---
id: MAN-1
family: GR-MAN
level: core
profiles: [storage-api]
posture: normative-target
added: "1.0"
changed: "1.0"
source: https://flowdrop.io/spec/rules/gr-man/man-1
specification: FlowDrop Workflow Specification 1.0-draft
licence: CC BY 4.0
---

# MAN-1 — A workflow's launch inputs are declared, never inferred

*GR-MAN (Part I) · level: core · profiles: storage-api · added in 1.0*

The launch surface is the author's decision, written down. If it were derived from what the nodes happen to expose, adding a parameter to a node would widen what the outside world may send.

## The rule

> **Normative.** This is the rule.
>
> 1. The inputs a caller may supply when launching a workflow are a manifest the author declared on the workflow, and are never derived from port exposure.
>
> 2. A declared entry is built into the workflow's contract even when the instance hides the port it names, and a port that is exposed but not declared never reaches the contract.


## What it means

The launch-input manifest is a list the author wrote, not a computation over
the workflow's nodes. That cuts both ways, and the second direction is the one
that bites. A node's parameter can be hidden on the instance and still sit in
the manifest — the entry still reaches the contract, because hiding a port is
an instance setting, not an edit to what the author declared. And a node's
parameter can be exposed, wired, fully visible in the editor, and never reach
the contract at all, because nothing in the manifest names it.

The consequence: adding a parameter to a node type, or exposing one that used
to be hidden, never by itself changes what a caller may send. Only an edit to
the manifest itself does that (MAN-2, MAN-3).

## Example

The node type declares two parameters, `key` and `other`. The instance hides
`key` and exposes `other` — the opposite of what the manifest entry below
declares.

```json title="The manifest names key, the port the instance hides"
{ "name": "lookup_key", "node_id": "n1", "port": "key" }
```

```json title="What the workflow publishes as its contract"
{ "properties": { "lookup_key": { "type": "string", "x-data-type": "string" } } }
```

`other` is exposed on the instance and never appears. `lookup_key` is hidden
on the instance and appears anyway, because the manifest named it.

## Related rules

- Names: MAN-2, MAN-3
- Referenced by: MAN-2, MAN-3

---

Rule identifiers are permanent and are never renumbered. This specification carries
no implementation status: each implementation publishes its own standing against
these rules. Licensed CC BY 4.0.