Manifest

The manifest is the contract that defines a Trik. It declares what actions are available, what data they accept, and how they respond.

Anatomy of a Manifest

Every Trik has a manifest.json at its root:


{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "id": "demo/article-search",
  "name": "Article Search",
  "description": "Searches for articles on a given topic.",
  "version": "2.0.0",
 
  "actions": { ... },
  "capabilities": { ... },
  "limits": { ... },
  "entry": { ... }
}

Core Fields

Identification

Field	Required	Description
`id`	Yes	Unique identifier (e.g., `publisher/trik-name`)
`name`	Yes	Human-readable name
`description`	Yes	What this Trik does
`version`	Yes	Semantic version

Entry Point

The entry field tells the gateway how to run your Trik:


{
  "entry": {
    "module": "./graph.js",
    "export": "default",
    "runtime": "node"
  }
}

module - Path to the compiled JavaScript or Python file
export - Named export or "default"
runtime - Optional: "node" (default) or "python"

Actions

Actions are the operations your Trik supports. Each action has its own input/output schemas and response mode.


{
  "actions": {
    "search": {
      "description": "Search for articles by topic",
      "responseMode": "template",
      "inputSchema": { ... },
      "agentDataSchema": { ... },
      "responseTemplates": { ... }
    },
    "details": {
      "description": "Get full article content",
      "responseMode": "passthrough",
      "inputSchema": { ... },
      "userContentSchema": { ... }
    }
  }
}

Action Fields

Field	Required	Description
`description`	Yes	What this action does
`responseMode`	Yes	`"template"` or `"passthrough"`
`inputSchema`	Yes	JSON Schema for input validation
`agentDataSchema`	Depends	Schema for data the agent receives (template mode)
`userContentSchema`	Depends	Schema for content sent to user (passthrough mode)
`responseTemplates`	Depends	Pre-defined responses for template mode

Input Schema

Validates what the agent sends to your Trik:


{
  "inputSchema": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "topic": { "type": "string", "minLength": 1 },
      "limit": { "type": "integer", "default": 10 }
    },
    "required": ["topic"]
  }
}

Uses standard JSON Schema. Invalid inputs are rejected before your code runs.

Agent Data Schema

For template mode: defines what structured data the agent receives.


{
  "agentDataSchema": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "template": {
        "type": "string",
        "enum": ["success", "empty", "error"]
      },
      "count": { "type": "integer" },
      "topic": {
        "type": "string",
        "enum": ["AI", "technology", "science", "health"]
      },
      "articleIds": {
        "type": "array",
        "items": { "type": "string", "format": "id" }
      }
    },
    "required": ["template"]
  }
}

Key principle: Use enums, integers, and IDs. Avoid free-form strings.

User Content Schema

For passthrough mode: defines content that goes directly to the user.


{
  "userContentSchema": {
    "type": "object",
    "properties": {
      "contentType": {
        "type": "string",
        "enum": ["article"]
      },
      "content": {
        "type": "string",
        "description": "The full article content"
      },
      "metadata": {
        "type": "object",
        "properties": {
          "title": { "type": "string" },
          "articleId": { "type": "string" }
        }
      }
    },
    "required": ["contentType", "content"]
  }
}

Response Templates

Pre-defined responses for template mode. The gateway fills in values from agentData:


{
  "responseTemplates": {
    "success": { "text": "I found {{count}} articles about {{topic}}." },
    "empty": { "text": "I couldn't find any articles about {{topic}}." },
    "error": { "text": "Something went wrong while searching." }
  }
}

The template field in agentData selects which template to use.

Capabilities

Declare what your Trik can do:


{
  "capabilities": {
    "tools": [],
    "session": {
      "enabled": true,
      "maxDurationMs": 1800000,
      "maxHistoryEntries": 10
    },
    "storage": {
      "enabled": true,
      "maxSizeBytes": 10485760
    }
  }
}

Field	Description
`tools`	External tools the Trik can use
`session.enabled`	Enable cross-turn memory
`session.maxDurationMs`	Session timeout (default: 30 minutes)
`session.maxHistoryEntries`	Max stored history items
`storage.enabled`	Enable persistent storage
`storage.maxSizeBytes`	Maximum storage size (default: 100MB)

Limits

Safety constraints on execution:


{
  "limits": {
    "maxExecutionTimeMs": 5000
  }
}

Field	Description
`maxExecutionTimeMs`	Maximum runtime before timeout

Next: Learn about Response Modes to understand template vs passthrough.