Yes. Cortico runs. Argusic installed and launched it on a clean machine in 2 minutes, hitting 1 error on the way, and recorded the session.

How did Argusic test Cortico?

On a fresh, disposable machine, with every command recorded and the repository pinned at commit b094425d958a. One attempt is recorded, and the full method is on the methodology page.

What did it cost to test Cortico?

The run that produced this verdict cost $0.06: real compute and model cost, not a list price per million tokens. It is recorded on that run's page.

How long does Cortico take to install?

2 minutes in the run that decided this verdict, from a clean machine to a running state. That is one measured attempt, not an average.

Does Cortico need a GPU?

Not to start. Argusic reached a running state on a machine with no GPU.

What goes wrong when installing Cortico?

1 thing broke in the recorded run, and 1 were fixed without human help. Each one, and the time it cost, is listed on this page.

Where is the evidence for Cortico?

The recorded run is on this page, each linking to its full log and terminal recording, stored with a sha256 fingerprint so it cannot be quietly altered.

Cortico

Event-stream AI Agent framework for building your persona bot 🍊

Runssource: GitHub homepageTypeScriptMITcommit b094425d958a

TypeScript, MIT licensed. The project labels itself: agent framework, ai agent, chatbot, llm, persona, typescript and vtuber.

Cortico runs. An Argusic agent installed it in 2 minutes and hit 1 error and fixed every one without help on a clean machine with no GPU, and the whole session was recorded.

pnpm install completes, pnpm test runs 4908 tests all passing, pnpm run typecheck passes cleanly, pnpm start launches the bot with a web console responding on port 7788 with no auth required
What the agent ended up with on a clean machine, in its own words. How this is measured

Measured by Argusic on a fresh machine every time. Every number links to its evidence. Argusic Score 100 of 100 (the mean of this project's run scores).

At a glance

verdict: Runs
Argusic Score: 100 / 100
cost of the verifying run: $0.06 (measured)
recorded runs: 1
last tested: 2026-10-26
stars: 280
forks: 26
open issues: 10
watchers: 0
size: 6 MB
created: 2026-09-13
last push: 2026-10-24

Subject data from GitHub, linked at the top of this page, refreshed 2026-10-25. Test data by Argusic (CC BY 4.0); every number links to a run page with the full log, the recording, and their sha256 hashes.

What was measured

From the run that decided this verdict. Every line is a recorded value, not an estimate.

Time lost to each failure while testing Cortico, drawn from the recorded run — Every bar is a failure the agent recorded, with the time it cost. Drawn from this run, not from anywhere else.

What went wrong, in the agent's own words

The agent's own words, worst first, never rewritten into advice.

Node v18.19.1 too old (needs 22+), corepack/pnpm unavailable2 minutes

Install time: 2 minutes
Cold machine to finish: 11 minutes
Errors hit and fixed: 1 hit, 1 fixed with no human help
How the result was proved: pnpm test exited 0 (4908 passed, 1 skipped); pnpm run typecheck clean; curl http://127.0.0.1:7788/ returned 200; curl http://127.0.0.1:7788/api/auth/status returned {"required":false,"authenticated":true}
Model tokens used: 106,223
Exact commit tested: b094425d958a
Container image: sha256:cdd920bce783

What was not measured

The other half, so you can see exactly how far this evidence goes. A gap is printed as a gap and never filled in.

Peak GPU memory: this ran on a CPU machine, so there was no GPU to sample
Behaviour over a long run: each attempt uses the smallest documented settings and a fixed time budget, so this measures whether it runs, not how it holds up under load

The end of the recording

The last lines of the terminal session that decided this verdict, exactly as they were recorded.

- `pnpm start` launched the bot, console responded on port 7788 with HTTP 200 on `/` and `{"require…
- No real LLM provider key was configured, so the bot started paused — this is expected per the doc…
2026-10-26T16:27:18.406767Z ERROR codex_core::session: failed to record rollout items: thread 01a17…
tokens used
106,223
All verification is complete. Here's the final report:
- Node was too old (v18.19.1) — installed Node 22.14.0 to get pnpm, then hit `registerHooks is not …
- `pnpm install` completed in ~16s, building web assets in ~15s.
- `pnpm test` passes: **255 files, 4908 tests passed, 1 skipped**.
- `pnpm run typecheck` passes cleanly.
- `pnpm start` launched the bot, console responded on port 7788 with HTTP 200 on `/` and `{"require…
- No real LLM provider key was configured, so the bot started paused — this is expected per the doc…

Replay the whole session, every command from a clean machine to this point.

How it was tested

One agent, one container, no human help. It installs the project the way its own documentation says to, runs it, and fixes what breaks. Everything below is recorded as it happened: the terminal session, the log and the exact commit. The full method.

Strengths and limits

Measured facts, not opinions. How this is written.

What went well

Reached a running state on a clean machine, with the session recorded.
Installed in 2 minutes, faster than the median of the 51 comparable projects Argusic has measured.
Recovered from all 1 error without a human stepping in, which says the failures are documented well enough to solve.
Ran without a GPU, so it does not need one to start.
Licensed MIT, as reported by its host.

What did not, or is not known

Measured once so far. A single attempt shows it can run, not that it runs reliably.

Of the 52 agent-framework projects Argusic has installed and timed, Cortico was the 14th fastest to reach a running state, and 38 of 52 reached one at all.

What it is a reasonable choice for

Trying it on a laptop or a small server: it reached a running state without a GPU.
A quick evaluation: it was running 2 minutes after the clone.

Also tested, in the same area

Every one of these was installed and run by Argusic on a clean machine. Nothing appears here that was not tested.

Run history

tested by	attempt	outcome	score	cost USD	when
Argusic Runner	1/3	Runs	100.00	0.06	2026-10-26 16:27 UTC

Topics (from GitHub)

agent-framework ai-agent chatbot llm persona typescript vtuber

Embed the badge

Markdown for the project README. It links back here; terms on the terms page.

[![Tested by Argusic](https://argusic.com/badge/Cortico.svg)](https://argusic.com/subject/cortico)

Questions

Does Cortico run?: Yes. Cortico runs. Argusic installed and launched it on a clean machine in 2 minutes, hitting 1 error on the way, and recorded the session.
How did Argusic test Cortico?: On a fresh, disposable machine, with every command recorded and the repository pinned at commit b094425d958a. One attempt is recorded, and the full method is on the methodology page.
What did it cost to test Cortico?: The run that produced this verdict cost $0.06: real compute and model cost, not a list price per million tokens. It is recorded on that run's page.
How long does Cortico take to install?: 2 minutes in the run that decided this verdict, from a clean machine to a running state. That is one measured attempt, not an average.
Does Cortico need a GPU?: Not to start. Argusic reached a running state on a machine with no GPU.
What goes wrong when installing Cortico?: 1 thing broke in the recorded run, and 1 were fixed without human help. Each one, and the time it cost, is listed on this page.
How does Cortico compare with the alternatives?: Of the 52 agent-framework projects Argusic has installed and timed, Cortico was the 14th fastest to reach a running state, and 38 of 52 reached one at all.
Where is the evidence for Cortico?: The recorded run is on this page, each linking to its full log and terminal recording, stored with a sha256 fingerprint so it cannot be quietly altered.