diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
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index 0000000..435be09
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+# Contributing to Cortex
+
+First off, thank you for considering contributing to Cortex! It's people like you that make Cortex such a great tool.
+
+## 🚀 How It Works: The AI-Corporation Workflow
+
+Cortex is not just a repository; it's an AI-orchestrated corporation. We follow a unique workflow:
+
+1.  **Council Planning**: We use the `/council` command to analyze the project status and generate strategic tasks.
+2.  **Dispatching**: Tasks are converted into GitHub Issues using the `/dispatch` command.
+3.  **Agent Execution**: Specialized AI agents like **Jules** or **Codex** pick up these issues based on labels (`jules` or `codex`), implement solutions, and create Pull Requests.
+4.  **Human Review**: As the CEO of your instance, you (or the maintainers) review the PRs, run `/verify`, and merge them.
+
+## 🛠 Getting Started
+
+### Prerequisites
+
+- [Python 3.12+](https://www.python.org/downloads/)
+- [uv](https://github.com/astral-sh/uv) (Fast Python package installer and resolver)
+- [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code) (The primary orchestration interface)
+
+### Setup
+
+1.  **Clone the repository**:
+    ```bash
+    git clone https://github.com/your-username/cortex.git
+    cd cortex
+    ```
+2.  **Install dependencies**:
+    Cortex uses a modular structure. Dependencies are managed per tool:
+    ```bash
+    cd tools/heartbeat && uv sync
+    cd ../metrics && uv sync
+    ```
+3.  **Initialize Claude Code**:
+    Launch `claude` in the project root to access custom slash commands.
+
+## 📜 Code Style & Rules
+
+To maintain high quality and agent compatibility, we enforce strict rules:
+
+### Python Rules
+- **Modern Syntax**: Use `from __future__ import annotations`.
+- **Type Safety**: Strict type hinting is mandatory. Use `list[str]` instead of `List[str]` and `X | None` instead of `Optional[X]`.
+- **Runtime Checking**: All public functions must be decorated with `@beartype`.
+- **Complexity**:
+    - Maximum **700 lines** per file.
+    - Maximum **70 lines** per function.
+    - Maximum **4 levels** of nesting.
+- **Tools**: Use `uv run pyright` for type checking and `uv run pytest` for testing within tool directories.
+
+See [docs/python-rules.md](docs/python-rules.md) for more details.
+
+### Git Workflow
+- **Conventional Commits**: We use the `<type>(<scope>): <description>` format (e.g., `feat(heartbeat): add Reddit source`).
+- **Branching**: Never commit directly to `main`. Create a feature branch (`feat/your-feature`) and submit a PR.
+
+See [docs/git-flow.md](docs/git-flow.md) for more details.
+
+### Verification
+Before submitting a PR, ensure your changes pass the verification suite:
+```bash
+/verify
+```
+Or manually run the steps outlined in [docs/verify.md](docs/verify.md).
+
+## 🤝 Community
+
+If you have questions or want to discuss ideas, feel free to open an Issue or start a Discussion!
+
+---
+
+*Cortex — Your Personal AI-Corporation*
diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
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index 0000000..2994ebf
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+MIT License
+
+Copyright (c) 2026 Cortex
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
+of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
+in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
+to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
+copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
+furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+
+The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
+copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
+OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
+SOFTWARE.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index b501fed..4773381 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -111,5 +111,6 @@ Set-and-forget automation via GitHub Actions:
 
 ---
 
-## 📝 License
-This project is open-source. See individual file headers for specific licensing terms where applicable.
+## 📝 License & Contributing
+- [LICENSE](LICENSE) (MIT)
+- [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md)