diff --git a/core/relay/server.js b/core/relay/server.js
index 71e5dca..c9e2192 100644
--- a/core/relay/server.js
+++ b/core/relay/server.js
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@ const PORT = Number(process.env.PORT || 7078);
 // core endpoints
 const CORTEX_REASON = process.env.CORTEX_REASON_URL || "http://cortex:7081/reason";
 const CORTEX_INGEST = process.env.CORTEX_INGEST_URL || "http://cortex:7081/ingest";
-const INTAKE_URL    = process.env.INTAKE_URL       || "http://intake:7080/add_exchange";
 
 // -----------------------------------------------------
 // Helper request wrapper
@@ -28,6 +27,7 @@ async function postJSON(url, data) {
   const raw = await resp.text();
   let json;
 
+  // Try to parse JSON safely
   try {
     json = raw ? JSON.parse(raw) : null;
   } catch (e) {
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ async function postJSON(url, data) {
 // Shared chat handler logic
 // -----------------------------------------------------
 async function handleChatRequest(session_id, user_msg) {
-  // 1. → Cortex.reason
+  // 1. → Cortex.reason: the main pipeline
   let reason;
   try {
     reason = await postJSON(CORTEX_REASON, {
@@ -60,20 +60,16 @@ async function handleChatRequest(session_id, user_msg) {
   const persona = reason.final_output || reason.persona || "(no persona text)";
 
   // 2. → Cortex.ingest (async, non-blocking)
+  // Cortex might still want this for separate ingestion pipeline.
   postJSON(CORTEX_INGEST, {
     session_id,
     user_msg,
     assistant_msg: persona
-  }).catch(e => console.warn("Relay → Cortex.ingest failed:", e.message));
+  }).catch(e =>
+    console.warn("Relay → Cortex.ingest failed:", e.message)
+  );
 
-  // 3. → Intake summary (async, non-blocking)
-  postJSON(INTAKE_URL, {
-    session_id,
-    user_msg,
-    assistant_msg: persona
-  }).catch(e => console.warn("Relay → Intake failed:", e.message));
-
-  // 4. Return result
+  // 3. Return corrected result
   return {
     session_id,
     reply: persona
@@ -88,11 +84,10 @@ app.get("/_health", (_, res) => {
 });
 
 // -----------------------------------------------------
-// OPENAI-COMPATIBLE ENDPOINT (for UI)
+// OPENAI-COMPATIBLE ENDPOINT (for UI & clients)
 // -----------------------------------------------------
 app.post("/v1/chat/completions", async (req, res) => {
   try {
-    // Extract from OpenAI format
     const session_id = req.body.session_id || req.body.user || "default";
     const messages = req.body.messages || [];
     const lastMessage = messages[messages.length - 1];
@@ -104,10 +99,8 @@ app.post("/v1/chat/completions", async (req, res) => {
 
     console.log(`Relay (v1) → received: "${user_msg}"`);
 
-    // Call the same logic as /chat
     const result = await handleChatRequest(session_id, user_msg);
 
-    // Return in OpenAI format
     return res.json({
       id: `chatcmpl-${Date.now()}`,
       object: "chat.completion",
@@ -129,7 +122,7 @@ app.post("/v1/chat/completions", async (req, res) => {
     });
 
   } catch (err) {
-    console.error("Relay v1 endpoint fatal:", err);
+    console.error("Relay v1 fatal:", err);
     res.status(500).json({
       error: {
         message: err.message || String(err),
@@ -141,7 +134,7 @@ app.post("/v1/chat/completions", async (req, res) => {
 });
 
 // -----------------------------------------------------
-// MAIN ENDPOINT (new canonical)
+// MAIN ENDPOINT (canonical Lyra UI entrance)
 // -----------------------------------------------------
 app.post("/chat", async (req, res) => {
   try {
diff --git a/cortex/context.py b/cortex/context.py
index 75f9ede..aff3327 100644
--- a/cortex/context.py
+++ b/cortex/context.py
@@ -15,13 +15,14 @@ import logging
 from datetime import datetime
 from typing import Dict, Any, Optional, List
 import httpx
+from intake.intake import summarize_context
+
 
