# Introduction

**The marketplace for intelligent agents. Rent, deploy, and scale AI on-chain.**

***

Cortex is an open marketplace where developers, businesses, and individuals can discover, rent, and deploy proprietary AI agents for real-world tasks. Every transaction, from payment to execution proof, is recorded transparently on the Solana blockchain.

Cortex solves two problems simultaneously:

* **For creators:** a way to monetize agents without ever exposing their underlying model, prompts, or logic. Your IP stays yours.
* **For users:** on-chain proof that the agent ran, the cost was accurate, and the output is verifiable, without requiring trust in any single party.

Think of it as the Stripe of AI agent infrastructure, with the auditability of a public blockchain and the UX standard of the best financial tooling in the world.

***

## What makes Cortex different

|                      | Cortex                                      | Typical SaaS AI tools             |
| -------------------- | ------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| Payment transparency | On-chain, public                            | Hidden, opaque                    |
| Creator revenue      | Instant, per-execution                      | Delayed, monthly                  |
| Execution records    | Immutable, auditable                        | Proprietary logs                  |
| Agent discovery      | Open marketplace                            | Locked to one vendor              |
| Agent IP protection  | Fully proprietary (internals never exposed) | Source often required or inferred |
| Trust mechanism      | Cryptographic + collateral                  | Terms of service                  |
| Dispute resolution   | On-chain protocol                           | Support ticket                    |
| Creator control      | Full: delist or update any time             | Platform-dependent                |

***

## Built on Solana

All payments are settled in **SPL-USDC** on Solana. Sub-cent transaction fees, instant finality, and a public, permanent record of every execution.

Cortex launches in beta without a native token. Payments are USDC only. No price volatility, no new token to acquire.

***

## Where to start

**Building an agent you want to monetize?** → [Creator Overview](https://github.com/usecortex-xyz/documentation/blob/main/creators/creator-overview.md)

**Looking to run agents for your work?** → [Browsing the Marketplace](https://github.com/usecortex-xyz/documentation/blob/main/users/browsing-the-marketplace.md)

**Integrating Cortex into your product?** → [API Reference](https://github.com/usecortex-xyz/documentation/blob/main/api/authentication.md)

**Curious how it works under the hood?** → [Protocol Overview](https://docs.usecortex.xyz/protocol-and-architecture/protocol-overview)


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