Vortex is an autonomous, AI-powered developer assistant and CLI tool that combines semantic code search, Git integration, and LLM-based intelligence. It provides contextual code reviews, deeply technical issue analysis, interactive semantic search, and an autonomous coding agent to help you solve tasks right in your terminal.
Install Vortex globally via npm:
npm install -g vortex-cliVortex requires an API key for its LLM engine (e.g., Google Gemini or Groq). You can easily configure your keys globally using the config command:
# Add your Gemini API key
vortex config set gemini "your_gemini_key_here"
# Add your Groq API key
vortex config set groq "your_groq_key_here"
# Add your OpenRouter API key (fallback provider)
vortex config set openrouter "your_openrouter_key_here"
# View your active configuration
vortex config listYou can also use project-specific .env files or inline environment variables.
# 1. Initialize the local vector and BM25 indexes for your repository
vortex init
# 2. Ask the autonomous agent to solve a task
vortex solve "Refactor the authentication middleware to use JWT"
# 3. Perform a multi-agent review on a pull request
vortex review --pr 42vortex solve <prompt>: Autonomous AI agent that explores your codebase, writes code, and executes terminal commands to solve your task.vortex solve-issue --id <id>: Seamlessly connects GitHub issues with the Autonomous Agent. Fetches the issue, runs RAG to find relevant local code, and automatically writes the fix.vortex review --pr <id>: Multi-agent PR review analyzing security, architecture, and logic.vortex search -q <query>: Semantic, natural language code search backed by AI explanations.vortex issue --id <id>: Analyzes GitHub issues and proposes step-by-step local code fixes.vortex graph: Automatically generates Mermaid dependency graphs of your files or entire project.
Note: The CLI is deeply optimized for performance. We recently pruned obsolete commands to focus purely on autonomous intelligence.
Note: Most read-only analysis commands automatically cache LLM requests to speed up subsequent runs and save API costs.
Scenario 1: Refactoring Code Autonomously
vortex solve "Refactor the authentication middleware to use JWT instead of sessions, making sure it aligns with the existing User model"Scenario 2: Pre-Merge Security & Architecture Review
vortex review --pr 104 --deep
# Output: The Security Agent flags a data leak, the Architecture Agent suggests abstracting the API call, and the Synthesizer provides the exact diff to fix it.Scenario 3: Fully Autonomously Solving a GitHub Issue
vortex solve-issue --id 45
# Output: Fetches Issue #45, grabs local RAG context, and hands it directly to the ReAct agent which actively writes the code to fix the bug.Vortex runs on a sophisticated Multi-Agent Cognitive Architecture backed by Hybrid RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation).
Instead of passing code blindly to an LLM, Vortex uses specialized agents:
- Security Agent: Scans for vulnerabilities and insecure patterns.
- Architecture Agent: Checks code for design consistency against your repo's existing patterns.
- Synthesizer Agent: Combines outputs into an actionable, unified review.
- Base Agent (ReAct Loop): An autonomous loop that can execute file system tools, read code, search the web for missing library schemas, and run terminal commands to iteratively solve tasks.
Vortex utilizes a multi-layered memory architecture to maintain context without exceeding token limits or sacrificing privacy.
- Persistent Agentic Memory (
MemoryService): Acts as episodic memory. Stores review history, architectural decisions, and known bugs in a local SQLite database for cross-PR consistency. - Hybrid RAG Indexing (
HybridRetriever): Uses AST-aware chunking, on-device Xenova Transformer dense vector embeddings, and sparse lexical BM25 indexing. Cross-encoder reranking ensures only the most relevant context is fed to the LLM.
graph TD
User((User / Developer)) -->|CLI Commands| CLI[Vortex CLI Interface]
CLI -->|Task & State Context| Engine[Intelligence Engine Core]
subgraph Multi-Agent Cognitive Architecture
Engine -->|Delegates to| Orchestrator[ReAct Base Agent / Review Orchestrator]
Orchestrator <-->|Zero-Shot Analysis| Sec[Security Vulnerability Agent]
Orchestrator <-->|Pattern Recognition| Arch[Architectural Consistency Agent]
Orchestrator <-->|Context Aggregation| Synth[Synthesizer / Response Generation Agent]
end
subgraph Hybrid RAG Pipeline
Engine -->|Semantic Queries| Retriever[Hybrid Semantic Retriever]
Retriever -->|Dense Embeddings| VectorStore[(Prisma SQLite Vector DB)]
Retriever -->|Sparse Lexical| BM25[(BM25 Keyword Index)]
Retriever -->|Structural Parse| Chunking[AST-Aware Semantic Chunker]
Retriever -->|On-Device Inference| Embedder[Local Xenova Transformers]
end
Engine <-->|Few-Shot Prompts / Tool Calling| AI((Google Gemini API / Groq LLMs))
Orchestrator -->|Autonomous Execution| FileSystem[Local File System & Git Operations]
Running autonomous agents on your local machine requires strict safety rails. Vortex includes:
- Interactive Diff Approvals: The
solvecommand will pause and ask for your permission (Y/n) before running any terminal commands or overwriting files. You can bypass this in CI pipelines with the--auto-approveflag. - Rollback Backups: Whenever the agent modifies a file, the original version is automatically backed up to
.vortex_backup/to prevent data loss. - Command Blacklist: Dangerous commands like
rm,sudo,chmod, andchownare instantly rejected if the agent attempts to run them. - Real-Time Visuals: See what the agent is doing with inline
git diffoutputs as files are successfully edited.
Vortex is engineered for speed and cost-efficiency, keeping the heavy lifting local to your machine:
- Zero-Cost Indexing: Generating embeddings for your repository runs entirely on-device via Xenova Transformers, meaning no API costs and complete privacy.
- Token Efficiency: By intelligently chunking code (AST-aware) and only sending the most relevant segments to the LLM, Vortex uses significantly fewer tokens.
We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guide for details on how to set up the development environment and submit pull requests.
git clone https://github.com/your-org/vortex.git
cd vortex
npm install
npm run buildThis project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.