Architecture Overview¶

Cortex Linux is built as a modular, layered system designed for AI workloads and modern infrastructure management.

System Architecture¶

graph TB
    subgraph User Layer
        A[CLI Tools]
        B[Web Console]
        C[APIs]
    end

    subgraph Application Layer
        D[Cortex CLI]
        E[Cortex Ops]
        F[Cortex LLM]
        G[Cortex Security]
    end

    subgraph Platform Layer
        H[Cortex Stacks]
        I[Cortex Observe]
        J[Plugin System]
    end

    subgraph System Layer
        K[Hardened Kernel]
        L[systemd]
        M[Container Runtime]
    end

    subgraph Hardware Layer
        N[CPU]
        O[GPU/TPU]
        P[Storage]
        Q[Network]
    end

    A --> D
    B --> D
    C --> D

    D --> E
    D --> F
    D --> G

    E --> H
    F --> I
    G --> J

    H --> K
    I --> L
    J --> M

    K --> N
    K --> O
    L --> P
    M --> Q

Core Components¶

Cortex CLI¶

The unified command-line interface that serves as the primary interaction point:

Cortex Ops¶

System operations toolkit providing:

• Doctor: Health diagnostics with 12+ checks
• Repair: Auto-fix for common issues
• Updates: Orchestrated update management with rollback
• Plugins: Extensibility SDK

Cortex LLM¶

LLM orchestration layer for AI workloads:

• Connectors: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google integration
• Routing: Intelligent model selection
• Caching: Response caching for cost optimization
• Local Models: Support for local LLM deployment

Cortex Security¶

Security hardening and compliance:

• Profiles: Pre-built AppArmor/SELinux profiles
• Audit: Security event logging
• Compliance: CIS benchmark automation
• Secrets: Secure credential management

Cortex Stacks¶

Container and Kubernetes orchestration:

• Docker: Container runtime management
• Kubernetes: K3s/K8s deployment
• Helm: Chart management
• Registry: Private container registry

Cortex Observe¶

Monitoring and observability:

• Metrics: Prometheus-compatible metrics
• Logs: Centralized log aggregation
• Traces: Distributed tracing
• Alerts: Intelligent alerting

Data Flow¶

sequenceDiagram
    participant User
    participant CLI
    participant Ops
    participant LLM
    participant System

    User->>CLI: cortex-ops doctor
    CLI->>Ops: Execute health checks
    Ops->>System: Collect metrics
    System-->>Ops: System data
    Ops->>LLM: Analyze results (optional)
    LLM-->>Ops: Recommendations
    Ops-->>CLI: Report
    CLI-->>User: Display results

Directory Structure¶

/
├── etc/
│   └── cortex/
│       ├── config.yaml       # Main configuration
│       ├── plugins/          # Plugin directory
│       └── hooks/            # Lifecycle hooks
├── var/
│   ├── lib/cortex/          # Application data
│   ├── cache/cortex/        # Cache files
│   └── log/cortex/          # Log files
├── opt/
│   └── cortex/              # Optional packages
└── usr/
    ├── bin/
    │   ├── cortex           # Main CLI
    │   └── cortex-ops       # Ops CLI
    └── lib/cortex/          # Libraries

Communication Patterns¶

Internal Communication¶

Components communicate via:

1. Unix Sockets: Fast local IPC
2. D-Bus: System service communication
3. gRPC: High-performance RPC

External Communication¶

External integrations use:

1. REST APIs: Standard HTTP/JSON
2. WebSockets: Real-time streaming
3. GraphQL: Flexible queries (planned)

Security Model¶

graph LR
    A[Request] --> B{Authentication}
    B -->|Valid| C{Authorization}
    B -->|Invalid| D[Reject]
    C -->|Allowed| E{Rate Limit}
    C -->|Denied| D
    E -->|OK| F[Process]
    E -->|Exceeded| D
    F --> G{Audit Log}
    G --> H[Response]

Authentication¶

• API key authentication for CLI tools
• OAuth2/OIDC for web interfaces
• mTLS for service-to-service

Authorization¶

• Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
• Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)
• Namespace isolation

Audit¶

• All actions logged to audit trail
• Tamper-evident log storage
• Real-time alerting on anomalies

Deployment Models¶

Single Node¶

All components on one machine:

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│         Cortex Linux            │
├─────────────────────────────────┤
│  CLI │ Ops │ LLM │ Security    │
├─────────────────────────────────┤
│          Linux Kernel           │
└─────────────────────────────────┘

Clustered¶

Distributed across multiple nodes:

┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────┐  ┌─────────────┐
│   Control   │  │   Worker    │  │   Worker    │
│    Plane    │  │   Node 1    │  │   Node 2    │
├─────────────┤  ├─────────────┤  ├─────────────┤
│ API Server  │  │ Workloads   │  │ Workloads   │
│ Scheduler   │  │ GPU Tasks   │  │ CPU Tasks   │
│ etcd        │  │ Storage     │  │ Storage     │
└─────────────┘  └─────────────┘  └─────────────┘
        │               │               │
        └───────────────┼───────────────┘
                        │
                  ┌─────┴─────┐
                  │  Network  │
                  └───────────┘

Extension Points¶

Cortex Linux can be extended at multiple levels:

Technology Stack¶

Design Principles¶

1. Modularity: Components are loosely coupled and independently deployable
2. Security First: All defaults are secure, opt-in for less restrictive modes
3. Observable: Comprehensive metrics, logs, and traces by default
4. Automation: Prefer automated solutions over manual intervention
5. Developer Experience: Rich CLI output, clear error messages, excellent docs