Databases

CortexPrism uses multiple SQLite databases, each serving a specific purpose. All databases use WAL mode via @libsql/client for concurrent read/write performance.

Database Overview

Database	File	Contents	Migrations
Core	cortex.db	Sessions, turns, jobs, policy rules	001, 007, 009
Memory	memory.db	5-tier memory, FTS5, embeddings	002, 008
Lens	lens.db	Audit events (all system activity)	003
Vault	vault.db	Encrypted credentials + access log	004
Plugins	plugins.db	Plugin registry	005
Session	sess_*.db	Per-session message history	006

Migration History

Migration	Database	Description
001_core.sql	cortex.db	Core schema: sessions, turns, jobs
002_memory.sql	memory.db	5-tier memory tables + FTS5 virtual tables
003_lens.sql	lens.db	Lens audit events table
004_vault.sql	vault.db	Vault entries + access log
005_plugins.sql	plugins.db	Plugin registry
006_session.sql	sess_*.db	Per-session message store
007_jobs_v2.sql	cortex.db	Job scheduler columns
008_memory_embeddings.sql	memory.db	Embedding + decay columns
009_policy.sql	cortex.db	Policy rules + default deny seeds

Data Directory Structure

~/.cortex/
├── config.json
├── data/
│   ├── cortex.db
│   ├── memory.db
│   ├── lens.db
│   ├── vault.db
│   ├── plugins.db
│   └── sess_*.db          (one per chat session)

Key Schemas

Memory (memory.db)

Table	Purpose
episodic_memory	Turn summaries of user+agent exchanges
semantic_memory	Injected facts and knowledge
reflection_memory	LLM-extracted behavior patterns
episodic_memory_fts	FTS5 virtual table for keyword search
semantic_memory_fts	FTS5 virtual table for keyword search

Lens (lens.db)

Table	Purpose
lens_events	All system events: LLM calls, tool calls, policy checks, session actions

Vault (vault.db)

Table	Purpose
vault_entries	Encrypted credential storage (name, encrypted_data, service)
vault_access_log	Audit trail of all credential access

Configuration

Database locations are configured via the data directory (default: ~/.cortex/):

# Override data directory
CORTEX_DATA_DIR=/data/cortex cortex chat