Create Your First Note

Notes are the building blocks of your knowledge graph. Each note captures one atomic idea.

Anatomy of a Note

Field	Description	Example
`title`	A declarative statement	”Active recall is more effective than passive review”
`content`	The full explanation in your own words	”Studies show that testing yourself…”
`note_type`	Category of knowledge	`fact`, `insight`, `decision`, `experience`
`tags`	Comma-separated labels	`learning, memory, study-techniques`
`importance`	Priority weight (0.0–1.0)	`0.8`

Note Types

fact — Something objectively true. Evidence-backed.
insight — A connection or realization you’ve made.
decision — A choice you made and why.
experience — Something you observed or went through.
belief — A working hypothesis. May be contested later.
code_finding — A technical discovery about code or systems.
synthesis — A higher-order note that combines multiple ideas.

Good vs Bad Notes

Good Note

Title: “Interleaving practice improves transfer learning”

Content: “Mixing different problem types during practice (interleaving) produces better long-term learning than blocked practice, even though blocked practice feels more productive in the moment. This is because interleaving forces the brain to discriminate between strategies.”

Type: fact | Tags: learning, practice, memory

Bad Note

Title: “Learning”

Content: “There are many ways to learn. Some are better than others. Spaced repetition is good. Active recall is good. Interleaving is good.”

This note violates every Zettelkasten principle: vague title (topic, not claim), multiple ideas crammed together, and no original thinking.

Via the API


curl -X POST https://api.cortex-app.dev/api/workspace/notes \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "title": "Interleaving practice improves transfer learning",
    "content": "Mixing different problem types during practice (interleaving) produces better long-term learning than blocked practice, even though blocked practice feels more productive in the moment.",
    "note_type": "fact",
    "tags": ["learning", "practice", "memory"],
    "importance": 0.7
  }'

Response:


{
  "id": "note_a1b2c3d4",
  "title": "Interleaving practice improves transfer learning",
  "note_type": "fact",
  "state": "active",
  "created_at": "2025-03-10T14:30:00Z",
  "auto_links": [
    {
      "target_id": "note_e5f6g7h8",
      "target_title": "Spaced repetition beats cramming for long-term retention",
      "relation": "relates_to",
      "similarity": 0.82
    }
  ]
}

Notice how Cortex automatically found a related note and linked them.

What’s Next?

Learn about note linking and how your knowledge graph grows
Understand semantic recall — querying your knowledge in natural language
Explore spaced repetition — how Cortex helps you remember