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A connector hands Cortex access to an app you already use, so it can read your data and act on it. Cortex Design does not keep a catalogue of its own. It shows the same connectors as the rest of Cortex, on the sidebar row named Plugins, and the screen that row opens is headed Connectors. The row carries a meta line counting how many you have connected. This page covers where connectors live in the Design window, how to find one, what each card on the page is telling you, how to connect an app, and what to do when a connection stops working. Which connectors exist, and how their tools behave in a conversation, belongs to Connectors rather than here.

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Where connectors live in the Design window

Open Plugins in the sidebar. The page states its own purpose at the top: Give Cortex access to your tools so it can read your data and act on it. You stay connected at the provider: Cortex never sees your passwords. A pill beside the heading repeats the connected count. There is no second place to configure this. The Integrations pane in Design settings holds a single line saying that connectors live on the Plugins page, and an Open Plugins button that takes you there.

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Find a connector

If a search matches nothing, the page says it has no connector under that name and offers See all connectors to clear the filter, or Request a connector to tell Cortex what is missing.

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What a card tells you

Each card carries the app’s name and a set of markers. Read them before you connect anything:
Which connectors your account can use is a property of your plan, not of Cortex Design, and the Design window only reflects the answer. See Plans for what is included, and Connectors for the catalogue itself.

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Connect an app

1

Open Plugins and find the app

Search by name, or browse a category. A card that offers a connect control is one your account can use.
2

Choose the connect control on the card

You authorise at the provider, in its own sign-in screen. Cortex never receives your password, and you can withdraw the access at the provider as well as here.
3

Or paste a key, for a connector that uses one

Some apps use a key instead of a sign-in. The Design window asks for it in a small dialog: paste the value into the API key field and choose Continue. The hint beside the field says the key comes from the provider and is checked before it is saved, so a bad key is refused there and then rather than failing later.The same dialog has an Available in section listing the surfaces the connector reaches, and the dialog states what happens to the value you paste: Cortex stores the key sealed and removes it the moment you disconnect.
4

Check the count

The Plugins row in the sidebar and the pill on the page both count what is connected, so a successful connection is visible without reopening the card.

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When a connector stops working

Access granted at a provider does not last forever. Two things tell you it has lapsed:
  • The card gains a Reconnect required chip and a Reconnect button. Choosing it takes you back through the same authorisation.
  • A message appears saying that the connector’s authorisation expired, with Reconnect and Dismiss. It also names the work that is paused until you reconnect, so you are not left guessing which job stopped.
Nothing you have already made is affected by a lapsed connection. Your canvases, versions and library are Cortex’s own and do not depend on any connector.

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When the page will not load

If the Design window cannot reach Cortex, the page shows Couldn't load connectors and You seem to be offline. Your existing connections stay active., with a Retry button. That second sentence is the important one: an unreachable catalogue does not disconnect anything. Retry once the connection is back. See Design troubleshooting for the rest of the Design window’s offline behaviour.