# Cortex Documentation

[Cortex](https://cortex.io/) is the Engineering Operations Platform that enables organizations to continuously improve their operational maturity and reduce developer friction – so that the whole organization operates as one. By unlocking a culture of engineering excellence, our customers reduce incidents, improve MTTR, and make it easier for developers to focus on building.

### Get started with Cortex

{% hint style="success" %}
Get started in minutes with Cortex's [automated ownership recommendations](https://docs.cortex.io/ingesting-data-into-cortex/entities/ownership#cortex-automated-recommendations-for-ownership).
{% endhint %}

<table data-view="cards"><thead><tr><th></th><th></th><th data-hidden data-card-cover data-type="files"></th><th data-hidden data-card-target data-type="content-ref"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><span data-gb-custom-inline data-tag="emoji" data-code="1f4a1">💡</span> <strong>Solve Your Use Case</strong></td><td>Use Cortex to automate best practices and streamline actions for use cases like Production Readiness, AI Maturity, Incident Management, and more.</td><td></td><td><a href="https://app.gitbook.com/o/RD51qiGImxmmq8NjALb1/s/7F1UMLUuX7dkA693DijO/">Solutions</a></td></tr><tr><td><span data-gb-custom-inline data-tag="emoji" data-code="1f916">🤖</span> <strong>Use Cortex MCP</strong></td><td>Make decisions faster by querying your workspace's information in natural language</td><td></td><td><a href="get-started/mcp">mcp</a></td></tr><tr><td><span data-gb-custom-inline data-tag="emoji" data-code="26a1">⚡</span> <strong>Connect Data</strong></td><td>Start tracking ownership. Learn how to manage your entities and integrate with essential tools, like Git, APM, and more.</td><td></td><td><a href="ingesting-data-into-cortex/overview">overview</a></td></tr><tr><td><span data-gb-custom-inline data-tag="emoji" data-code="1f5a5">🖥️</span> <strong>Configure GitOps</strong></td><td>Configure a GitOps workflow to manage entities in your Cortex workspace.</td><td></td><td><a href="configure/gitops">gitops</a></td></tr><tr><td><span data-gb-custom-inline data-tag="emoji" data-code="1f517">🔗</span> <strong>Explore the API</strong></td><td>Build automation with Cortex as your source of truth for Catalog, Scorecards, and more.</td><td></td><td><a href="https://app.gitbook.com/o/RD51qiGImxmmq8NjALb1/s/nPgS8L9MAPtoOtdWdeDp/">API</a></td></tr><tr><td><span data-gb-custom-inline data-tag="emoji" data-code="1f4c8">📈</span> <strong>Continuously Improve</strong></td><td>Measure baselines and identify bottlenecks. Take action and watch trends improve in real time.</td><td></td><td><a href="improve/eng-intelligence">eng-intelligence</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

### Cortex video overview

See an overview of Cortex below:

{% embed url="<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ugYI8r1DwI>" %}

## Accelerate the path to Engineering Excellence

We believe the foundation for Engineering Excellence starts with **clear ownership and accountability**. With ownership in place, drive **complete visibility** through the catalogs, a culture of **continuous improvement** using [Scorecards](https://docs.cortex.io/standardize/scorecards) and [Engineering Intelligence](https://docs.cortex.io/improve/eng-intelligence), and **consistent developer experience** through self-service [Workflows](https://docs.cortex.io/streamline/workflows).

Learn how organizations drive Engineering Excellence with Cortex:

<details>

<summary><strong>VELOCITY</strong></summary>

Track, standardize, and accelerate developer productivity, maintain high code quality, and keep systems reliable.

* Monitor cycle time, PR throughput, code coverage, and velocity trends with Eng Intelligence [Velocity](https://docs.cortex.io/improve/eng-intelligence/dashboards/velocity-dashboard) and [DORA](https://docs.cortex.io/improve/eng-intelligence/dashboards/dora-dashboard) dashboards.
* Set clear standards and enforce best practices across teams and services with [Scorecards](https://docs.cortex.io/standardize/scorecards).
* Automate common tasks like scaffolding new services or handling migrations with [Workflows](https://docs.cortex.io/streamline/workflows).
* Get quick answers about your workspace via [Cortex MCP](https://docs.cortex.io/get-started/mcp), allowing for faster decision making.

