| name | manus-cli |
| description | Use this skill for service operations only. DO NOT use this skill for CLI implementation lifecycle work such as creating, testing, updating, troubleshooting, validating, removing, or documenting the CLI tool itself; delegate those tasks to cli-tool-expert. MANDATORY: Execute manus operations using the `manus` CLI tool. CLI interface for Manus AI API -- create and manage AI tasks, profiles, and authentication. Triggers: manus, manus cli, manus task, manus ai, create manus task, run manus, manus agent, list manus tasks, manus auth profiles |
Execute manus operations using the `manus` CLI. All manus interactions should use this CLI.
<quick_start>
The manus CLI follows this pattern:
manus <command-group> <action> [arguments] [options]
| Task | Command |
|---|
| Check auth status | manus auth status |
| Create a task | manus task create "Your prompt here" |
| Create task (no wait) | manus task create "Prompt" --no-wait |
| Send a follow-up | manus task send TASK_ID "Follow-up" |
| Get task metadata | manus task get TASK_ID |
| List recent tasks | manus task list --table |
| List task messages | manus task messages TASK_ID --limit 20 |
| Check available credits | manus usage available-credits |
| Confirm a waiting task | manus task confirm TASK_ID EVENT_ID |
| List profiles | manus auth profiles list --table |
| Set default profile | manus auth profiles select PROFILE_NAME |
| Inspect cache commands | manus cache --help |
Auth status output uses the shared profile shape: {"profiles":[{"name":"default","authenticated":true,"credential_types":{...}}]}. Read auth profiles[].authenticated for per-profile status; do not expect a flat top-level authenticated field.
manus task create checks usage.availableCredits and fails before submission when the authoritative total_credits field is present and at or below zero. It does not treat max_refresh_credits (the next refresh grant cap) or pro_monthly_credits (the plan quota) as current spendable balance. When the live response omits total_credits, task.create remains the admission authority because Manus does not publish a reliable per-task cost estimate. Only a 429 with error.code: rate_limited is retried; resource_exhausted credit failures return immediately.
A balance above zero is not proof that a run is affordable. task create performs a zero check, not an affordability check, so it admits any positive balance. A run admitted at a 98-credit balance burned 100 credits, ended at -2, and produced no output. Real per-task costs read from the API's own credit_usage field (manus task list --limit 200, 2026-07-27): fact-check chunks cost 42 to 152 credits; link-validation tasks cost 89 to 443 credits.
Any caller that submits Manus tasks must therefore add its own pre-submission gate:
- Reserve an observed
credit_usage floor per task, taken from that workload's own past tasks. Scale the requirement by the number of tasks the run submits.
- Read the live balance with
manus usage available-credits and use total_credits only.
- Treat an omitted
total_credits as "balance undisclosed", not zero: admit the run and report that the gate could not predict affordability.
- Refuse before submission, name the observed balance and the required amount, and exit non-zero. Never guess a balance when the query fails or breaks its contract.
Reference gates: /Users/adam/Dropbox/GitRepos/Agents/skills/global/fact-check/scripts/manus_fact_check.js (150 credits per chunk, raised from the live task.credit_usage) and /Users/adam/Dropbox/GitRepos/Agents/ClientContentWriter/scripts/manus_link_validation_gate.js (450 credits per link-validation task). Test a gate with a stubbed manus executable; never spend credits to test one.
</quick_start>
<essential_principles>
MANDATORY: Consult the adjacent usage.json at <cli-tools-root>/_repo/skills/<tool>-cli/usage.json before executing ANY manus command.
This file contains complete command syntax, all arguments, all options, and usage instructions for every command. Never guess at command syntax.
- **auth** -- Manage API authentication (login, logout, status, refresh, test)
- **task** -- Manage Manus API v2 tasks (create, send, continue alias, get, wait, list, messages, update, stop, delete, confirm)
- **auth** -- Authentication commands and nested `auth profiles` management
`task create`, `task send`, and `task wait` with `--wait` (the default) poll until the task reaches `stopped`, `error`, or a `waiting` status with a confirmable event (`status_update.status_detail.waiting_for_event_id`, for example `messageAskUser`). A `waiting` status without a confirmation event (queued task that has not started running) is non-terminal; the CLI keeps polling. Do not add manual `task get` polling loops around `--wait`. On `--timeout` expiry the command exits non-zero with a timeout error.
`--structured-output-schema` / `--structured-output-schema-file` only accept the restricted JSON Schema subset documented at `https://open.manus.ai/docs/v2/structured-output` (basic `type`, `properties`, `required`, `additionalProperties`, `items`, `enum`, `description`, `anyOf`, `$ref`/`$defs`). Validation-constraint keywords -- `minimum`, `maximum`, `exclusiveMinimum`, `exclusiveMaximum`, `multipleOf`, `pattern`, `format`, `minLength`, `maxLength`, `minItems`, `maxItems`, `uniqueItems`, `minProperties`, `maxProperties`, `allOf`, `oneOf`, `not`, `if`/`then`/`else` -- are rejected by the API with a generic `400 invalid_argument: "unexpected error from node server"` that gives no hint which keyword caused it (confirmed by live repro against the API). The CLI strips these keywords automatically before submission and prints a `Warning:` line naming what it removed; it does not silently change schema shape. If a field needs a bound communicated to the model, put it in that field's `description` (e.g. `"description": "Integer, must be 0 or greater"`) instead of a constraint keyword.
When wrapping `manus task create`, `manus task send`, `manus task wait`, or any other Manus producer command with trailing reporting, raw-output printing, cleanup, or JSON inspection, capture the Manus command status immediately and exit with that status after reporting. Do not let a later successful `printf`, `cat`, `jq`, `rm`, or summary command mask a timeout or API failure.
Use this shape:
set +e
manus task create --prompt-file "$prompt_file" --agent-profile manus-1.6 --timeout 1200 --poll 5 --title "$title" >"$output_file" 2>"$stderr_file"
manus_rc=$?
set -e
if [ "$manus_rc" -ne 0 ]; then
printf '%s\n' 'MANUS_COMMAND_FAILED'
cat "$stderr_file" >&2
fi
exit "$manus_rc"
<reference_index>
usage.json -- Complete command tree with arguments, options, defaults, and usage instructions for every command.
</reference_index>
<success_criteria>
- Command executes without error
- Output is displayed in requested format
- Correct command and flags used (verified against usage.json)
</success_criteria>
