Cortex app icon Native Mac app · from Lasiako

The terminal, rebuilt
from the shell up.

Cortex is a native macOS terminal with its own shell engine — no zsh wrapper underneath. Type commands like always, or flip to AI mode and just say what you want. Every AI action runs through a control plane it can never step outside.

Download for Mac See features
Own shell engine Shell + AI modes Hard control plane 44 themes
What makes it different

A real shell you can talk to — that can't go rogue.

Cortex isn't a GUI bolted onto zsh. It parses and runs commands itself, so the safety rails are part of the engine, not a wrapper around it.

Its own shell engine

Cortex parses and executes commands itself — builtins, pipes, redirects, &&/||, job control. No zsh underneath, so the control plane is intrinsic.

Two modes, one terminal

Shell mode runs your line verbatim, unrestricted. Flip to ✦ Assistant and the cursor changes — say what you want, and Cortex resolves it to a real command and runs it.

A hard control plane

The AI can never operate outside it. Deny-lists, risky-command gating, and per-action approval sit between the assistant and your machine — your own typed commands stay free.

Monitored privilege

Elevation and destructive commands from the assistant are surfaced and gated — approve or deny inline, right in the terminal. Nothing escalates silently behind your back.

Real programs, real PTY

vim, ssh, top, less — full-screen interactive programs run through a proper PTY proxy. It's a real terminal, resize and all, not a captured command box.

44 themes, native feel

Built on the Lumina design system with dense, pro-workbench styling and instant theme switching — 44 looks, from Cobalt to Dracula to Solarized.

Safety is in the engine

The AI proposes. The control plane decides.

Assistant-originated commands are classified before they run. Safe reads pass through; risky or elevated actions pause for a one-key approval — and anything on the deny-list never runs at all.

Deny-listRisky-command gatingElevation monitored Per-action approvalUser commands unrestrictedOrigin-aware Inline approve / denyAudited actionsPolicy you own
Say it, don't spell it

Natural language, resolved to real commands.

In Assistant mode you type what you want and Cortex maps it to an actual command, shows you the → resolved line, and runs it through the control plane. A local grammar handles the common asks instantly; the plane still gates anything with teeth. You always see the command before it touches your machine.

Local grammar firstSee the resolved command Gated by the control planeInline y/N approvals Same window as ShellBuilt for AiOS

Try the Cortex preview.

Native and universal (Apple Silicon + Intel). An early developer preview — the shell engine, both modes, and the control plane are live.

Download preview (macOS) ← All Lasiako products

Alpha build, ad-hoc signed (not yet notarized) — macOS will ask you to approve it once.

⚠ First launch: “Apple could not verify…”? Here’s how to open it ›
  1. Unzip the download, then drag Cortex into your Applications folder.
  2. Double-click Cortex. When the “Apple could not verify…” dialog appears, click Done — not “Move to Trash”.
  3. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to the Security section. You’ll see “Cortex was blocked…” — click Open Anyway.
  4. Confirm with Touch ID or your password, then click Open in the final prompt. It opens normally every time after that.

Comfortable with Terminal? One command does it all:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Cortex.app

This step exists only because the app isn’t Apple-notarized yet — it’s the same code you see here, just not stamped by Apple’s paid notarization service.