Organize the conversation, explore new directions, and carry engineering work to a reviewable result
Useful AI work rarely fits into one prompt. A question becomes an investigation. An investigation produces several possible approaches. One approach becomes an engineering task that needs implementation, testing, review, and a decision about what happens next.
Cortex now gives those moments a more coherent path. Chat Collections keep related discussions findable. Fork a Chat lets a user explore another direction from a completed response. For eligible engineering tasks, Cortex can turn the chosen objective into a durable workflow with specialized contributions, validation, and visible progress.
These capabilities serve different purposes. A collection organizes conversations. A fork creates a separate conversation. A workflow coordinates and verifies actions against a project. Together, they help people move from an idea to work they can inspect and continue.
Cortex clients connect conversations to governed workflow coordination and reviewable outcomes.
Give every line of work a place
As people use Cortex across projects and devices, finding the right conversation becomes part of the job. Collections let users group chats, move them as priorities change, and return to an earlier discussion without searching through an undifferentiated list. Cortex supports that organization across its Visual Studio Code, browser, and mobile chat experiences.
The same project can contain several useful conversations: an investigation, a design discussion, an implementation request, and a follow-up review. Keeping them organized helps preserve the distinction between those activities while maintaining continuity as a user moves between work surfaces.
Explore another path without disturbing the original
Engineering decisions often benefit from an alternative. A developer might compare two fixes or revisit an assumption made earlier in a discussion. Fork a Chat creates a new conversation from completed chat history, including from a selected completed response. The new conversation can continue independently while the original remains available.
That is a conversation feature, with a clear boundary. A fork lets users explore an idea; any engineering action that follows still goes through the normal workflow controls. Users can compare approaches before deciding which direction should become a request.
Turn the objective into coordinated work
When an eligible request calls for more than one action, Cortex can organize investigation, implementation, testing, review, and verification into a visible plan. Activities can be sequenced around their dependencies, and independent work can move forward together. Progress remains available when a user changes devices or returns after an interruption.
Specialized Cortex capabilities contribute where they are useful, while permissions and review points remain part of the workflow. If the task reveals more work, Cortex can bring that need into the plan for review rather than leaving it hidden in a chat response.
For example, a feature request might begin with repository investigation, continue through a focused code change and tests, then require a reviewer to decide whether the result meets the original objective. The user can see that progression and the decisions still outstanding.
Make completion depend on evidence
A convincing summary is not enough to establish that engineering work is complete. Cortex can require evidence from the work performed and an independent check before a supported step moves forward. Users can review what was checked and where attention is still needed.
If validation is incomplete or the project has changed, the workflow can return to review rather than presenting an unsupported completion. This makes progress more meaningful: a completed step has a stronger basis than a persuasive summary in a chat transcript.
Handle change without losing the whole effort
Longer tasks can encounter incompatible changes or discoveries that alter the original plan. Cortex can surface those issues, revisit affected work, and bring results together for another check. A failed step does not have to turn the entire effort into an unexplained restart.
When a correction is needed, the workflow can preserve useful progress while putting affected work back under review. People remain involved in decisions that expand scope or reverse changes.
Match resources to the work
Cortex can adapt eligible work to available capacity and route it to appropriate intelligence within organizational controls. That helps larger tasks make progress without requiring users to manage every model or execution detail themselves.
These controls serve the user experience as much as the infrastructure. Small tasks should stay responsive, while larger tasks should remain understandable and manageable as they grow.
Remember the decisions that still matter
As a workflow grows, its useful context is more than the latest chat messages. Cortex can carry forward relevant decisions, findings, and open questions so later work has the context needed to stay aligned with the objective.
When the project changes or an earlier assumption no longer holds, Cortex can revisit the affected context. Users should not have to reconstruct the entire history each time work pauses or changes hands.
Continue through repository events when enabled
For repositories where the capability is enabled, Cortex can connect an active workflow to pull request, CI, review, and security progress. Teams can see when checks finish, when more work is needed, and when a human decision remains outstanding.
Repository workflows follow configured controls. Continuous work should fit a team’s existing review process and keep responsibility for consequential decisions visible.
Keep people in the loop across Cortex
The conversation is where a user expresses intent. The workflow is where Cortex tracks execution, evidence, pauses, and decisions. Task Center and connected workflow views help users see what is running, what needs approval or review, and what result was reached across supported Cortex work surfaces.
The result is a clearer path from discussion to delivery. Users can organize related conversations, explore a different idea without losing the first, and carry an approved engineering objective through coordinated work. Cortex keeps the progress, dependencies, evidence, and human decisions connected so the outcome remains reviewable after the chat window closes.
