cortex-laws

name	cortex-laws
description	Surface active laws in the current scope (repo + topics). Returns law id, severity, title, and detector for each rule that applies. Use this when the user asks "what laws apply here?", "is X allowed?", "any rules I should know?", or before suggesting an action that might trip a critical law.

cortex-laws

Use this skill to enumerate the laws that govern the current scope. A law is a codified rule with an enforcement tier (info / notable / critical); critical laws are blocking when invoked through the spec-10 pre-tool hook.

When to use

• The user asks "what laws apply?" / "any rules in this repo?".
• The user asks "can I do X?" / "is Y allowed?" — pair with a cortex-lawkeeper sub-agent invocation if you want the laws plus a verdict.
• You're about to suggest a Bash invocation, a destructive op, or a settings change and want to confirm no critical law fires.

Do NOT use this skill to:

• Look up a specific law id — query the dashboard at /laws/<id> instead.
• Author a new law — that's a /cortex-laws-author flow (not in this plugin yet; lands with the dashboard authoring surface).

How to invoke

Call cortex_query with intent=law_check:

{
  "intent": "law_check",
  "query": "<short description of the action you're considering>",
  "scope": {
    "repo": "<repo from cwd>",
    "topics": ["<optional topic chips>"]
  },
  "include": ["violations"],
  "budget_ms": 300
}

intent=law_check returns only the violations field by default (spec 11 §Acceptance criteria). The laws_active overlay carries the laws that match scope; surface those when the user asks for a positive listing.

How to use the response

For each law in laws_active:

• Cite the id (LAW-007).
• Cite the severity and a one-line summary of the title.
• If severity = critical, surface the law BEFORE proposing the action — the spec-10 hook will block the model otherwise, and it's better to discuss in plain language than to surprise the user with a permissionDecision: deny.

If the response also carries violations (recent violations of the same law), mention them as evidence.

Empty result

No active laws → laws_active: []. Tell the user: "No laws codified for this scope yet." Don't invent rules.