I’ve tested more productivity tools than I can count. From complex second-brain setups to minimal note apps that promise focus but end up cluttered anyway. So I wasn’t expecting much when I stumbled across Kortex. It’s a free productivity app that looks like yet another Notion clone at first glance. But a few hours in, I realized this one is actually different; it has something most other productivity apps don’t.

Kortex is an AI-powered note-taking and PKM app that blends task management, notes, goals, and linked thinking into one clean workspace. Within a weekend, I had it set up as a dashboard for many of my projects, tasks, and random notes that tend to get lost in my graveyard of note-taking apps. It’s fast and doesn’t try to be complex or deep – it’s just enough to keep up with my brain (and the other way around).

What is Kortex?

The basic rundown

Kortex, at its core, is a note-taking, project/task management, and personal knowledge management app. It supports all the same stuff you’ll find in apps like Notion or AFFiNE, including lists, tables, images, link inserts, and more via the slash command. And it has that similar layout, too, with documents in the left pane, the writing space in the center, and optional pop-up panels on the right side.

It’s marketed as a “second brain” that helps users capture and organize their ideas and research. Usually, when an app dubs itself a second brain, I question it. But Kortex has real ground to stand on thanks to its AI, called kAI. The kAI is built into the workspace and can access any of your documents or sources that you specify. It’s built on the RAG (Retrieval-Audited Generation) framework, which means its responses are grounded in your own documents and knowledge base. This is the same framework NotebookLM uses.

So not only can you build your pages using blocks like lists and tables, but you can take advantage of the AI to help synthesize your own documents. This sets it apart from most other PKMs I’ve used. Kortex was designed with creators in mind, but anyone can use it – I think it’s pretty good for students, too.

Creating documents

Everything you need to go from quick notes to fleshed-out systems

If you’re familiar with the likes of Notion, you probably already know what to expect in Kortex documents. Hitting the slash / will bring up a list of the basics like headers, bullet lists, tables, image inserts, threads, posts, and so on. It’s a pretty straightforward way to build out your documents with blocks. What I like is how you can build blocks inside other blocks and create simple organizational structures or elaborate hierarchical information systems that keep expanding. This is all you need to keep track of tasks, projects, or studying materials.

Quick capture

A way to save your thoughts without losing them

Kortex has a Capture feature, which is exactly what it sounds like – a tool where you can jot something down in seconds. Capture is unique from other note-taking apps in two ways, though. First, it’s structured like a chat, so it feels like sending yourself messages or texts. Messaging myself on social media or something similar is actually a trick I’ve been using for a long time to quickly jot something down without forgetting it. But Kortex’s Capture is designed specifically for this.

Another cool thing about Capture is that you can add a “connection” to your note. Connections brings up a list of all your documents, from where you can pick the ones your note applies to. This is the best digital version of “set it and forget it” I’ve come across. Later, you can click on the linked document in your note, which will open in a split tab view, where you can add the note from Capture.

Integrated context-aware AI

To meet your brain’s complexity

One of the main selling points of Kortex is its AI, called kAI. As abovementioned, the AI tool retrieves data from your own documents and sources, similarly to how NotebookLM does it. And it can also read web pages and PDFs if you add them as sources. This instantly made me love Kortex even more. You type out a prompt with your request in the AI Chat, add your documents or sources with the @ character, and kAI will give you a context-aware answer depending on what you were looking for and the sources you selected.

It’s one of the best ways to do things like document summarization, idea generation or reimagining, information retrieval, finding connections, and so on. This makes it the ideal tool for writers and novelists who are juggling multiple pages and chapters at once, as well as content creators who are drowning in ideas. Here are a couple of the prompts I’ve been using in relation to my novel drafts and UX design research:

What are the top four takeaways of the fundamentals of UX Research? Keep it short, bullet list.

I want to make [character]’s entrance more comedic in these chapters. Bullet list of ideas. Don’t rewrite the scenes.

The productivity app that thinks for you

Kortex hits a rare balance between power and approachability. It’s super fast and streamlined, and has the exact features you need for everyday task management – the Capture and kAI Chat being some of the most useful functions I’ve come across in a PKM. It only took about thirty minutes to get the hang of, and by the end of the weekend, I had it managing most of my projects.