Cortex Code CLI reference¶

Examples¶

Start with working directory:

cortex -w /path/to/project

Resume last session with specific connection:

cortex --continue -c production

One-off prompt (JSON output):

cortex -p "List all Python files" --output-format stream-json

update¶

mcp¶

See Model Context Protocol (MCP) for details.

Keyboard shortcuts¶

Slash commands¶

Session storage¶

See Cortex Code CLI Settings for configuration details.

Command details¶

/sql SELECT * FROM users

/sql SELECT * FROM large_table --limit 1000

/sql SELECT
  customer_id,
  SUM(amount) as total
FROM orders
GROUP BY customer_id

Updating Cortex Code CLI¶

Cortex Code CLI updates itself when a new version is available. You can also manually update to the latest version by issuing cortex update. Issue cortex update <version> to install the specified version.

To disable automatic updates, edit ~/.snowflake/cortex/settings.json and add "autoUpdate": false.

Manually adding a connection¶

To manually create or edit the ~/.snowflake/connections.toml file to define your connection, follow the steps below:

1. Create the ~/.snowflake/connections.toml file if it doesn’t already exist.

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   mkdir -p ~/.snowflake
   touch ~/.snowflake/connections.toml
   

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2. Use the chmod command to set its permissions so that only you can read and write it.

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   chmod 600 ~/.snowflake/connections.toml
   

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3. Open the file in a text editor (here, nano).

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   nano ~/.snowflake/connections.toml
   

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4. Add lines like the following to define a connection. Enter the name of the connection in place of myaccount and replace the placeholder values with your Snowflake account details. Use browser-based SSO (external browser authentication) or PAT (programmatic access token). You can obtain a PAT from Snowsight (see Using programmatic access tokens for authentication). Include only the authenticator value or password value, depending on the authentication method you choose.

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   [myaccount]
   account       = "<ACCOUNT>"
   user          = "<USERNAME>"
   authenticator = "externalbrowser" # For browser-based SSO; omit for PAT
   password      = "<PAT>"           # For PAT authentication; omit for SSO
   warehouse     = "<WAREHOUSE>"
   role          = "<ROLE>"
   database      = "<DATABASE>"
   schema        = "<SCHEMA>"
   

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5. Save and close the file.

Setting up shell completions¶

To give your shell the ability to auto-complete Cortex Code CLI commands and options, follow the instructions below for your shell.

After running the appropriate command above for your shell, restart your shell with exec $SHELL.

Directory structure¶

Installing Cortex Code CLI creates the following directory structure in your home directory:

~/.snowflake/cortex/
   ├── settings.json          # Main configuration
   ├── mcp.json               # MCP server configs
   ├── conversations/         # Session history
   ├── skills/                # Global skills
   ├── commands/              # Custom commands
   ├── hooks/                 # Hook scripts
   ├── profiles/              # Team profiles
   └── cache/                 # Temporary cache

Command not found¶

Make sure that the installation directory ~/.local/bin is included in your PATH environment variable. For example, if you are using bash, issue the following commands:

export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH"
echo 'export PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc

Permission denied¶

Make sure that the cortex executable has execute permissions. Issue the following command:

chmod +x ~/.local/bin/cortex

Connection errors¶

Make sure that the connection file ~/.snowflake/connections.toml exists and contains valid connection details.

cat ~/.snowflake/connections.toml

Try invoking the cortex command with a connection explicitly specified using the -c option. For example:

cortex -c myaccount