Contesting Notes

Not everything you write will be correct forever. Cortex supports contesting — a mechanism for challenging notes when new information emerges.

Why Contest?

• You learned something that contradicts an existing note
• A belief turned out to be wrong
• New evidence supersedes old conclusions
• A decision should be revisited

How to Contest

curl -X POST https://api.cortex-app.dev/api/graph/contest \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -d '{
    "note_id": "note_abc",
    "reason": "New research shows this is only true for adults, not children",
    "challenger_note_id": "note_xyz"
  }'

This:

1. Sets the original note’s state to contested
2. Creates a contradicts link between the two notes
3. Emits a note_contested activity event
4. Surfaces the contested note for review

Resolving Contests

After reviewing a contested note, you can:

• Update the original note with corrected information
• Archive it and keep the challenger as the new truth
• Create a synthesis note that reconciles both perspectives
• Reject the contest and restore the note to active

Contested Notes in Search

Contested notes are still searchable but:

• Displayed with a contested badge
• Ranked lower in recall results
• Flagged when cited by the AI assistant