What Cortex Does
Cortex serves as a central system of record for engineering teams, aiming to reduce complexity and improve the overall developer experience. It unifies data, infrastructure, documentation, and automation, providing a unified platform that helps developers navigate and manage their work more efficiently.
Key Features and Functionality
Unified Data Connector and Integrations
Cortex integrates with over 50 tools, including logging, monitoring, observability, security, CI/CD, documentation, identity, and cloud warehousing solutions. This universal data connector ensures that all critical data sources are connected, making it easier for developers to access the information they need.
Catalogs and Scorecards
Cortex uses catalogs to organize and make accessible the various services, APIs, data models, and other components of the software ecosystem. It also employs active scorecards to assess the current state of teams, software, and projects, helping to identify areas that need improvement and drive action towards achieving engineering excellence.
Developer Self-Service
The platform provides developer self-service capabilities, centralizing workflows across different tools and adding one-click templates and approvals. This eliminates unnecessary toil and keeps developers focused on high-priority tasks. Self-service features include automated onboarding tasks, such as account creation and secrets allocation, and speed up information discovery with tools like Catalogs, Plugins, and CQL (Cortex Query Language).
Customization and Standardization
Cortex allows for extensive customization while ensuring compliance with software standards. It continuously assesses software and teams for progress towards the ideal state, using GUI or GitOps without requiring custom scripts. This ensures that passive software standards are actively enforced and adopted by the team.
Improved Visibility and Consistency
The platform enhances visibility and consistency in development cycles by automating tasks that would otherwise require manual interventions. It provides insightful ecosystem metrics, eliminates speculative decision-making, and gives a realistic picture of the software development ecosystem’s health. Features like gamification of developer engagement and personalized homepages with prioritized tasks further drive engagement and improvement.
Measurable Benefits
Cortex helps in quantifying the impact on business and developer value through metrics such as deployment frequency, SLO (Service Level Objective) attainment, reduction in Mean Time to Restore (MTTR), and faster time to market. These metrics are tracked through Cortex Eng Intelligence, providing clear and measurable benefits to the organization.
In summary, Cortex is a comprehensive Internal Developer Portal that streamlines software development by unifying data sources, automating tasks, and providing self-service capabilities. Its focus on standardization, customization, and measurable benefits makes it an invaluable tool for engineering teams aiming to achieve excellence and efficiency.