cortex-mine

Original：🇺🇸 English
Translated
1 scripts

Mine Gmail history into a local flat-file knowledge base (~/.cortex/). Use when asked to "run the cortex", "mine emails", "cortex run", "cortex dry run", "set up the cortex", "cortex from DATE", or "mine my inbox". Extracts contacts, clients, communications and knowledge facts into portable JSONL/JSON files. Requires gws CLI and ANTHROPIC_API_KEY.

2installs
Sourcejezweb/claude-skills
Added on

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add jezweb/claude-skills cortex-mine

Tags

Translated version includes tags in frontmatter
gmail-knowledge-mininglocal-knowledge-baseanthropic-apicli-tooldata-export

SKILL.md Content

View Translation Comparison →

Knowledge Cortex — Mine

Mine your Gmail history into structured flat files — contacts, clients, communications, and key facts — stored in 
~/.cortex/
. No server required. Files you own.

When invoked

Read 
{skill_path}/references/file-schema.md
for the storage format before any file operations.

Commands

What user saysAction
"run the cortex" / "cortex run"Run mining pass
"cortex dry run"Mine without writing — pass 
--dry-run
"cortex from DATE"Mine from specific date — pass 
--from YYYY-MM-DD
"set up the cortex"Run first-time setup

Setup (first run)

Check prerequisites:
bash
which gws || echo "MISSING: npm install -g @googleworkspace/cli"
python3 -c "import anthropic" 2>/dev/null || echo "MISSING: pip install anthropic"
ls ~/.cortex/state.json 2>/dev/null || echo "FIRST RUN"
If 
gws
missing: tell user 
npm install -g @googleworkspace/cli
then 
gws auth setup
. If 
anthropic
missing: tell user 
pip install anthropic
(or 
pip install anthropic --break-system-packages
on managed Python). If first run: initialise storage.
bash
mkdir -p ~/.cortex/originals
echo '{}' > ~/.cortex/contacts.json
echo '{}' > ~/.cortex/clients.json
touch ~/.cortex/communications.jsonl ~/.cortex/knowledge.jsonl ~/.cortex/files.jsonl
Write 
~/.cortex/state.json
:
json
{"version":"1.0","cursors":{"gmail":null},"last_run":null,"totals":{"contacts":0,"clients":0,"communications":0,"knowledge":0,"files":0},"runs":[]}

Mining

bash
python3 {skill_path}/scripts/cortex-mine.py
python3 {skill_path}/scripts/cortex-mine.py --dry-run
python3 {skill_path}/scripts/cortex-mine.py --from 2024-01-01
python3 {skill_path}/scripts/cortex-mine.py --batch-size 25
The script prints a run report on completion. Show it to the user verbatim.
Common errors:
  • gws: command not found
    — install gws CLI
  • AuthError
    / 
    403
    — run 
    gws auth setup
  • ANTHROPIC_API_KEY not set
    — set env var or add to 
    ~/.cortex/.env
  • ModuleNotFoundError: anthropic
    — 
    pip install anthropic

Scheduling

  • Claude Code Desktop: Cowork > Scheduled > New Task > 
    Run the cortex-mine skill
    > Daily
  • CLI: 
    /loop 24h run the cortex-mine skill
  • Cron: 
    0 6 * * * cd ~ && ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-... python3 /path/to/cortex-mine.py

Exporting data

See 
{skill_path}/references/export-adapters.md
for patterns to export cortex data to Obsidian, SQLite, Notion, CRM systems, or custom APIs.

Environment

VariableDefaultPurpose
CORTEX_DIR
~/.cortex
Storage root
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
—Required for extraction
CORTEX_BATCH_SIZE
50
Threads per run
CORTEX_OWNER_EMAIL
—Your email — excluded from contacts

References

  • File schemas: 
    {skill_path}/references/file-schema.md
  • Pre-filter rules: 
    {skill_path}/references/prefilter-patterns.md
  • Export patterns: 
    {skill_path}/references/export-adapters.md