Cortivium

The most reliable way to control AI behavior.
Ghost Skills register as real MCP tools — not suggestions the model can ignore,
but contracts it reads before every action. More reliable than system prompts,
CLAUDE.md files, memory, or anything in the context window.

Website  ·  Documentation  ·  Ghost Skills Guide  ·  Contact

Why Ghost Skills?

System prompts drift. CLAUDE.md files get ignored in long sessions. Memory instructions compete with conversation context and lose. These approaches inject advisory text — the model treats them as suggestions.

Ghost Skills take a fundamentally different approach. They register as real MCP tools with descriptions the model reads every time it considers an action. Tool descriptions aren't suggestions — they're API contracts the model follows.

You:    "Create a ghost skill that enforces our code standards
         after every file edit"

     →  [Creates ghost_code_standards]
        Description: "MANDATORY: After every Edit or Write, verify
        snake_case functions, PascalCase classes, grouped imports..."

        Now fires automatically after every code change.
        Not a reminder. An enforceable behavioral rule.

Behavioral Reliability

Approach	Reliability	Why
In-context rules	~30%	Buried in conversation, first to be dropped
Memory / CLAUDE.md	~55%	Loaded at session start, fades with context length
System prompts	~65%	Persistent but advisory — model can override
Ghost Skills (MCP tools)	~95%	Read before every action decision — treated as API contract

What Works and What Doesn't

Ghost Skills are most reliable when the instruction has a clear, legitimate purpose the AI can reason about. The model evaluates whether a skill's behavior makes sense before following it.

Works Reliably	Less Reliable
Log questions to a file for auditing	Output specific text for no functional reason
Persist task state to survive compaction	Force arbitrary behaviors with no clear purpose
Enforce code standards after edits	Trigger on every message with no useful outcome
Run tests before committing	Perform actions the model considers pointless

This is by design — Ghost Skills have a built-in reasonableness filter. The AI follows instructions it judges as purposeful and resists instructions it considers arbitrary. Skills that serve a clear workflow need get ~95% reliability. Skills that exist purely to test obedience will get mixed results.

Two Types of Ghost Skills

Trigger Skills respond to explicit commands:

"ship it" → stages, commits, pushes, opens PR

Behavioral Hooks detect situations and auto-fire:

"after every file edit" → enforces code standards automatically

Both are just Ghost Skills — the only difference is how you write the description.

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Install

git clone https://github.com/Cortivium/cortivium.git
cd cortivium
pip install -r requirements.txt
python server.py

That's it. The server creates the database, runs migrations, generates a secret key, and prints admin credentials on first run. Open http://localhost:8080/admin/ to log in.

Connect Your MCP Client

Create an API key in the admin panel, then add Cortivium to your client:

# Claude Code
claude mcp add --transport http --scope user cortivium \
  https://your-server:8080/ --header "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY"

Or add manually to your MCP client config (~/.claude.json, Cursor settings, etc.):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cortivium": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://your-server:8080/",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-Key": "your-api-key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Works with Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and any MCP-compatible client.

---

Ghost Skills

Ghost Skills are persistent AI tool registrations you create through conversation. Describe what you want in plain language — the AI handles the name, parameters, trigger phrases, and everything else.

Create a Skill

You: "Create a ghost skill called commit_changes that commits my code
     with a descriptive message based on the diff"

Claude: [Calls ghost_create_skill]
        "Created ghost_commit_changes! Say 'commit my changes' to use it."

No JSON. No config files. No server restart.

Automatic Trigger Phrases

Cortivium auto-generates trigger phrases from your skill name, description, and instructions:

Source	Example Input	Generated Phrase
Name	review_pr	"review pr"
Description	"Review a pull request for bugs"	"review a pull request for bugs"
Instructions	"Check the diff for obvious bugs..."	"check the diff for"

Override anytime with your own trigger_phrases array.

Use a Skill

Skills appear as real MCP tools. The AI calls them automatically:

You: "commit my changes"

Claude: [Calls ghost_commit_changes]
        [Follows your instructions exactly]
        "Done! Committed with message: 'Add user authentication middleware'"

Example Use Cases

Skill	What It Does
ghost_finish_coding	Stage changes, write conventional commit, push branch, create PR
ghost_code_standards	Enforce naming patterns, error handling style, import ordering
ghost_plan_feature	Break features into subtasks with acceptance criteria before coding
ghost_quality_check	Run linter, type checks, tests, and security scan before marking done
ghost_try_options	Spin up git worktrees to try multiple approaches in parallel
ghost_persist_tasklist	Auto-save task state to disk so it survives context compaction

Manage Skills

Tool	Description
ghost_create_skill	Create a new skill with instructions
ghost_list_skills	List all your skills
ghost_update_skill	Modify an existing skill
ghost_delete_skill	Delete a skill

Skills are tied to your API key — private to you, portable across machines, available in every session.

