> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.cortex.foundation/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Platform API

> Cortex has no public inference API today: no endpoints, no SDKs, no API keys. What the Platform API is not, and what to use instead

Cortex does not have a public inference API. There is no endpoint that takes a prompt and returns a completion, no client library in any language, and no API key to request or generate. This page exists so the navigation does not grow a reference for something that is not there, and so you can stop looking.

It is written for the reader who arrived wanting to call Cortex from their own code. That is a reasonable thing to want, and most requests that sound like an API call already have a product answer. This page says plainly what is missing, points you at the surface that does the job today, and says where an announcement would appear if that changes.

## What is not available

<Warning>
  None of the following is in beta, in preview, or available on request. Each is simply absent.
</Warning>

* **Model inference as a service.** Nothing takes a prompt over the network and returns a completion.
* **API keys and personal access tokens.** Nothing in the product issues one, so there is nothing to generate in Settings and nothing to paste into a client.
* **SDKs and client libraries.** None exist, in any language.
* **A third-party app model.** There is no way to register an application against a Cortex account and act on a user's behalf.
* **Teams, organisations and role-based access control.** Not available yet, so there is no programmatic surface to administer them.
* **An exportable audit log on the product API.** The entitlement exists for the **Pro** plan, but the log itself is not available yet.
* **Usage-based API billing.** There is no metered API to bill for. Your plan covers use of the products, and is described in [Limits and quotas](/reference/limits).

## What to use instead

Every row here is a product surface with its own sign-in, not an API key.

| The API-shaped ask                          | What exists today                                                      |
| ------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| A one-shot prompt from a shell              | The CLI: `cortex run`. See [Headless and one-shot runs](/cli/headless) |
| Scripted or piped invocation, including CI  | The CLI: `cortex exec`. See [CI cookbook](/cli/ci)                     |
| Working inside a repository                 | A [Cortex Code](/code) session, or the CLI against a checkout          |
| Recurring automated work                    | A [Cortex Bot](/bot) routine, described in [Routines](/bot/routines)   |
| Letting Cortex call your own system         | An [MCP server](/chat/mcp-servers) you connect                         |
| Reacting to a failure your integration sees | Branch on the error `code`. See [Errors](/reference/errors)            |

The CLI is the closest thing to an automation surface Cortex has. It runs non-interactively, it exits with a status your script can read, and it signs in as you rather than carrying a key you would have to store somewhere. If you were reaching for an API in order to put Cortex in a pipeline, start at [Headless and one-shot runs](/cli/headless).

## What this site does document

Two public contracts are documented here, and neither is an inference API.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="The error contract" icon="triangle-exclamation" href="/reference/errors">
    Every failure in every Cortex surface is a problem document with a stable `code`, a human title and a `request_id`. A client can branch on the code instead of parsing prose. The full list is the [problem catalog](/problems).
  </Card>

  <Card title="The Bounty transparency log" icon="scale-balanced" href="/bounty/public-api">
    The Cortex Bounty programme publishes a small set of read-only endpoints that need no credential and mint none for the caller. They report adjudicated reports and standings, and nothing else.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

The transparency log is the only unauthenticated public surface on this site, and it is narrow on purpose: it exists so the subnet and anyone watching it can verify bounty verdicts. It is not a general-purpose read API for your account, and it never carries chat transcripts.

## Why there is nothing to try

It is worth being exact about this, because a hidden endpoint is a tempting theory. There is no private beta to be added to, no undocumented route that answers for a favoured account, and no key that support can hand out, because nothing in the product issues one. The absence is in the product, not in the documentation. A page or a reseller offering paid Platform API access is not selling something Cortex has.

## When this changes

A Platform API would be announced on the [changelog](/changelog) and at [cortex.foundation](https://cortex.foundation) first. Until an announcement exists, treat any tool or page claiming to sell Platform API access as unofficial.

If your need is genuinely not covered by the CLI, a Code session, a Bot routine or an MCP server, that is a gap in the Platform API rather than a hidden endpoint, and it is worth reporting as one. See [Report a bug](/getting-started/report-a-bug).

## Related

* [Headless and one-shot runs](/cli/headless) - `cortex run` and `cortex exec`, the automation surface that exists.
* [CI cookbook](/cli/ci) - recipes for running Cortex from a pipeline.
* [Errors](/reference/errors) - the contract a client should branch on.
* [Transparency API](/bounty/public-api) - the one public, credential-free surface.
* [Changelog](/changelog) - where a Platform API launch would appear.