What is Manifest

Manifest is the API resilience layer for your apps and agents. It works with every API they call: external services, your internal APIs and MCP tools.

• 🗺️ See every API your app depends on, and how reliable each one is.
• 🎯 Repair failed API requests on the fly, so your app keeps working.
• 🛠️ Know what to fix in your code, with a prompt for your coding agent.

How it works

Every call your app makes is reported to Manifest as metadata only (method, URL without its query string, status and timing), in the background. A failure Manifest can heal is sent in full, so it can be repaired. What is sent.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10 or higher

Get started

Start with your agent

"Install Manifest in this app: https://dashboard.manifest.build/prompt-python.md"

Read the prompt →

The prompt finds your entry point and stops to let you paste your key.

Start with code

1. Create a project in your Manifest dashboard and copy its project key.

2. Install the SDK:

   pip install mnfst
   

3. Set your key in the environment of your app, or in the project's .env file:

   export MNFST_KEY='your-project-key'
   

4. Run your app through the CLI, so Manifest loads before the first request:

   mnfst run uvicorn main:app
   

   mnfst run goes in front of any start command, such as mnfst run gunicorn app:app or mnfst run celery -A tasks worker. Where there is no command to prefix (AWS Lambda, a notebook, or a start command owned by a host dashboard), call manifest() yourself, once at startup, before your first request:

   from mnfst import manifest
   
   manifest()  # Once, at startup.
   # Keep making your API calls as usual.
   

5. Check the install at any time with mnfst doctor.

Try it

Send a request that fails with a 4xx error, such as a value the API rejects:

import httpx
from mnfst import manifest

manifest(on_heal=lambda e: print(f"[manifest] {e.heal_status} {e.replay_status_code}"))

res = httpx.post(
    "https://api.example.com/orders",
    json={"limit": 500},  # rejected by the API
)
print(res.status_code)

The failed request appears in your Manifest dashboard, grouped with others like it in an issue. Once Manifest has a patch for that error, the next request that fails the same way is repaired and retried: on_heal reports patched or unverified with the retry's status code, and your app receives the answer to the retry.

Choosing which calls reach Manifest

Keep calls out of Manifest entirely: they are neither repaired nor tracked, and nothing about them leaves your app. Each entry is a domain or a domain with a path:

MNFST_ALLOWLIST=stripe.com                       # only Stripe
MNFST_ALLOWLIST=stripe.com/v1/payment_intents    # only this Stripe endpoint
MNFST_DENYLIST=stripe.com/v1/charges,internal.example.com   # never these

• A domain covers its subdomains, with or without a path: stripe.com and stripe.com/v1/charges both match api.stripe.com.
• A path matches whole segments: /v1/charges covers /v1/charges/ch_123, not /v1/charges_export. Paths are case-sensitive.
• A scheme, port, query or fragment in an entry is ignored. * in a path is not supported yet: the entry is skipped with a warning, and an allowlist made only of skipped entries lets nothing through.
• The denylist wins over the allowlist. With no allowlist, every call is eligible.

Or in code: manifest(denylist=["stripe.com/v1/charges"]). An option overrides its environment variable. With mnfst run, set the environment variables: a later manifest() call cannot change the configuration.

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