Settings

Settings in Cortex is an overlay dialog, not a page. It opens over whatever you were doing in Cortex Chat, Cortex Code or Cortex Bot, and closing it puts you back exactly where you were. Guests can browse it: the account controls say they need an account rather than disappearing. This page names every tab and the controls inside it, so you can find a setting you cannot place. Depth on a specific area lives on that area’s page, and this page links out where that is true.

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Open Settings

Choose Settings in the sidebar footer. Two deep links open the overlay directly: cortex.foundation/settings opens it over Chat, and cortex.foundation/code/settings opens it over Code. Adding ?tab= and a tab slug opens a named tab, and an unknown value falls back to General. The slugs are general, models, integrations, code, approvals, data-privacy and plan-billing. Two behaviours are worth knowing. Moving to another page in the product closes Settings, so it never traps you. And dismissing the overlay rewrites the address back to the product, so the Back button never returns you to a blank Settings URL.

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The seven tabs

The left rail has two groups: PREFERENCES and ACCOUNT.

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Search inside Settings

The field at the top of the left rail is Search settings, and it searches rows across every tab rather than only the open one. Picking a result jumps to that row on its tab. The count reads as {count} results, Clear search returns to browsing, and no match shows No settings match "{query}" with Try a shorter word, or clear the search to browse all tabs. Most rows save themselves: the control shows Saving… and then Saved. Two badges tell you when a row is not usable. COMING SOON means the control is designed and drawn but not built yet. HOLD means the action cannot be completed on this deployment right now.

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General

A guest sees You're browsing as a guest. and Sign in to manage your account in place of the email and display-name rows.

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Models

The tab carries its own notice: Model availability depends on your plan. During peak hours new chats may fall back to a faster model. Where a plan or a deployment does not offer something, the row says so, for example Voice minutes are not available on this plan. or No voice-capable models on this plan. See Models and Voice.

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Integrations

Apps connects an app so you can act on it from chat: A connected integration adds its tools to your conversations. Rows show Connected, Coming soon, Add, Disconnect and a tool count. MCP servers attaches a Model Context Protocol server over HTTP by name and URL, with an optional bearer token; a server that advertised nothing shows No tools were advertised when this server was attached. A Cortex Bot row controls whether your mascots may use those tools, off by default, and each call still asks first. See Tools and connectors and MCP servers. The rest of the tab describes an organisation rather than something you can create. Roles reports Manage connectors, Manage roles and Manage billing as Granted or Not granted, and a deployment that reports no role says This deployment does not report roles, so nothing here is inferred. Organization lists servers an organisation provisioned, and most deployments answer No organization servers on this deployment. Directory Sync is plan-gated and usually reports Directory Sync is not available on this account yet., with the stance Your identity provider stays the source of truth for who exists and who may sign in. Cortex never acts as your identity vendor. There are no teams and no invitations in Cortex today, so treat these rows as reserved rather than as a workspace you can staff.

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Code

This tab configures Cortex Code. Most people leave it alone. See Code settings for the depth, and Cortex Security for the review policy, which lives inside Code rather than here.

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Approvals

Approval matrix is the centre of this tab: Choose Ask or Always ask for each verb on Chat, Code, and Bot. Columns are Chat, Code and Bot; rows are Read, Edit, Shell and Pay. Pay stays Always ask. and Bot cannot publish. That cell is absent, not disabled. Autonomy can be earned after a threshold of approvals, with a decay measured in days. The tab also holds Export policy (Download the current matrix as JSON.), Standing spend budget (A monthly cap for metered spend. Empty means no standing budget.) and Spend receipts, which starts at No spend receipts yet. When Cortex asks in the moment, your choices are Allow once, Allow up to a budget or Deny. See Approvals in Code and Approvals in Bot.

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Data & privacy

The account tab, in render order: Save chat history and Improve the model (both disabled and marked COMING SOON), Activity, Computer history, Cookies, the memory rows (Use memory, Include sensitive topics, How long to keep memories, Memory), Account security, Two-factor authentication, Trusted contact, Crisis notify, Age assurance (13+), API keys, Compliance (What this deployment certifies — and what it does not.) and Your data (Export everything we hold, or delete it permanently. Deletion takes effect within 30 days.). It closes with a WHAT WE STORE card. See Data and privacy for the full walkthrough and Two-factor authentication for the confirmation that guards export and deletion.

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Plan & billing

Your current plan and price, the quota meters, a STORAGE meter for Library, the usage ledger split by product, Change plan, and Billing history. See Plans and quotas.

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Settings that live elsewhere

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Related

• Accounts and sign-in - what the account rows in General reflect.
• Plans and quotas - the meters on the Plan & billing tab.
• Data and privacy - every section of the Data & privacy tab.
• Interface language - the eight languages and what stays English.
• Keyboard shortcuts - the full sheet behind the General row.
• Notifications - the bell, which sits outside Settings.