Using Cortex with AI Assistants

The cortex command includes a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. Connect it to ChatGPT, Claude Code, Claude Desktop, or another MCP client, and your AI assistant can evaluate Cortex programs — exact arithmetic, symbolic computation, calculus, linear algebra — instead of doing math "in its head".

Experimental

Cortex is experimental. Its syntax and behavior may change between releases.

Setup for Local MCP Clients

With Claude Code, register the server with a single command:

claude mcp add cortex -- npx -y @cortex-js/compute-engine mcp

For Claude Desktop and most other MCP clients, add the server to the client's JSON configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cortex": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@cortex-js/compute-engine", "mcp"]
    }
  }
}

If the Compute Engine package is already installed in your project, you can run the local copy instead of downloading one: use npx cortex mcp (that is, "command": "npx", "args": ["cortex", "mcp"]).

That's it. The next time you start the client, the Cortex tools are available to the assistant.

Setup for ChatGPT

ChatGPT developer mode connects to a public HTTPS MCP endpoint using Streamable HTTP or to an OpenAI Secure MCP Tunnel; it cannot start the local stdio command directly. A Secure MCP Tunnel is the recommended way to connect the local Cortex server without opening an inbound port or making it public.

In ChatGPT, open Settings → Security and login and enable Developer mode. Availability depends on your account and workspace policy.
Create a tunnel in the OpenAI Platform tunnel settings, associate it with the ChatGPT workspace that will use Cortex, and copy its tunnel_id. Download tunnel-client from the link in those settings or from its latest release.

Configure tunnel-client to launch Cortex over stdio, validate the configuration, and run it:

export CONTROL_PLANE_API_KEY="sk-..."

tunnel-client init \
  --sample sample_mcp_stdio_local \
  --profile cortex \
  --tunnel-id tunnel_0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef \
  --mcp-command "npx -y @cortex-js/compute-engine mcp"

tunnel-client doctor --profile cortex --explain
tunnel-client run --profile cortex

Replace the example API key and tunnel ID with your own values. Keep tunnel-client run running while using Cortex from ChatGPT.

In ChatGPT, open Settings → Plugins, select the plus button, choose Tunnel under Connection, and select the tunnel you created.
Start a new conversation, add Cortex from the tools menu, and try one of the prompts below. ChatGPT should discover the five Cortex tools and use evaluate for a computation.

See OpenAI's developer-mode connection guide for current availability and interface details.

Alternative: Public Development Endpoint

You can instead start Cortex's native Streamable HTTP transport and expose it through an HTTPS development tunnel.

Start the local HTTP endpoint:
```
npx -y @cortex-js/compute-engine mcp \
  --transport streamable-http \
  --port 8000
```
The MCP endpoint is now available locally at http://localhost:8000/mcp.
In another terminal, expose port 8000 with an HTTPS tunnel that supports streaming. For example, with ngrok:
```
ngrok http 8000
```
Append /mcp to the HTTPS forwarding URL printed by ngrok. For example: https://example.ngrok.app/mcp.
In ChatGPT, open Settings → Plugins, select the plus button, and create a connection using the public /mcp URL. Do not enter the localhost URL; ChatGPT must be able to reach the endpoint from the Internet.

Development only

The public development URL is temporary and, unless you configure tunnel authentication, reachable by anyone who knows it while both processes are running. Stop the tunnel and Cortex server after testing. For shared or production use, use Secure MCP Tunnel or put the HTTP endpoint behind a stable HTTPS reverse proxy with appropriate authentication, rate limits, logging, and monitoring.

What the Assistant Gets

Tool	Purpose
`evaluate`	Run a Cortex program and return its value — as display text, Cortex source, and MathJSON — along with any diagnostics
`check`	Validate a program's syntax without evaluating it
`doc`	Look up a library function by name, or search the library by keywords
`parse`	Convert Cortex source to MathJSON
`serialize`	Convert MathJSON to Cortex source

The server also publishes the language card for AI agents as a resource (cortex://docs/for-agents), and its setup instructions tell the assistant to read it before writing Cortex — so the assistant learns the language's syntax and idioms on its own.

Trying It Out

Ask your assistant something that benefits from exact computation, and mention Cortex if it doesn't reach for the tools on its own:

"Use Cortex to compute the exact value of the sum of 1/k² for k from 1 to 100."
"Solve x³ − 6x² + 11x − 6 = 0 exactly with Cortex."
"What does the Cortex function Reduce do?"

The assistant writes a small Cortex program, runs it with the evaluate tool, and reports the result — exact fractions, radicals, and symbolic constants included, with none of the rounding or slips of doing arithmetic token by token.

Good to Know

Each evaluate call is independent. A call runs a complete program in a fresh session; definitions do not carry over from one call to the next. The assistant knows this and writes self-contained programs.
Evaluations have a deadline. By default a program is canceled after 10 seconds. Start the server with cortex mcp --time-limit <ms> to change the default (0 disables it); the assistant can also adjust it per call.
The computation runs locally by default. The server is part of the npm package, and programs evaluate in the Node.js process that runs cortex mcp. A ChatGPT connection still uses the configured Secure MCP Tunnel or HTTPS endpoint to reach that process.
The HTTP transport is local by default. It binds to 127.0.0.1, limits requests to 1 MiB, and rejects unapproved browser origins. Use --host, --port, and --path to configure the listener. Repeat --allow-origin <origin> for browser clients that run on another origin. Binding to a public interface does not add authentication or TLS.

The same package also provides a command-line interface and interactive REPL for using Cortex yourself.

Setup for Local MCP Clients​

Setup for ChatGPT​

Alternative: Public Development Endpoint​

What the Assistant Gets​

Trying It Out​

Good to Know​