Canonical Manifest

The manifest is the single source of truth for what constitutes a valid Archon installation. It is published live at:

https://aaep.site/manifest.json

Both the agent protocol and the CLI consume this file. No other ledger is authoritative; if a file is not in the manifest, it is not part of Archon.

Schema: `archon.manifest/v1`

jsonc

{
  "schema": "archon.manifest/v1",
  "version": "0.1.0",                      // canonical framework version
  "generated_at": "2026-05-05T…",
  "base_url": "https://aaep.site",
  "source_root": "docs/source-files/",

  "docs": {
    "skill":     "https://aaep.site/skill.md",
    "install":   "https://aaep.site/install.md",
    "update":    "https://aaep.site/update.md",
    "sync":      "https://aaep.site/sync.md",
    "uninstall": "https://aaep.site/uninstall.md"
  },

  "runtime_ledger_paths": {
    "files":       [".archon/debt.md", ".archon/drift.md", ".archon/manifest.md", "..."],
    "directories": [".archon/debt/", ".archon/drift/", ".archon/runs/", "..."]
  },

  "placeholders": {
    "PROJECT_NAME": { "description": "...", "required": true, "example": "Acme" },
    "TECH_STACK":   { "description": "...", "required": true, "example": "Node.js + React" },
    "DOMAIN":       { "description": "...", "required": false, "example": "saas-platform" },
    "OWNER":        { "description": "...", "required": true, "example": "Acme Inc." },
    "PROJECT_SLUG": { "description": "...", "required": false, "derived_from": "PROJECT_NAME" }
  },

  "totals": { "modules": 14, "files": 82 },

  "modules": [
    {
      "id": "core-soul",
      "title": "Cognitive core (soul)",
      "description": "The soul defines who the agent is: identity, cognitive loop, ...",
      "required": true,
      "file_count": 11,
      "files": [
        {
          "path":   ".archon/soul.md",                              // where to write
          "url":    "https://aaep.site/source-files/.archon/soul.md", // where to fetch
          "sha256": "abcdef...",
          "bytes":  12345,
          "placeholders": ["PROJECT_NAME"]  // present only when the file contains tokens
        }
        // ... more files
      ]
    }
    // ... more modules
  ]
}

Modules

The current manifest ships 14 modules — 11 required, 3 optional.

id	Required?	What it is	Runtime needs
`core-soul`	✓	`.archon/soul.md` + mode extensions	none
`core-contracts`	✓	`governance-contract.yaml`	none
`core-templates`	✓	`run.template.md` + `run-state.schema.json`	none
`core-version`	✓	`.archon/VERSION`	none
`domain-lenses`	✓	5 lenses + 16 decision tools	none
`commands`	✓	IDE commands (`archon`, `archon-plan`, …)	none
`agents`	✓	Sub-agents (`archon-reviewer`, `archon-capture-auditor`)	none
`rules`	✓	Always-on rules (`archon.mdc`, wake, heartbeat)	none
`skills`	✓	Keyword/file-triggered skills	none
`scripts`	✓	Python `archon-check.py` (stdlib-only) + Bash wrapper	Python 3 (only when invoked)
`legal`	✓	LICENSE + NOTICE	none
`cli`	optional	Archon CLI source (`tools/archon-cli/`)	Node ≥ 18
`dashboard`	optional	Local observability UI	Node ≥ 18
`extensions-demand-pool`	optional	Backlog queue extension	none

Required modules are always installed. Optional modules are opt-in via --with=<list> or interactive prompt.

Archon framework itself does not require Node.js. The cli and dashboard modules are the only ones that do, and both are optional. Python 3 is needed only when you actually invoke scripts/archon-check.py (e.g. as a pre-commit hook); the framework install/update/sync/uninstall protocols themselves don't run it.

IDE platform binding

Archon is platform-neutral. The framework core under .archon/ is the same regardless of which AI coding IDE you use; only the binding directory differs. The manifest's canonical paths use .cursor/ for the four binding modules (commands, agents, rules, skills); the agent and CLI rewrite this prefix on write to match the detected platform.

