# 10 minutes to Cognoxium

This tutorial starts with ordinary Python records and ends with a provider-neutral context pack. It uses the approximate token profile so the result is deterministic on every supported installation.

## Build, transform, and pack context

```{testcode}
import cognoxium as cx

records = [
    {
        "id": "policy",
        "payload": "Never disclose credentials.",
        "role": "system",
        "sources": [{"uri": "app://policy", "kind": "application"}],
        "trust": "trusted",
        "retention": "required",
        "created_at": "2026-01-01T00:00:00Z",
    },
    {
        "id": "ci-result",
        "payload": "The build passed.",
        "role": "tool",
        "sources": [{"uri": "tool://ci", "kind": "tool"}],
        "retention": "preferred",
        "created_at": "2026-01-01T00:01:00Z",
    },
    {
        "id": "old-result",
        "payload": "Old result",
        "sources": ["tool://ci"],
        "expires_at": "2000-01-01T00:00:00Z",
        "created_at": "2026-01-01T00:02:00Z",
    },
    {
        "id": "secret",
        "payload": "api_key=abcdefghijklmnop",
        "sources": ["tool://config"],
        "created_at": "2026-01-01T00:03:00Z",
    },
]

frame = cx.CognitionFrame.from_records(records)
pack = frame.dedupe().rank("build status").pack(
    budget=32,
    token_profile=cx.profiles.approximate(),
    boundary=cx.Boundary.external("openai"),
)

print(pack.to_text())
print("selected:", [item["id"] for item in pack.manifest.selected])
print("excluded:", [
    (item["id"], item["reason"])
    for item in pack.manifest.excluded
])
print("tokens:", pack.manifest.total_tokens, "estimated:", pack.manifest.estimated)
```

```{testoutput}
[system] Never disclose credentials.

[tool] The build passed.
selected: ['policy', 'ci-result']
excluded: [('old-result', 'expired'), ('secret', 'secret_detected')]
tokens: 12 estimated: True
```

## Understand the decision

- `policy` is `required`, so Cognoxium reserves it before considering other items.
- `ci-result` is `preferred`, so it is considered before optional items.
- `old-result` is expired and cannot cross any boundary.
- `secret` matches a conservative secret pattern and is excluded from this external pack.
- The approximate profile reports `estimated=True`; 32 is a selection budget, not a provider-certified hard limit.
- `untrusted` is the default label, but it is not an automatic block. `ci-result` has provenance and therefore remains eligible. See {doc}`boundaries`.

## Render only at the SDK boundary

`ContextPack` is immutable and provider neutral:

```{code-block} python
openai_input = pack.to_openai()
anthropic_arguments = pack.to_anthropic()
plain_text = pack.to_text()
```

The renderer mappings are intentionally simple in the 0.1 series. Read {doc}`rendering` before using tool roles or provider-specific message features.

## Keep the audit record

Persist `pack.manifest.to_dict()` beside the model request when your retention policy permits it. The manifest records the budget, profile fingerprint, selected items, exclusion reasons, dedupe groups, and truncations without requiring translated log parsing.

For reproducible manifests, supply stable `id` and `created_at` values. Omitting them generates a UUID and the current time.