Manifest¶

The manifest.json file is the module index that the CLI uses to discover available modules, their metadata, and dependency relationships.

Overview¶

• Location: manifest.json in the repository root
• Generated by: zerodep manifest (or make manifest)
• Source of truth: module source files (# /// zerodep frontmatter + docstrings)
• Consumers: the zerodep CLI tool (list, info, add commands)

Format¶

{
  "version": "1",
  "generated": "2026-03-28T05:27:00+00:00",
  "modules": {
    "scheduler": {
      "description": "Zero-dependency in-process task scheduler with cron support",
      "files": ["scheduler/scheduler.py"],
      "version": "0.4.0",
      "deps": [],
      "tier": "subsystem",
      "category": "util",
      "last_updated": "2026-04-09T22:14:17+08:00",
      "content_hash": "a1b2c3..."
    },
    "sse": {
      "description": "Zero-dependency SSE (Server-Sent Events) client",
      "files": ["sse/sse.py"],
      "version": "0.4.0",
      "deps": ["httpclient"],
      "tier": "subsystem",
      "category": "network",
      "last_updated": "2026-04-09T22:14:17+08:00",
      "content_hash": "d4e5f6..."
    }
  }
}

Top-Level Fields¶

Module Fields¶

How It's Generated¶

The zerodep manifest command recursively scans the repository for module directories:

1. Discover directories — recursively walk all directories, skip known non-module dirs (.git, docs_en, plans, etc.) at any depth
2. Find Python files — collect non-test .py files in each directory
3. Identify primary file — prefer <dirname>.py, fall back to the first file
4. Register module — the module name is the leaf directory name (e.g. network/httpclient/ registers as httpclient). Intermediate grouping directories that contain no .py files are traversed but not registered. Duplicate module names trigger a warning, keeping the first one found
5. Extract metadata from the primary file:
   • version and deps — from # /// zerodep frontmatter block via ast.literal_eval
   • Module docstring first line — via ast.parse
6. Write manifest.json with all discovered modules

Skipped Directories¶

The following directories are not scanned for modules:

build, dist, docs_en, docs_zh, plans, .git, .github,
__pycache__, .pytest_cache, .ruff_cache, site

Module Metadata Convention¶

Each module's primary .py file should declare a PEP 723-style frontmatter block at the very top, before the module docstring:

# /// zerodep
# version = "0.1.0"
# deps = ["httpclient"]
# ///
"""First line becomes the description in manifest.json."""

Current Dependency Graph¶

graph LR
    a2a --> jsonrpc
    acp --> jsonrpc
    config --> dotenv
    config --> yaml
    config --> jsonx
    frontmatter --> yaml
    skills --> frontmatter
    skills --> search
    sse --> httpclient
    vcs --> diff

All other modules have deps = [] (no sibling dependencies).

Regenerating¶

Via CLI¶

python zerodep.py manifest

Via Make¶

make manifest

When to Regenerate¶

Regenerate manifest.json whenever you:

• Add a new module
• Change a module's version in the frontmatter
• Add or remove a deps entry
• Change a module's docstring first line