# myelin + cortex

> Myelin is the seven-layer protocol stack for the agentic nervous system (M2–M6: transport, envelope, identity, discovery, composition). Cortex is the M7 collaboration surface that consumes the myelin bus and presents agent activity to operators. Both are open source projects of the metafactory ecosystem.

This site is a curated entry point. The canonical specifications live in the source repositories.

## Core concepts

- [myelin overview](/myelin.html): plain-English description of the seven-layer model, per-layer charter, status, and roadmap.
- [cortex overview](/cortex.html): plain-English description of the M7 application — its three jobs, three-tier visibility model, and internal componentisation.
- [docs hub](/docs/): index of links into the canonical source-repo documentation.

## Source repositories

- [myelin on GitHub](https://github.com/the-metafactory/myelin): the protocol stack, owned by the-metafactory.
- [cortex on GitHub](https://github.com/the-metafactory/cortex): the M7 surface application.
- [the-metafactory org](https://github.com/the-metafactory): all related repos (pilot, signal, compass, blueprint, meta-factory).

## Canonical specifications

- [myelin architecture spec](https://github.com/the-metafactory/myelin/blob/main/docs/architecture.md): the seven-layer model — per-layer charter, code mapping, current status. The source of truth.
- [myelin envelope schema](https://github.com/the-metafactory/myelin/blob/main/schemas/envelope.schema.json): JSON Schema (draft 2020-12) for the Myelin envelope.
- [myelin namespace spec](https://github.com/the-metafactory/myelin/blob/main/specs/namespace.md): NATS subject namespace convention.
- [myelin identity model](https://github.com/the-metafactory/myelin/blob/main/docs/identity.md): the M4 identity layer.
- [cortex architecture spec](https://github.com/the-metafactory/cortex/blob/main/docs/architecture.md): the M7 design — bus consumption, three-tier visibility, internal componentisation.
- [cortex migration plan](https://github.com/the-metafactory/cortex/blob/main/docs/plan-cortex-migration.md): per-file inventory + phase plan MIG-0..MIG-8.

## Blog

- [Launching the stack: why myelin and cortex are separate](/blog/2026-05-11-launching-the-stack.html): the case for splitting the protocol from the surface; what changed once we did.
- [Sovereignty in the envelope: why policy rides with the message](/blog/2026-05-07-sovereignty-in-the-envelope.html): the M3 design decision to put classification, residency, and model constraints into the envelope itself.

## Optional

- [agents.md](/agents.md): one-screen markdown summary of myelin and cortex with all the links above.
- [robots.txt](/robots.txt): crawling policy.