CLI Arguments & Env Settings

Cortex is configured entirely via CLI arguments and environment variables. Environment variables can be used as drop-in replacements for CLI flags, which is convenient for container-based deployments.

Entry Point

cortex <global-options> <command> <sub-command> [options]

Global Options

These options apply to all commands and can be set via environment variables.

Flag Short Default Description

Flag	Short	Default	Description
`--hostname`	`-h`	`localhost`	Hostname of the Loom server. Env: `LOOM_HOST`
`--port`	`-p`	`7733`	HTTP port of the Loom server. Env: `LOOM_PORT`
`--monitoring-port`		`8093`	Monitoring HTTP port. Env: `CORTEX_MONITORING_PORT`
`--meta-path`		`~/.cache/metaloom/cortex/meta`	Local metadata storage path. Env: `CORTEX_META_PATH`
`-v`		(off)	Enable DEBUG logging. Use `-vv` for TRACE.

--hostname

-h

localhost

Hostname of the Loom server. Env: LOOM_HOST

--port

-p

7733

HTTP port of the Loom server. Env: LOOM_PORT

--monitoring-port

8093

Monitoring HTTP port. Env: CORTEX_MONITORING_PORT

--meta-path

~/.cache/metaloom/cortex/meta

Local metadata storage path. Env: CORTEX_META_PATH

-v

(off)

Enable DEBUG logging. Use -vv for TRACE.

Commands

`server start`

Start the Cortex server in continuous (daemon) mode. Cortex connects to Loom, loads pipeline definitions, and processes new assets as they arrive.

cortex server start [--actions <node1,node2,...>]

Option Short Description

Option	Short	Description
`--actions`	`-a`	Comma-separated list of node names to enable. When omitted all registered nodes are active.

--actions

-a

Comma-separated list of node names to enable. When omitted all registered nodes are active.

Example:

cortex --hostname loom.internal --port 7733 server start --actions sha256,thumbnail,tika

`process run`

Process a local directory tree once (batch mode) and exit.

cortex process run [--actions <node1,...>] <path>

Option Short Description

Option	Short	Description
`--actions`	`-a`	Comma-separated list of node names to enable.
`<path>`		(positional) Root directory to process.

--actions

-a

Comma-separated list of node names to enable.

<path>

(positional) Root directory to process.

Example — hash and thumbnail all files under /media/archive:

cortex process run --actions sha256,sha512,thumbnail /media/archive

Example — run all nodes against a directory using env vars instead of flags:

LOOM_HOST=loom.internal LOOM_PORT=7733 cortex process run /media/inbox

Environment Variable Reference

Variable Default Description

Variable	Default	Description
`LOOM_HOST`	`localhost`	Loom server hostname
`LOOM_PORT`	`7733`	Loom server HTTP port
`CORTEX_MONITORING_PORT`	`8093`	Cortex monitoring/health port
`CORTEX_META_PATH`	`~/.cache/metaloom/cortex/meta`	Local metadata cache directory

LOOM_HOST

localhost

Loom server hostname

LOOM_PORT

7733

Loom server HTTP port

CORTEX_MONITORING_PORT

8093

Cortex monitoring/health port

CORTEX_META_PATH

~/.cache/metaloom/cortex/meta

Local metadata cache directory

Verbosity

# INFO level (default)
cortex server start

# DEBUG level
cortex -v server start

# TRACE level
cortex -vv server start