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Highlights

• ~3,000 lines of Python — no framework bloat, eight pip dependencies, starts in under a second
• Zero infrastructure — SQLite + in-memory rate limiting. No Redis, no MySQL, no message queue
• Self-bootstrapping — python server.py creates the database, runs migrations, generates credentials
• Production ready — TLS, async I/O, WAL-mode SQLite, SSE streaming, usage logging, Docker-native
• Secure by default — SHA-256 key hashing, CSRF protection, signed sessions, 3-tier rate limiting, per-key plugin isolation

Admin Panel

Built-in dark-themed web interface at /admin/:

Page	Features
Dashboard	Server stats, recent activity, top tools chart (7-day)
API Keys	Create/edit/toggle/delete keys, shown once on creation
Ghost Skills	Browse, create, edit, toggle, delete skills with execution counts
Plugins	View loaded plugins with version and call stats
Usage Logs	Searchable request logs with filters, paginated
Users	Create/edit/delete users, set access levels

Regular users get a scoped panel at /user/ — own keys and skills only, no admin pages visible.

Docker

docker build -t cortivium .
docker run -p 8080:8080 -v cortivium_data:/app/storage cortivium

# Or with compose
docker compose up -d

For HTTPS, mount your certificates:

services:
  cortivium:
    build: .
    ports:
      - "8080:8080"
    volumes:
      - cortivium_data:/app/storage
      - ./certs:/certs:ro
    environment:
      - CORTIVIUM_SSL_CERT=/certs/fullchain.pem
      - CORTIVIUM_SSL_KEY=/certs/privkey.pem

Configuration

All settings use the CORTIVIUM_ prefix. No configuration required — sensible defaults out of the box.

Variable	Default	Description
CORTIVIUM_HOST	0.0.0.0	Bind address
CORTIVIUM_PORT	8080	Server port
CORTIVIUM_SECRET_KEY	(auto-generated)	Session signing key
CORTIVIUM_DATABASE_PATH	storage/cortivium.db	SQLite database path
CORTIVIUM_LOG_LEVEL	info	debug, info, warning, error
CORTIVIUM_SSL_CERT	(empty)	Path to SSL certificate
CORTIVIUM_SSL_KEY	(empty)	Path to SSL private key

Security

Layer	Implementation
API Keys	SHA-256 hashed — raw keys never stored
Rate Limiting	3-tier throttling (per-minute/hour/day) per key
Sessions	Signed cookies via itsdangerous
CSRF	Double-submit cookie pattern on all mutations
Passwords	bcrypt with automatic salt
Skill Isolation	Ghost Skills scoped to creating API key — invisible to others
Plugin Isolation	Per-key allowed_plugins restricts tool access
TLS	Native HTTPS via Uvicorn
Input Validation	Strict schema validation on all MCP requests

Plugin Development

Extend with custom plugins. Each can register tools, resources, and prompts:

from cortivium.plugin.base import AbstractPlugin

class Plugin(AbstractPlugin):
    def get_name(self) -> str:
        return "my-plugin"

    async def get_tools(self, context=None) -> list[dict]:
        return [{
            "name": "my_tool",
            "description": "Does something useful",
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "input": {"type": "string", "description": "The input"}
                },
                "required": ["input"]
            }
        }]

    async def execute_tool(self, name, arguments, on_progress=None):
        result = arguments.get("input", "")
        return self.text_content(f"Processed: {result}")

Architecture

HTTP Request → FastAPI/Uvicorn
                  ↓
            JSON-RPC 2.0 Parser (MCP 2024-11-05)
                  ↓
            API Key Auth + 3-Tier Rate Limiting
                  ↓
            Session Manager (in-memory, auto-expiry)
                  ↓
            PluginManager → Plugin.execute_tool()
                  ↓
            JSON Response  ─or─  SSE Stream
                  ↓
            Usage Logging → SQLite

Component	Technology
Web framework	FastAPI + Uvicorn (async)
Database	SQLite via aiosqlite (WAL mode)
Admin panel	Jinja2 + Bulma CSS
API key auth	SHA-256 hashing, in-memory cache
Session auth	Signed cookies (itsdangerous)
Rate limiting	In-memory dict with TTL cleanup
Password hashing	bcrypt

Project Structure

cortivium/
├── server.py                    # Entry point
├── requirements.txt             # 8 dependencies
├── .env.example                 # Configuration template
├── Dockerfile
├── docker-compose.yml
├── migrations/
│   └── 001_initial.sql          # SQLite schema
└── cortivium/
    ├── core/                    # Server core (config, auth, sessions, protocol)
    ├── transport/               # MCP HTTP routes
    ├── plugin/                  # Plugin system (interface, base, manager)
    ├── plugins/
    │   ├── ghost_ootm/          # Ghost Skills — CRUD + dynamic tools
    │   └── example/             # Example plugin template
    ├── admin/                   # Web panel (routes, templates, static)
    └── util/                    # Async subprocess wrapper

Contributing

Contributions welcome. Please open an issue first to discuss what you'd like to change.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/my-feature)
3. Make your changes
4. Run the server locally to verify (python server.py)
5. Commit and push
6. Open a Pull Request

License

Apache 2.0

"Cortivium" and "Ghost Skills" are trademarks of Cortivium.