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

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].

```

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

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

```bash

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

```json

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

```

```bash

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:

```bash

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:

```bash

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)"'

```

```bash

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

```

Continue an existing task by including taskId:

```bash

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"}'

```

```bash

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

```

| Parameter | Description |

|-----------|-------------|

| taskMode | chat, adaptive, or agent |

| projectId | Associate with project for shared instructions |

| attachments | Array of file objects (see below) |

| connectors | Pre-configured connector IDs (Gmail, Calendar, Notion) |

| createShareableLink | Enable public access URL |

Attach files using one of three formats:

URL attachment:

```json

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

```

Base64 attachment:

```json

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

```

File ID (after upload):

```json

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

```

Create a project with shared instructions:

```bash

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:

```bash

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"}'

```

• 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

Check for failed tasks:

```bash

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

For complete endpoint documentation, see [references/api.md](references/api.md).