the route authorizes and runs the read, this node waits until its registry has reached the token's revision and its indexer has indexed below its offset (408 WAIT_TIMEOUT past CORTEX_CONSISTENCY_WAIT_MS, default 10000, at most 30000; 422 CONSISTENCY_TOKEN_INVALID for a token that cannot be this deployment's). The root is ?scope='s, else the token's own; a ?scope= that does not parse skips the wait. A successful response then carries the ConsistencyFields (consistency_token; consistency_reset, derived_through and access_restored_at when they apply) after its own fields.

Header Parameters

X-Cortex-Break-Glass?string

operator_break_glass_v1 (API reference §8.15.3): read only on a request the operator key (CORTEX_API_KEY) authenticates, and on a deployment minter's POST /v1/auth/tokens; ignored on every other credential. reason=<incident|legal|support|security|migration|restore|other>; ticket=<1 to 64 of [A-Za-z0-9._:-]>[; note=<percent-encoded UTF-8, at most 256 bytes>], exactly one header of at most 512 bytes; any other form is 400 INVALID_HEADER in every mode (details {part: header, field: X-Cortex-Break-Glass, reason}), and the request's audit row a deny. Under CORTEX_OPERATOR_DATA_READS=deny (the deployment's, or the tenant's own) an operator-key request that reads stored rows, a content-returning admin route, a private region's read, or an in-band path needs it, else 403 BREAK_GLASS_REQUIRED (details {mode, class, route}). A well-formed header is written to the audit row as {reason, ticket}, never the note.

Lengthlength <= 512
X-Cortex-Subject-Token?string

subject_token_shadow_v1: on a request the operator key authenticates, the token of the principal the operator acts for, verified by the same verifier (without waiting on the network and without the X-Cortex-Actor step) and evaluated in shadow by the access report (GET /v1/admin/access/report). It never changes the response: a repeated, oversized (over 8,192 bytes) or invalid header, or the operator key itself, is recorded as the shadow's invalid_token and the request runs as sent.

Lengthlength <= 8192

Response Body

application/json

application/json

application/json

application/json

application/json

application/json

application/json

application/json

curl -X GET "https://example.com/v1/episodes?scope=string"
{  "items": [    {      "id": "string",      "scope": "string",      "name": "string",      "summary": "string",      "events": [        "string"      ],      "started_at": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",      "ended_at": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",      "valid_from": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",      "valid_to": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",      "recorded_from": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",      "recorded_to": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z",      "actors_involved": [        "string"      ],      "centrality_score": 0,      "causal_chain": [        {          "event": "string",          "role": "trigger",          "summary": "string"        }      ],      "sealed": true,      "summary_embedding": [        0      ],      "atoms": [        {          "scope": "string",          "record": "string",          "created_at": "2019-08-24T14:15:22Z"        }      ],      "_partial": true,      "_partial_reason": "string",      "_progress": 0    }  ],  "next_cursor": "string",  "has_more": true}

Episode item shape

An episode is { id, scope, summary, events, started_at, ended_at, valid_from, valid_to, recorded_from, recorded_to, sealed }: summary is text such as "Session of N events starting with: …", events lists the member events, and sealed says whether it is closed. Episodes carry no actors field, so filter by actor through the member events rather than an actor parameter. The causal_chain appears with with_causal_chain=true, as an ordered list [{ event_id }].

Behavior notes

  • Envelope: { items, next_cursor, has_more }. overlapping=<from>..<to> filters (200).
  • POST /v1/episodes/build { scope } → { built: N, items: [...] } forces a consolidation pass.
  • Episodes are sealed once consolidated — their events[] becomes immutable (append-only model).

Read episodes from the list

There is no single-episode read: list episodes with GET /v1/episodes and take the item you need from the list (GET /v1/episodes/{id} answers 404).

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