Manus

Manus is an autonomous AI agent that handles complex tasks asynchronously. Particularly strong at deep research with parallel processing, web browsing, and generating comprehensive reports with data visualizations.

When to Use Manus

• Deep research - Market analysis, competitive landscaping, product comparisons
• Stock/financial analysis - Company research, technical analysis, price charts
• Product research - Feature comparisons across brands, specs analysis
• Report generation - Creates markdown reports, CSVs, charts, and visualizations
• Multi-source synthesis - Gathers and combines information from multiple websites
• Long-running tasks - Anything taking 1-10+ minutes of autonomous work

Research Prompt Examples

Effective research prompts are specific about scope, sources, and desired output:

Product comparison:

Find the best 4K monitors for Mac with Thunderbolt connectivity and 120Hz+ refresh rate.
Focus on BenQ, Samsung, Dell, LG. Only include models released in the last year.
Compare specs, prices, and Mac-specific features. Output a comparison table.

Stock/company analysis:

Analyze [TICKER] stock: company profile, recent performance, technical indicators,
valuation metrics, and insider activity. Include a price chart for the past year.

Market research:

Research the [industry] market: key players, market size, growth trends,
recent developments, and competitive landscape. Focus on [region/segment].

Competitive analysis:

Compare [Product A] vs [Product B] vs [Product C]: features, pricing,
user reviews, pros/cons. Create a decision matrix for [use case].

Environment Setup

Requires MANUS_API_KEY environment variable. Base URL: https://api.manus.ai

Core Workflow

1. Create task → Returns task_id immediately
2. Poll status → Check until status is completed or failed
3. Return results → Extract output text and file attachments

Creating a Task

curl -s -X POST "https://api.manus.ai/v1/tasks" -H "API_KEY:$MANUS_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type:application/json" -d '{"prompt":"<task description>","agentProfile":"manus-1.6"}'

Agent Profiles:

• manus-1.6-lite - Fast, simple tasks (quick lookups, simple questions)
• manus-1.6 - Standard (default, good for most research)
• manus-1.6-max - Complex reasoning (deep research, multi-source analysis, detailed reports)

Response:

{"task_id":"abc123","task_title":"...","task_url":"https://manus.im/app/abc123"}

Checking Task Status

curl -s -X GET "https://api.manus.ai/v1/tasks/{task_id}" -H "API_KEY:$MANUS_API_KEY"

Status values: pending, running, completed, failed

Poll every 5-10 seconds until completed.

Extract text output:

curl -s -X GET "https://api.manus.ai/v1/tasks/{task_id}" -H "API_KEY:$MANUS_API_KEY" | jq -r '.output[] | select(.role=="assistant") | .content[] | select(.type=="output_text") | .text'

Extract file attachments:

curl -s -X GET "https://api.manus.ai/v1/tasks/{task_id}" -H "API_KEY:$MANUS_API_KEY" | jq -r '.output[] | select(.role=="assistant") | .content[] | select(.type=="output_file") | "\(.fileName): \(.fileUrl)"'

Listing Tasks

curl -s -X GET "https://api.manus.ai/v1/tasks" -H "API_KEY:$MANUS_API_KEY" | jq '.data[] | {id, status, title: .metadata.task_title}'

Multi-turn Conversations

Continue an existing task by including taskId:

curl -s -X POST "https://api.manus.ai/v1/tasks" -H "API_KEY:$MANUS_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type:application/json" -d '{"prompt":"follow-up question","taskId":"abc123","agentProfile":"manus-1.6"}'

Delete a Task

curl -s -X DELETE "https://api.manus.ai/v1/tasks/{task_id}" -H "API_KEY:$MANUS_API_KEY"

Advanced Options

File Attachments

Attach files using one of three formats:

URL attachment:

{"prompt":"Analyze this","attachments":[{"type":"url","url":"https://example.com/doc.pdf"}]}

Base64 attachment:

{"prompt":"What's in this image?","attachments":[{"type":"base64","data":"<base64>","mime_type":"image/png"}]}

File ID (after upload):

{"prompt":"Review this file","attachments":[{"type":"file","file_id":"file-xxx"}]}

Projects

Create a project with shared instructions:

curl -s -X POST "https://api.manus.ai/v1/projects" -H "API_KEY:$MANUS_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type:application/json" -d '{"name":"My Project","instruction":"Always respond concisely"}'

Use project in task:

curl -s -X POST "https://api.manus.ai/v1/tasks" -H "API_KEY:$MANUS_API_KEY" -H "Content-Type:application/json" -d '{"prompt":"...","projectId":"proj_xxx","agentProfile":"manus-1.6"}'

Best Practices

• Use manus-1.6-lite for simple queries (faster, cheaper)
• Use manus-1.6 or manus-1.6-max for research tasks
• Always report task_url so user can view progress in browser
• Poll status with reasonable intervals (5-10s for simple, 15-30s for research)
• Check credit_usage field to track consumption
• For research: be specific about scope, timeframe, sources, and desired output format
• Research tasks typically produce multiple output files (reports, CSVs, charts) - extract all attachments
• Manus uses parallel processing for multi-faceted research - one prompt can cover multiple angles

Error Handling

Check for failed tasks:

curl -s -X GET "https://api.manus.ai/v1/tasks/{task_id}" -H "API_KEY:$MANUS_API_KEY" | jq '{status, error}'

If status is failed, the error field contains the reason. Common issues:

• Invalid API key → Check MANUS_API_KEY is set
• Task timeout → Simplify prompt or use manus-1.6-max
• Rate limited → Wait and retry

API Reference

For complete endpoint documentation, see references/api.md.