 from neomem_client import NeoMemClient
 
 # -----------------------------
 # Configuration
 # -----------------------------
-INTAKE_API_URL = os.getenv("INTAKE_API_URL", "http://intake:7080")
 NEOMEM_API = os.getenv("NEOMEM_API", "http://neomem-api:8000")
 RELEVANCE_THRESHOLD = float(os.getenv("RELEVANCE_THRESHOLD", "0.4"))
 VERBOSE_DEBUG = os.getenv("VERBOSE_DEBUG", "false").lower() == "true"
@@ -89,69 +90,27 @@ def _init_session(session_id: str) -> Dict[str, Any]:
 # -----------------------------
 # Intake context retrieval
 # -----------------------------
-async def _get_intake_context(session_id: str) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+async def _get_intake_context(session_id: str, messages: List[Dict[str, str]]):
     """
-    Retrieve multilevel summaries from Intake /context endpoint.
-
-    Returns L1-L30 summary hierarchy:
-    - L1: Last 5 exchanges
-    - L5: Last 10 exchanges (reality check)
-    - L10: Intermediate checkpoint
-    - L20: Session overview
-    - L30: Continuity report
-
-    Args:
-        session_id: Session identifier
-
-    Returns:
-        Dict with multilevel summaries or empty structure on failure
+    Internal Intake — Direct call to summarize_context()
+    No HTTP, no containers, no failures.
     """
-    url = f"{INTAKE_API_URL}/context"
-    params = {"session_id": session_id}
-
     try:
-        async with httpx.AsyncClient(timeout=5.0) as client:
-            response = await client.get(url, params=params)
-            response.raise_for_status()
-            data = response.json()
-
-            # Expected format from Intake:
-            # {
-            #   "session_id": "...",
-            #   "L1": [...],
-            #   "L5": [...],
-            #   "L10": {...},
-            #   "L20": {...},
-            #   "L30": {...}
-            # }
-
-            logger.info(f"Retrieved Intake context for session {session_id}")
-            return data
-
-    except httpx.HTTPError as e:
-        logger.warning(f"Failed to retrieve Intake context: {e}")
-        return {
-            "session_id": session_id,
-            "L1": [],
-            "L5": [],
-            "L10": None,
-            "L20": None,
-            "L30": None,
-            "error": str(e)
-        }
+        return await summarize_context(session_id, messages)
     except Exception as e:
-        logger.error(f"Unexpected error retrieving Intake context: {e}")
+        logger.error(f"Internal Intake summarization failed: {e}")
         return {
             "session_id": session_id,
-            "L1": [],
-            "L5": [],
-            "L10": None,
-            "L20": None,
-            "L30": None,
+            "L1": "",
+            "L5": "",
+            "L10": "",
+            "L20": "",
+            "L30": "",
             "error": str(e)
         }
 
 
+
 # -----------------------------
 # NeoMem semantic search
 # -----------------------------
@@ -279,7 +238,19 @@ async def collect_context(session_id: str, user_prompt: str) -> Dict[str, Any]:
         logger.debug(f"[COLLECT_CONTEXT] Time since last message: {minutes_since_last_msg:.2f} minutes")
 
     # C. Gather Intake context (multilevel summaries)
-    intake_data = await _get_intake_context(session_id)
+    # Build compact message buffer for Intake:
+    messages_for_intake = []
+
+    # You track messages inside SESSION_STATE — assemble it here:
+    if "message_history" in state:
+        for turn in state["message_history"]:
+            messages_for_intake.append({
+                "user_msg": turn.get("user", ""),
+                "assistant_msg": turn.get("assistant", "")
+            })
+
+    intake_data = await _get_intake_context(session_id, messages_for_intake)
+
 