Detected signal	`$IDE_PLATFORM`	`$BINDING_ROOT`	Manifest path → write path
`.cursor/` exists	`cursor`	`.cursor/`	`.cursor/foo` → `.cursor/foo`
`.codex/` or `AGENTS.md` exists	`codex`	`.codex/`	`.cursor/foo` → `.codex/foo`
`.claude/` or `CLAUDE.md` exists	`claude`	`.claude/`	`.cursor/foo` → `.claude/foo`
`.continue/` exists	`continue`	`.continue/`	`.cursor/foo` → `.continue/foo`
`.aider.conf.yml` or `.aider/` exists	`aider`	`.aider/`	`.cursor/foo` → `.aider/foo`
`.windsurf/` exists	`windsurf`	`.windsurf/`	`.cursor/foo` → `.windsurf/foo`
None of the above	—	—	Ask user

The detection priority and rewrite rule live in skill.md §3 (agent path) and the CLI's lib/install.mjs (CLI path); both follow the same logic so the resulting tree is identical.

Pre-commit hook implementations

The scripts module ships two implementations of the portable contract checker. There is no Node implementation:

File	Language	When to use
`scripts/archon-check.py`	Python 3 stdlib-only	Reference implementation. Runs anywhere Python 3 runs (any OS, no `pip install`).
`scripts/archon-check.sh`	POSIX shell	Wrapper that delegates to `archon-check.py`. Useful when the project's pre-commit infrastructure expects shell scripts.

The agent or CLI picks the appropriate hook command based on your dev environment:

Dev environment	Hook command
Python 3 on PATH (Linux / macOS / WSL)	`python3 scripts/archon-check.py --root .`
Bash + Python 3 on Unix	`sh scripts/archon-check.sh .`
Windows + Python via `py` launcher	`py -3 scripts\archon-check.py --root .`
No Python available	Skip the hook; recommend running `archon sync` manually

Wiring options (Python pre-commit framework, plain git hook, husky on Node projects) are documented in Quickstart Step 4.

Why publish a manifest instead of a tarball?

Transparent — a human can cat manifest.json | jq and see exactly what the framework ships. No opaque compressed blob.
Partial updates — agents and the CLI fetch only the files that differ between current and canonical, not the whole framework.
Checksum-first — sha256 in the manifest means even a mid-download truncation is caught before writing.
Module granularity — opt in or out of optional modules per file.
Mirror-friendly — override base_url via --base-url= or ARCHON_BASE_URL and host a private mirror. The JSON is small (< 100 KB even at full file count).

How the manifest is generated

The manifest is regenerated on every doc-site build via scripts/build-manifest.mjs in the archon-protocol repo. It scans docs/source-files/, computes sha256 per file, identifies tokens, and writes:

docs/public/manifest.json (served at /manifest.json)
docs/public/source-files/** (mirrors raw bytes for agents/CLI to fetch)

Version comes from .archon/VERSION in the source tree.

Schema versioning

archon.manifest/v1 is stable. If a future v2 schema ships, it will be served at a different URL (manifest-v2.json) and old agents/CLIs will continue to work against manifest.json (= v1) until they explicitly opt in.

Inspecting the live manifest

bash

curl -s https://aaep.site/manifest.json | jq '.totals, .modules[].id'

Or browse the JSON directly: https://aaep.site/manifest.json

Install protocol — how the manifest is consumed on first install.
Update protocol — how diffs against the manifest become an update plan.
Sync protocol — how the manifest powers the drift health check.

Canonical Manifest ​

Schema: archon.manifest/v1 ​

Modules ​

IDE platform binding ​

Pre-commit hook implementations ​

Why publish a manifest instead of a tarball? ​

How the manifest is generated ​

Schema versioning ​

Inspecting the live manifest ​

Related ​