nfinitmonkeys-cortex-sdk 2.1.0

Official Python SDK for Cortex API — Secure LLM Inference Gateway by InfiniteMonkeys

Cortex Python SDK

The friendly Python client for Cortex — InfiniteMonkeys' secure LLM gateway. Chat, vision, embeddings, speech, RAG, research — all in one typed client.

pip install cortex-sdk

from cortex_sdk import Cortex

cortex = Cortex(api_key="sk-cortex-...")
print(cortex.chat("Hello, world!").text)

That's it. Keep reading for every capability.

---

Table of contents

• Setup
• Chat
• Streaming chat
• Response style presets
• JSON / structured output
• Embeddings
• Speech-to-text
• Text-to-speech
• Document extraction (Iris)
• OCR + form templates
• Deep Research
• RAG collections
• Async
• Error handling
• Checking service health
• Configuration

---

Setup

Install from PyPI:

pip install nfinitmonkeys-cortex-sdk

Or pin a specific version:

pip install "nfinitmonkeys-cortex-sdk>=2.0,<3"

The SDK reads CORTEX_API_KEY from your environment by default:

from cortex_sdk import Cortex
cortex = Cortex()

Or pass explicitly:

cortex = Cortex(api_key="sk-cortex-...")

Close it when you're done (or use with):

with Cortex() as cortex:
    ...

---

Migrating from v1.x

v2 rewrote the client around a flatter, friendlier API. Your old imports still resolve — CortexClient is now an alias for Cortex — but the method shape changed. One-time rewrite, no polyfills.

v1 (resource-group style)	v2 (flat style)
client.chat.completions.create(model="default", messages=[{"role":"user","content":"Hi"}])	cortex.chat("Hi")
client.chat.completions.create(..., stream=True) → iterate raw chunks	for c in cortex.chat_stream("Hi"): ... (yields just content)
client.embeddings.create(input="x", model="bge-m3")	cortex.embed("x")
client.audio.transcriptions.create(file=...)	cortex.transcribe("audio.wav")
client.audio.speech.create(input=..., voice=...)	cortex.speak("text", voice="james")
client.iris.extract(file=...)	cortex.extract("doc.pdf")

What's new in v2 that wasn't in v1:

• Style presets (style="concise", "markdown", etc.)
• Typed error subclasses (catch CortexRateLimitError specifically)
• ChatResponse.parse_json() — strips markdown fences from LLM JSON output
• Auto-retry on 429/5xx with Retry-After honoring
• RAG Collections sub-client
• Deep Research sub-client with wait() helper
• Static Cortex.status() — no API key needed
• Full async client (AsyncCortex)

No timeline to remove the CortexClient alias — it stays forever.

---

Chat

Pass a plain string for the simplest case:

r = cortex.chat("What is a vector database?")
print(r.text)

Multi-turn conversations use message dicts:

r = cortex.chat([
    {"role": "system", "content": "You are a concise assistant."},
    {"role": "user", "content": "Name three NoSQL databases."},
])

Route to a specific pool when you know what you want:

r = cortex.chat("Extract names from: Alice, Bob, Carol", pool="cortex-extract")

---

Streaming chat

Get tokens as they're generated — great for interactive UIs:

for chunk in cortex.chat_stream("Write a limerick about otters"):
    print(chunk, end="", flush=True)

---

Response style presets

Instead of writing system prompts, pick a style:

cortex.chat("Summarize RAG.", style="concise")       # one-sentence conclusion
cortex.chat("Show me a Python list", style="code-only")
cortex.chat("Compare Redis and MongoDB", style="markdown")
cortex.chat("Deploy nginx", style="technical")
cortex.chat("Help me pick a name", style="chat")

Combine with a custom system prompt:

cortex.chat(
    "Find the bug",
    style="technical",
    system="You are a staff Python engineer reviewing a PR.",
)

---

JSON / structured output

Force the model to return JSON matching an exact schema — guaranteed, no retries, no regex parsing:

r = cortex.chat(
    "John Doe, 42, lives in Boston.",
    response_format={
        "type": "json_schema",
        "json_schema": {
            "name": "person",
            "schema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "name": {"type": "string"},
                    "age": {"type": "integer"},
                    "city": {"type": "string"},
                },
                "required": ["name", "age", "city"],
            },
        },
    },
)
import json
data = json.loads(r.text)   # always valid

---

Embeddings

One string → a 1024-dim vector:

v = cortex.embed("cortex is a gateway")
len(v)   # 1024

Many strings → batch:

vectors = cortex.embed(["doc one", "doc two", "doc three"])

---

Speech-to-text (transcription)

Pass a file path, bytes, or file-like object:

t = cortex.transcribe("meeting.wav")
print(t.text)

