Usage

Install

go install github.com/avolent/cortex@latest

Or build from source:

git clone https://github.com/avolent/cortex
cd cortex
go build

Flags

Flag	Default	Meaning
`-dir`	`.`	Folder to serve (or export)
`-addr`	`:8090`	Listen address (server mode only)
`-export`	(unset)	If set, render the wiki to static HTML in this directory and exit

Examples

cortex                          # serve current directory on :8090
cortex -dir ~/notes             # serve another folder
cortex -dir ~/repo -addr :9000  # custom port

cortex -dir doc -export ./out   # render docs to ./out, exit

Server mode: open http://localhost:8090.

Static export

-export <dir> walks every .md file under -dir, renders it to HTML, and writes the result under <dir> along with copies of any embedded images. The output is a static site you can publish to GitHub Pages, Netlify, S3, or anywhere that serves files.

Output layout:

Source	Output
`README.md`	`out/index.html`
`foo.md`	`out/foo/index.html`
`foo/bar.md`	`out/foo/bar/index.html`
`foo/README.md`	`out/foo/index.html`
`img/diagram.png`	`out/img/diagram.png`

URLs become directory-style (/foo/, /foo/bar/) so static hosts that don’t strip extensions still resolve them correctly.

Live reload is removed from the exported HTML — there’s no server to push events to.

URL behaviour

URL	Serves
`/`	`README.md` at the served root
`/foo`	`foo.md`
`/foo.md`	`foo.md` (so relative `[link](other.md)` works)
`/foo/`	`foo/README.md` if present
`/img/diagram.png`	static image, served as-is

Lookups are case-insensitive on the file extension and stem, so /TODO matches TODO.MD.

Skipped paths

These directories are excluded from the sidebar and from URL routing:

.git, node_modules, vendor, tmp, dist, build, .next, .cache, .claude

Any file or directory starting with a dot is also excluded.

Live reload

Edits to any .md file or embedded image trigger an automatic browser reload. New folders created while cortex is running are picked up automatically — no restart needed.

Folders are collapsible <details> blocks (open by default)
README.md is pinned to the top of each folder
Everything else is alphabetical

Theme

Light + dark via the OS preference (prefers-color-scheme). No flag, no toggle, no setting.