manifest-structure

name	manifest-structure
description	Canonical system manifest format with all enumerated types for project, frontend, service, database, integration, LLM, agent, and communication components. Use when structuring architecture output.

System Manifest Structure

The System Manifest is the canonical structured representation of a product's architecture. Every deliverable (diagrams, cost estimates, complexity scores, specs) derives from this manifest. When building a manifest, use the types and structure defined below.

---

Manifest Top-Level Structure

project:
  name: string
  type: app | agent | hybrid
  description: string (one sentence)

users:
  - role: string
    description: string
    count_estimate: string (range, e.g. "100-1,000 MAU")

frontends:
  - name: string
    type: <frontend_type>
    framework: string
    pages: [string]
    build_tool: string (optional, e.g. "Vite", "Webpack", "Expo")
    rendering: ssr | ssg | spa (optional, web only)
    state_management: string (optional, e.g. "Zustand", "Redux")
    data_fetching: string (optional, e.g. "React Query", "SWR")
    component_library: string (optional, e.g. "Radix UI", "React Native Paper")
    form_handling: string (optional, e.g. "React Hook Form")
    validation: string (optional, e.g. "Zod", "Yup")
    api_client: string (optional, e.g. "Axios", "fetch")
    styling: string (optional, e.g. "Tailwind CSS")
    routing: string (optional, e.g. "React Router", "Expo Router")
    animation: string (optional, e.g. "Framer Motion")
    deploy_target: string (optional, e.g. "Vercel", "Cloudflare Pages")
    dev_port: integer (optional, e.g. 3000)
    backend_connections: (optional)
      - service: string (references a defined service)
        purpose: string
    client_auth: (optional)
      token_storage: string (e.g. "cookie", "async-storage", "keychain")
      csrf_protection: boolean
      token_refresh: boolean
      device_binding: boolean (mobile only)
    realtime: (optional)
      protocol: websocket | socket-io | sse | polling | webrtc
      provider: string (optional, e.g. "Cloudflare RTK", "Dyte")
    monitoring: (optional)
      error_tracking: string (e.g. "Sentry", "Crashlytics")
      analytics: string (e.g. "PostHog", "Mixpanel")
    mobile_config: (optional, for ios/android types)
      bundle_id: string (e.g. "com.example.myapp")
      build_platform: string (e.g. "Expo Managed")
      navigation: string (e.g. "Expo Router", "React Navigation")
      push_providers: [string] (e.g. ["FCM", "APNS"])
      deep_link_scheme: string (e.g. "myapp")
      associated_domains: [string]
      permissions: [string] (e.g. ["camera", "microphone"])
      ota_updates: string (e.g. "Expo Updates")

services:
  - name: string
    type: <service_type>
    framework: string
    responsibilities: [string]
    endpoints: [string] (key endpoints only)

databases:
  - name: string
    type: <database_type>
    purpose: string (primary | cache | search | analytics | vector-store)
    key_collections: [string]

integrations:
  - name: string
    category: <integration_category>
    service: string (specific provider)
    purpose: string
    credentials: [string]

agents: (only for agent or hybrid projects)
  - name: string
    purpose: string
    llm_provider: <llm_provider>
    model: string
    orchestration: <agent_orchestration>
    interface: <agent_interface>
    tools:
      - name: string
        type: <agent_tool_type>
        description: string
    memory: session | persistent | vector-store
    guardrails: [string]

shared:
  types:
    - name: string
      description: string
      used_by: [string] (component names that share this type)
      fields: [string] (key fields or shape)
  libraries:
    - name: string
      purpose: string
      used_by: [string]
  contracts:
    - name: string
      type: api-schema | event-schema | proto-definition
      description: string
      between: [string] (component names)

application_patterns:
  architecture: <architecture_pattern>
  principles: [string] (e.g. "dependency inversion", "single responsibility")
  folder_convention: <folder_convention>
  error_handling: string (strategy description)
  testing_strategy: string (e.g. "unit + integration", "contract tests between services")

communication:
  - from: string (component name)
    to: string (component name)
    pattern: <communication_pattern>
    protocol: string (e.g. "HTTPS", "AMQP", "gRPC/Protobuf")
    auth: string (e.g. "JWT bearer", "API key", "mTLS", "none (internal)")
    data_format: string (e.g. "JSON", "Protobuf", "Avro")
    retry_strategy: string (optional, e.g. "exponential backoff, 3 retries")
    notes: string (optional, context for this connection)

artifacts:
  - name: string
    type: openapi | postman-collection | asyncapi | graphql-schema
    service: string (which service this artifact documents)
    format: yaml | json | graphql

security:
  auth_strategy: string (e.g. "JWT with refresh tokens via Clerk")
  api_security:
    - name: string (e.g. "rate limiting", "input validation", "CORS")
      implementation: string
      applies_to: [string] (component names)
  data_protection:
    encryption_at_rest: string (e.g. "AES-256 via database provider")
    encryption_in_transit: string (e.g. "TLS 1.3 on all endpoints")
    pii_fields: [string] (fields that contain personally identifiable information)
    data_retention: string (policy)
  secrets_management: string (e.g. "environment variables via Doppler / Vercel env")
  compliance: [string] (e.g. ["GDPR", "SOC2", "HIPAA"] — only if applicable)
  owasp_considerations:
    - threat: string (e.g. "SQL injection", "XSS", "CSRF")
      mitigation: string

observability:
  logging:
    strategy: string (e.g. "structured JSON logs")
    provider: string (e.g. "Axiom", "Datadog", "CloudWatch")
    log_levels: [string] (e.g. ["error", "warn", "info", "debug"])
  tracing:
    enabled: boolean
    provider: string (e.g. "OpenTelemetry → Jaeger" or "Datadog APM")
    instrumented_services: [string]
  metrics:
    provider: string (e.g. "Prometheus + Grafana", "Datadog")
    key_metrics: [string] (e.g. ["request latency p99", "error rate", "queue depth"])
  alerting:
    provider: string (e.g. "PagerDuty", "Opsgenie", "Slack webhooks")
    critical_alerts: [string] (e.g. ["error rate > 5%", "latency p99 > 2s", "queue backlog > 1000"])
  health_checks:
    - component: string
      endpoint: string (e.g. "/health")
      checks: [string] (e.g. ["database connectivity", "redis connectivity", "external API reachability"])

devops:
  cicd:
    provider: string (e.g. "GitHub Actions", "GitLab CI", "CircleCI")
    branch_strategy: <branch_strategy>
    pipeline_stages: [string] (e.g. ["lint", "test", "build", "deploy"])
    environments:
      - name: string (e.g. "development", "staging", "production")
        branch: string (e.g. "develop", "staging", "main")
        auto_deploy: boolean
        url_pattern: string (e.g. "{{service}}-dev.{{domain}}")
  database_migrations:
    tool: string (e.g. "Prisma Migrate", "Alembic", "Knex", "TypeORM")
    strategy: string (e.g. "versioned migrations with rollback scripts")
    seed_data: string (e.g. "dev seeds with faker data, staging seeds from anonymized prod")
    rollback_plan: string
  environment_config:
    strategy: <config_strategy>
    feature_flags: string (optional, e.g. "LaunchDarkly", "Unleash", "environment variables")
    config_validation: string (e.g. "Zod schema validation on startup")

deployment:
  - component: string
    target: string (e.g. "Vercel", "AWS ECS", "Railway")