     if VERBOSE_DEBUG:
         import json
diff --git a/cortex/intake/intake.py b/cortex/intake/intake.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca8a373
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cortex/intake/intake.py
@@ -0,0 +1,260 @@
+import os
+from datetime import datetime
+from typing import List, Dict, Any
+
+from llm.llm_router import call_llm  # use Cortex's shared router
+
+# ─────────────────────────────
+# Config
+# ─────────────────────────────
+
+INTAKE_LLM = os.getenv("INTAKE_LLM", "PRIMARY").upper()
+
+SUMMARY_MAX_TOKENS = int(os.getenv("SUMMARY_MAX_TOKENS", "200"))
+SUMMARY_TEMPERATURE = float(os.getenv("SUMMARY_TEMPERATURE", "0.3"))
+
+NEOMEM_API = os.getenv("NEOMEM_API")
+NEOMEM_KEY = os.getenv("NEOMEM_KEY")
+
+# ─────────────────────────────
+# Internal history for L10/L20/L30
+# ─────────────────────────────
+
+L10_HISTORY: Dict[str, list[str]] = {}   # session_id → list of L10 blocks
+L20_HISTORY: Dict[str, list[str]] = {}   # session_id → list of merged overviews
+
+
+# ─────────────────────────────
+# LLM helper (via Cortex router)
+# ─────────────────────────────
+
+async def _llm(prompt: str) -> str:
+    """
+    Use Cortex's llm_router to run a summary prompt.
+    """
+    try:
+        text = await call_llm(
+            prompt,
+            backend=INTAKE_LLM,
+            temperature=SUMMARY_TEMPERATURE,
+            max_tokens=SUMMARY_MAX_TOKENS,
+        )
+        return (text or "").strip()
+    except Exception as e:
+        return f"[Error summarizing: {e}]"
+
+
+# ─────────────────────────────
+# Formatting helpers
+# ─────────────────────────────
+
+def _format_exchanges(exchanges: List[Dict[str, Any]]) -> str:
+    """
+    Expect each exchange to look like:
+      { "user_msg": "...", "assistant_msg": "..." }
+    """
+    chunks = []
+    for e in exchanges:
+        user = e.get("user_msg", "")
+        assistant = e.get("assistant_msg", "")
+        chunks.append(f"User: {user}\nAssistant: {assistant}\n")
+    return "\n".join(chunks)
+
+
+# ─────────────────────────────
+# Base factual summary
+# ─────────────────────────────
+
+async def summarize_simple(exchanges: List[Dict[str, Any]]) -> str:
+    """
+    Simple factual summary of recent exchanges.
+    """
+    if not exchanges:
+        return ""
+
+    text = _format_exchanges(exchanges)
+
+    prompt = f"""
+Summarize the following conversation between Brian (user) and Lyra (assistant).
+Focus only on factual content. Avoid names, examples, story tone, or invented details.
+
+{text}
+
+Summary:
+"""
+    return await _llm(prompt)
+
+
+# ─────────────────────────────
+# Multilevel Summaries (L1, L5, L10, L20, L30)
+# ─────────────────────────────
+
+async def summarize_L1(buf: List[Dict[str, Any]]) -> str:
+    # Last ~5 exchanges
+    return await summarize_simple(buf[-5:])
+
+
+async def summarize_L5(buf: List[Dict[str, Any]]) -> str:
+    # Last ~10 exchanges
+    return await summarize_simple(buf[-10:])
+
+
+async def summarize_L10(session_id: str, buf: List[Dict[str, Any]]) -> str:
+    # “Reality Check” for last 10 exchanges
+    text = _format_exchanges(buf[-10:])
+
+    prompt = f"""
+You are Lyra Intake performing a short 'Reality Check'.
+Summarize the last block of conversation (up to 10 exchanges)
+in one clear paragraph focusing on tone, intent, and direction.
+
+{text}
+
+Reality Check:
+"""
+    summary = await _llm(prompt)
+
+    # Track history for this session
+    L10_HISTORY.setdefault(session_id, [])
+    L10_HISTORY[session_id].append(summary)
+
+    return summary
+
+
+async def summarize_L20(session_id: str) -> str:
+    """
+    Merge all L10 Reality Checks into a 'Session Overview'.
+    """
+    history = L10_HISTORY.get(session_id, [])
+    joined = "\n\n".join(history) if history else ""
+
+    if not joined:
+        return ""
+
+    prompt = f"""
+You are Lyra Intake creating a 'Session Overview'.
+Merge the following Reality Check paragraphs into one short summary
+capturing progress, themes, and the direction of the conversation.
+
+{joined}
+
+Overview:
+"""
+    summary = await _llm(prompt)
