Cortivium

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

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.

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.

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:

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

Manage Skills

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

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/:

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.

Security

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

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.