The 1-file Micro-backend for your frontend

Manifest is an AI-friendly micro-backend that powers websites, apps, and directories with just one YAML file.

npx add-manifest
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CollectionsSinglesRelationsAuthValidationStorageWebhooksEndpoints
backend.ymlmanifest/backend.yml
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A hassle-free backend with essential features

Database

Built-in persistent database to store data

Admin Panel

Ready-to-use back-office dashboard for admins

REST API

Instant CRUD endpoints and OPEN API doc (Swagger)

File Storage

Store user files. Resize and optimize images

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No bloat, no clutter, just simplicity.

Manifest lets you build and deploy a backend as easily as creating a GitHub repo. Start fast, develop effortlessly, and focus on your frontend with simplicity.

Connect to any frontend

Plug-and-play with all frontend stacks and mobile stacks through our JS SDK or REST API. Adding a backend to a website or an app to make it dynamic has never been that easy.

Yes, you can do SSG and SSR too.

See the JS SDK documentation

Use the REST API

Svelte
Vue
Preact
Angular
Next.js
Nuxt.js
React
Astro
Blitz
Remix
Angular
Flutter
Flutter
Swift
Ionic
Meteor

World class admin panel

The Manifest admin panel stands toe-to-toe with the admin panels of heavyweight solutions.

It is simple, elegant, and most importantly non-technical so you can give it to your customers and app administrators without the fear that they will break anything.

See the admin panel online demo

Manifest admin panel

Self hosted

Manifest is a free and open-source Backend-as-a-Service that you can use anywhere.

Enjoy Manifest on your way: no lock-in, and keep your data private.

See deployment guides

Render
Fly.io
Digital Ocean
Heroku
Docker

Keep your way of doing

Manifest integrates perfectly with your project, just like any other file in your codebase.

Keep it your way: use your IDE, testing, environments and leverage source control features like committing.

Its AI-friendly approach ensures highly reliable code generation, enhancing productivity without compromise.

Try Manifest on Stackblitz

 manifest demo on stackblitz

Loved by developers 🤩

Nice. I'll be watching this. Buddy and I are currently building an app on Pocketbase and are thoroughly enjoying it. I like your idea of starting from a config file rather than a UI.

kudos, this is very cool. i thought pocketbase was simple. this is very very simple. I love simple.

Wow I've never heard of manifest before now, it looks fascinating

Hey very useful app, I'll be watching this. I once wanted to set up backend apps during automated CI jobs in order to facilitate e2e tests and ended up making a utility kind of similar - but yours truly goes beyond.

It works! I like this a lot. I've been leaning into Pocketbase because it is easy and fairly complete with what I need. This is easier and more complete. Are you modeling this after something that exists already?

I really appreciate the simplicity of the DSL presented. I'm curious how you see the project evolving as you add those things. How do you see it differentiating itself from rails or django?

i was trying manifest today and work fine, is very simple, i would use in a project without doubt.

I love it so far. The simplicity is awesome.

Hello! Just started trying out Manifest for a personal React project. Love the idea!

This seems nice! I will def. follow this, and jump on the bandwagon then you are out of beta 😎

Congrats on shipping, this looks nice and well thought-out.

Join Manifest community

You are enthusiast about Manifest ? So are we !

Join our growing community to give your feedback, suggest features and share some love.

Roadmap

Manifest is in BETA version and we are currently developing the stable product version with the community. Here are the upcoming features:

Rich text editor

Rich text editor to create stylized HTML from the admin panel

Q4 2024

Single-type model

A convenient data model that can only have one record

Q4 2024

Custom logic

Create endpoints and add your own custom logic

Q1 2025

Webhooks

Notify third-party platforms on defined events

Q1 2025

Postgres

Leverage the most popular open-source relational database for scalable and reliable data storage.

Q1 2025

S3 Storage

Safely store files in an S3-compatible storage. Easily attach media to your database records and retrieve them.

Q1 2025

CRON tasks

Schedule automated actions at set intervals (e.g., hourly, daily). Useful for cleanups, notifications, or data syncs.

Q2 2025

Feature request

Suggest the next feature or enhancement

Suggest features

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Deploy your backend in 1-click

Join the waitlist now to be the first to discover Manifest Cloud.

FAQ

No. It just works like just any other file in your codebase. It's code, simple code.

It does not matter if you are junior or senior developer, if you code in JS, PHP or Python. You can be frontend, backend or fullstack, a mobile developer, indie hacker or devsigner. If you know a bit of software development, you will have no problem using Manifest.

Manifest is currently in BETA, you can use it at your own risk. It is stable enough to power small projects, prototypes and MVPs but we do not recommend to use it on critical platforms.

Good sense and ordinary popular stacks: the current version runs on NodeJS, Express and NestJS. We use JSON Schema to validate the YAML file, JS-YAML to parse it and TypeORM to map it into a SQLite database.

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Start building with Manifest

Your frontend needs a backend? Set it up in minutes and you’re good to go!

npx add-manifest