+
+    L20_HISTORY.setdefault(session_id, [])
+    L20_HISTORY[session_id].append(summary)
+
+    return summary
+
+
+async def summarize_L30(session_id: str) -> str:
+    """
+    Merge all L20 session overviews into a 'Continuity Report'.
+    """
+    history = L20_HISTORY.get(session_id, [])
+    joined = "\n\n".join(history) if history else ""
+
+    if not joined:
+        return ""
+
+    prompt = f"""
+You are Lyra Intake generating a 'Continuity Report'.
+Condense these session overviews into one high-level reflection,
+noting major themes, persistent goals, and shifts.
+
+{joined}
+
+Continuity Report:
+"""
+    return await _llm(prompt)
+
+
+# ─────────────────────────────
+# NeoMem push
+# ─────────────────────────────
+
+def push_to_neomem(summary: str, session_id: str, level: str) -> None:
+    """
+    Fire-and-forget push of a summary into NeoMem.
+    """
+    if not NEOMEM_API or not summary:
+        return
+
+    headers = {"Content-Type": "application/json"}
+    if NEOMEM_KEY:
+        headers["Authorization"] = f"Bearer {NEOMEM_KEY}"
+
+    payload = {
+        "messages": [{"role": "assistant", "content": summary}],
+        "user_id": "brian",
+        "metadata": {
+            "source": "intake",
+            "session_id": session_id,
+            "level": level,
+        },
+    }
+
+    try:
+        import requests
+        requests.post(
+            f"{NEOMEM_API}/memories",
+            json=payload,
+            headers=headers,
+            timeout=20,
+        ).raise_for_status()
+        print(f"🧠 NeoMem updated ({level}) for {session_id}")
+    except Exception as e:
+        print(f"NeoMem push failed ({level}, {session_id}): {e}")
+
+
+# ─────────────────────────────
+# Main entrypoint for Cortex
+# ─────────────────────────────
+
+async def summarize_context(
+    session_id: str,
+    exchanges: List[Dict[str, Any]],
+) -> Dict[str, Any]:
+    """
+    Main API used by Cortex:
+
+        summaries = await summarize_context(session_id, exchanges)
+
+    `exchanges` should be the recent conversation buffer for that session.
+    """
+    buf = list(exchanges)
+    if not buf:
+        return {
+            "session_id": session_id,
+            "exchange_count": 0,
+            "L1": "",
+            "L5": "",
+            "L10": "",
+            "L20": "",
+            "L30": "",
+            "last_updated": None,
+        }
+
+    # Base levels
+    L1 = await summarize_L1(buf)
+    L5 = await summarize_L5(buf)
+    L10 = await summarize_L10(session_id, buf)
+    L20 = await summarize_L20(session_id)
+    L30 = await summarize_L30(session_id)
+
+    # Push the "interesting" tiers into NeoMem
+    push_to_neomem(L10, session_id, "L10")
+    push_to_neomem(L20, session_id, "L20")
+    push_to_neomem(L30, session_id, "L30")
+
+    return {
+        "session_id": session_id,
+        "exchange_count": len(buf),
+        "L1": L1,
+        "L5": L5,
+        "L10": L10,
+        "L20": L20,
+        "L30": L30,
+        "last_updated": datetime.now().isoformat(),
+    }
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index 38303b3..a4493fe 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -118,23 +118,23 @@ services:
   # ============================================================
   # Intake
   # ============================================================
-  intake:
-    build:
-      context: ./intake
-    container_name: intake
-    restart: unless-stopped
-    env_file:
-      - ./intake/.env
-      - ./.env
-    ports:
-      - "7080:7080"
-    volumes:
-      - ./intake:/app
-      - ./intake-logs:/app/logs
-    depends_on:
-      - cortex
-    networks:
-      - lyra_net
+#  intake:
+#   build:
+#      context: ./intake
+#    container_name: intake
+#    restart: unless-stopped
+#    env_file:
+#      - ./intake/.env
+#      - ./.env
+#    ports:
+3      - "7080:7080"
+#    volumes:
+#      - ./intake:/app
+#      - ./intake-logs:/app/logs
+#    depends_on:
+#      - cortex
+#    networks:
+#      - lyra_net
 
   # ============================================================
   # RAG Service