manifold

Manifold

Constraint-first development framework that makes ALL constraints visible BEFORE implementation.

TRADITIONAL                          MANIFOLD
─────────────────────────────────    ─────────────────────────────────
Spec → Design → Build → Test         All constraints exist NOW
Discover problems during build       Problems visible before build
Sequential planning                  Constraint satisfaction
Forward reasoning                    Backward from outcome

Start Here

I want to...	Go to
Get running in 15 minutes	Quickstart
See a full feature walkthrough	Walkthrough
Look up a CLI command	CLI Reference
Understand the terminology	Glossary
Use pre-built constraint patterns	Templates
Generate PRDs and user stories	PM Guide
Use Manifold for non-software decisions	Non-Programming Guide
Fix something that's broken	Troubleshooting
Contribute to Manifold	Contributing

Features

• Constraint-First Development -- Surface all constraints before writing code
• Backward Reasoning -- Reason from desired outcomes to required truths, with recursive decomposition for multi-level dependency chains
• Tension Detection -- Find conflicts between constraints early, with TRIZ-guided resolution and directional propagation checks
• Pre-mortem Stress Testing -- Mandatory failure-story pass in constraint discovery surfaces assumptions single-pass elicitation misses
• Constraint Genealogy -- Track constraint origins (source) and challengeability (challenger) to guide tension resolution direction
• Probabilistic Bounds -- Express metric constraints as statistical targets (p99, p50, failure rates) rather than only deterministic thresholds
• Bottleneck Identification -- Theory of Constraints integration surfaces the binding constraint before solution generation
• Reversibility Tagging -- Every action step tagged as TWO_WAY, REVERSIBLE_WITH_COST, or ONE_WAY with explicit acknowledgment for irreversible decisions
• Non-Software Domain Support -- --domain=non-software activates universal categories (Obligations, Desires, Resources, Risks, Dependencies) and decision-focused artifacts
• All-at-Once Generation -- Generate code, tests, docs, runbooks, and alerts from a single source
• Evidence System -- Verify constraints with concrete proof
• Drift Detection -- Detect post-verification file changes using SHA-256 hashing
• Guided Workflow -- Structured next-step suggestions guide you through each phase
• Constraint Templates -- Pre-built patterns for auth, CRUD, API, payment, and 13 PM templates
• Light Mode -- Simplified 3-phase workflow for quick changes
• PM Workflows -- Generate PRDs and user stories with constraint traceability
• Parallel Execution -- Run independent tasks concurrently using git worktrees
• Native CLI -- Fast, deterministic operations (<100ms) for CI/CD
• Multi-Agent Support -- Works with Claude Code, AMP, Gemini CLI, and Codex CLI

Install

Claude Code Plugin (Recommended for Claude Code users)

claude plugin:install github:dhanesh/manifold#plugin

This installs Manifold as a native Claude Code plugin, giving you:

• 12 slash commands (/manifold:m0-init through /manifold:parallel)
• 2 hooks (context preservation across compaction + schema injection at session start)
• Constraint templates (auth, CRUD, API, payment, + 13 PM templates)
• /manifold:setup command to install the native CLI binary

After installing the plugin, run /manifold:setup inside Claude Code to get the fast CLI binary.

Shell Installer (All Agents)

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dhanesh/manifold/main/install/install.sh | bash

The installer auto-detects which AI agents you have and installs per-agent: