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AI · August 2, 2025

CO

Cortex – OS-wide AI with instant context input

Hey HN! I’m Andrew, and I’ve been building Cortex (https://cortexdesktop.com/) for the last few weeks. Cortex is my attempt to reimagine how we interact with computers - starting with a simple interface, but aiming for something deeper: an AI layer over your OS that understands what you’re doing, remembers it, and helps you dynamically. Right now, Cortex is just a floating overlay you can summon anywhere on your Mac. It works like an inline ChatGPT, but it lets you instantly send that context into the chat by highlighting text - so you don’t have to explain what you’re doing.…

Cortex – OS-wide AI with instant context input launched on August 2, 2025 with 6 votes and more than 75% of that year's launches.

What it does

In the maker’s words, at launch

Hey HN! I’m Andrew, and I’ve been building Cortex (https://cortexdesktop.com/) for the last few weeks. Cortex is my attempt to reimagine how we interact with computers - starting with a simple interface, but aiming for something deeper: an AI layer over your OS that understands what you’re doing…

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