With speaker diarization:

t = cortex.transcribe("meeting.wav", diarize=True)

With a language hint:

t = cortex.transcribe(audio_bytes, language="es")

---

Text-to-speech

audio = cortex.speak("Welcome to Cortex.")    # returns bytes

Render straight to disk:

cortex.speak_to_file("Welcome to Cortex.", "hello.wav")

Expressive mode (adds laughs, sighs, pauses automatically):

cortex.speak_to_file(
    "Wow! That's amazing. I'm so glad you came.",
    "expressive.wav",
    expressive=True,
)

Voice selection:

cortex.speak("Hello", voice="james")

---

Document extraction (Iris)

Upload a PDF, image, or screenshot and get structured data back:

inv = cortex.extract("invoice.pdf", type="invoice")
print(inv.result)
# {'vendor': 'Acme', 'total': 127.43, 'line_items': [...]}

Custom schemas for any document:

medical = cortex.extract(
    "discharge-summary.pdf",
    schema={
        "patient_name": "string",
        "diagnosis_codes": "string[]",
        "discharge_date": "date",
    },
)

Submit a correction when the extraction was wrong (helps train the model):

cortex.correct_extraction(inv.id, [
    {"field_name": "total", "original_value": "127.43", "corrected_value": "1274.30"},
])

---

OCR + form templates

Raw OCR on any image or PDF:

ocr = cortex.ocr("scan.png")
print(ocr.text)

For forms you see often, use a template to get structured fields in ~200ms:

fields = cortex.ocr("claim.pdf", template="cms1500")
print(fields.fields["patient_name"])

Built-in templates: cms1500, ub04, superbill, eob.

Auto-learn a template from your own form:

cortex.learn_template("blank-intake-form.pdf", template_id="my_intake")
# ...later:
fields = cortex.ocr("filled-intake.pdf", template="my_intake")

For unknown layouts, use the OCR-free model (slower but more flexible):

cortex.ocr_understand("complex-doc.pdf")

---

Deep Research

Kick off an autonomous research agent (web search + page fetch + vision + summarisation):

job = cortex.research.submit(
    "What do you know about Acme Medical Group?",
    type="company_enrichment",
    depth="quick",   # 'quick' | 'standard' | 'deep'
)

Block until it's done (automatic polling):

result = cortex.research.wait(job.job_id, timeout=600)
print(result.result["narrative"])

Or poll yourself:

job = cortex.research.get(job_id)
if job.is_done:
    ...

---

RAG collections

Build a knowledge base:

cortex.collections.create("company-kb")
cortex.collections.upload("company-kb", "handbook.pdf")
cortex.collections.upload("company-kb", "policies.md")

Ask questions (search + LLM in one call):

a = cortex.collections.ask("company-kb", "What's our PTO policy?")
print(a.answer)
for s in a.sources:
    print(f"  · {s['filename']} ({s['score']:.0%} match)")

Or just run a semantic search:

hits = cortex.collections.search("company-kb", "parental leave", top_k=3)

---

Async (AsyncCortex)

Same API, coroutine signatures:

import asyncio
from cortex_sdk import AsyncCortex

async def main():
    async with AsyncCortex() as cortex:
        r = await cortex.chat("Hello async")
        vec = await cortex.embed("async embedding")
        print(r.text, len(vec))

asyncio.run(main())

---

Error handling

All errors subclass CortexError. Catch the base for retry logic, catch specific subclasses for targeted handling:

from cortex_sdk import Cortex, CortexRateLimitError, CortexAuthError, CortexError

try:
    r = cortex.chat("hello")
except CortexAuthError:
    # Your key is invalid or revoked
    ...
except CortexRateLimitError:
    # You hit a token/request quota — back off
    ...
except CortexError as e:
    print(f"Cortex failed: {e.status_code} {e.detail}")

The client already retries transient errors (429, 5xx) with exponential backoff — you only see an error if the retries are exhausted.

---

Checking service health

Check the public status page from your code (no API key needed):

from cortex_sdk import Cortex

status = Cortex.status()
print(f"Cortex is {status.overall}")
for pool in status.pools:
    print(f"  {pool.pool}: {pool.status}")

Or point your browser at status.nfinitmonkeys.com.

---

Configuration

Param	Default	What
api_key	$CORTEX_API_KEY	Your API key
base_url	https://cortexapi.nfinitmonkeys.com	Override for self-hosted Cortex
timeout	120 seconds	Default request timeout
retries	2	Retries on 429/5xx (exponential backoff)
default_pool	None	Default X-Cortex-Pool header

cortex = Cortex(timeout=300, retries=5, default_pool="cortex-extract")

---

Support

• Docs: this README plus inline docstrings on every method
• Status: status.nfinitmonkeys.com
• Issues: file on GitHub

Happy building 🦧