Most items arrive with the work already done
When Cortex parks an item, it usually attaches a proposal: the actual pages it would write, drafted in full, together with where they would go, how confident it is, and why. You are not being asked “where should this go?” - you are being shown finished pages and asked “shall I file these?” For each draft you can see whether it is a new page, an edit to an existing one, or, rarely, a full update of an existing page. An edit is one change in one place: a dated line added to the top of a person’s timeline, a topic under a heading, one section rewritten. The rest of the page is not touched, so anything you or your agent wrote on that page while the proposal waited stays exactly as it was. The drawer shows the current page beside the change, and warns you if the page has moved on since the draft was written. Full updates are kept for pages being restructured, such as a split or a compaction.Your choices
- Accept and file: the drafted pages are written to the brain, the item is archived, and the link between source and pages is recorded. One click.
- Edit, then accept: every draft is editable in place. Change what you like and accept; your version is what gets written.
- Reject: the drafts are discarded and the item returns to the queue, ready for another pass or for manual filing.
- File manually: skip the proposal entirely. Open the item, choose a folder, and write the page yourself; the editor starts pre-filled with the extracted text. Saving writes the page and archives the item in one step.
You will not have to remember to check
Waiting items are surfaced wherever you happen to be:- In the app: your brain cards show an “awaiting review” badge that links straight to the inbox.
- In your agent: connected agents can see the same counts, and will mention parked items and offer to walk you through them - you can review and accept entirely in conversation.
- By email: if items have been waiting more than a day, brain admins get a short morning digest listing which brains need attention, with links.
Assigning a client
In a partitioned brain, an item that arrived without a known client waits as “needs a client”. The inbox shows these first, each with the candidates Cortex found and why (“acme? one attendee at acme.com”). Open one, pick the client, leave “remember this domain” ticked, and assign: from then on that domain resolves by itself. Your agent can do the same from conversation. A proposal drafted for such an item carries Cortex’s best guess at the client, and it always waits for you: accepting it settles the client as well as the pages. If the client it names does not exist or is archived, the queue says so and the proposal cannot be accepted until the client is created or restored.Two more things that land here
- An item your agent abandoned. When your agent uploads something, it files it itself, and the item shows as held by the agent. If the agent does not finish within 30 minutes, the item comes here with a note saying so, for you to decide. Cortex never takes over an agent’s item.
When something will not file
Occasionally an item resists filing: it is malformed, or Cortex keeps failing to make sense of it. Rather than retrying forever, Cortex gives up after a few attempts and parks the item for you to handle by hand. A stuck item is always surfaced, never silently dropped.Try it
- Set a brain to Suggest and drop a few items in its inbox.
- Open the review queue and read a proposal: the summary, the confidence, the drafted pages.
- Accept one as-is, edit another before accepting, and reject a third, then check the brain to see the results.