*How do different personas drive velocity with Cortex?*

* **Engineering leaders**: Leverage the productivity metrics from Eng Intelligence during performance reviews and coaching conversations.
* **Platform engineers**: Set up a Workflow to request access to commonly used tools, making the process a single approval flow that integrates into their existing tooling.

</details>

<details>

<summary><strong>EFFICIENCY</strong></summary>

Align everyone to the same standards and provide structured ways to meet them.

* Use [Scorecards](https://docs.cortex.io/standardize/scorecards) to measure and set standards for consistency, resource utilization, and migrations.
* Use [Initiatives](https://docs.cortex.io/improve/initiatives) to ensure that teams are aligned and migrations are completed.
* Automate repeatable tasks with [Workflows](https://docs.cortex.io/streamline/workflows).

*How do different personas drive efficiency with Cortex?*

* **Engineering leaders**: Manage cloud costs and improve resource utilization with Scorecards.
* **Platform engineers**: Use Scorecards to ensure standards are met during a migration, accelerating project timelines.
* **Developers**: Use the [Engineering homepage](https://docs.cortex.io/streamline/homepage) to gain insight into their tasks and priorities.

</details>

<details>

<summary><strong>SECURITY</strong></summary>

Continuously check services for security best practice adherence and drive patches with clear ownership and accountability.

* Monitor encryption, dependency health, and vulnerability status with customizable Security Compliance [Scorecard](https://docs.cortex.io/standardize/scorecards) templates.
* Remediate vulnerabilities and compliance by priority and deadline with clear [Initiatives](https://docs.cortex.io/improve/initiatives).
* Ensure consistent rollouts and CI/CD processes using [Workflows](https://docs.cortex.io/streamline/workflows).

*How do different personas drive security with Cortex?*

* **Engineering leaders**: Use [reports](https://docs.cortex.io/improve/reports) to understand current security posture, allowing them to guide their teams with actionable insights.
* **SREs**: Use Scorecards to maintain catalogs, enabling faster incident response.
* **Security engineers**: Automate security checks and flag noncompliant services with Scorecards, ensure consistency and standardization of tasks with Workflows.

</details>

<details>

<summary><strong>RELIABILITY</strong></summary>

Validate that every service meets operational requirements, continuously improve day-to-day operations, and give teams the context and tools to respond quickly when incidents happen.

* Automate readiness and operational maturity with customizable [Scorecard](https://docs.cortex.io/standardize/scorecards) templates.
* Track DORA metrics and MTTR using [Eng Intelligence](https://docs.cortex.io/improve/eng-intelligence) dashboards.
* Enable fast response to incidents with [Workflows](https://docs.cortex.io/streamline/workflows) to rollback, restart pods, and more.
* Give leaders and engineers a shared view of [Initiatives](https://docs.cortex.io/improve/initiatives), progress, and tasks in the [Engineering homepage](https://docs.cortex.io/streamline/homepage).

*How do different personas drive reliability with Cortex?*

* **Engineering leaders**: Use [reports](https://docs.cortex.io/improve/reports) to get a unified view of organization-wide service health, allowing them to prioritize reliability Initiatives across teams.
* **Developers**: Use Scorecards to gain clear visibility into whether their services meet standards for reliability.
* **SREs**: Automate production readiness checks via Scorecards, allowing them to move from reactive fire-fighting to proactive incident prevention.
* **Platform engineers**: Automate best practice enforcement via Scorecards. Use Iniatives to [automatically create tasks in your integrated issue tracking tools](https://docs.cortex.io/improve/initiatives/issue-config), ensuring reliability improvements are systematically addressed.

</details>