---
id: MAN-2
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-2
specification: FlowDrop Workflow Specification 1.0-draft
licence: CC BY 4.0
---

# MAN-2 — A manifest entry names an input and binds it to a port

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

Three fields say what the input is called and where it goes; the rest is documentation for whoever calls the workflow.

## The rule

> **Normative.** This is the rule.
>
> 1. A manifest entry carries a `name`, a `node_id` and a `port`, all required, and may carry `title`, `description`, `examples` and `required`.
>
> 2. The optional metadata applies to the input side only.
>
> 3. A `required` entry is folded into the built contract's top-level list of required names rather than surviving as a key on the property fragment.


## What it means

Three fields are the entry: `name` is what the caller calls the input, and
`node_id` plus `port` are where it lands inside the workflow. Everything else
an entry may carry — `title`, `description`, `examples`, `required` — is
metadata for whoever calls the workflow, and it applies only to the input
side; an entry that binds an output port carries none of it into the built
contract.

`required` is the field worth pausing on. It is not stored as a key on the
property fragment itself; it is folded into the built schema's own top-level
`required` list, the way JSON Schema expects required properties to be named
(MAN-16). An entry can be required without that fact ever appearing next to
its own `type` and `default`.

## Example

The workflow declares one input, bound to a port, with author-facing metadata
attached.

```json title="A manifest entry naming an input and describing it for callers"
{
  "name": "customer_email",
  "node_id": "n1",
  "port": "key",
  "title": "Customer email",
  "description": "Email to look up their support history.",
  "examples": ["a@b.com", "c@d.com"]
}
```

```json title="What that entry contributes to the published contract"
{
  "type": "string",
  "title": "Customer email",
  "description": "Email to look up their support history.",
  "examples": ["a@b.com", "c@d.com"]
}
```

`name`, `node_id` and `port` decided where this property comes from; `title`,
`description` and `examples` only decorate it.

## Related rules

- Names: MAN-1, MAN-6, MAN-15
- Referenced by: MAN-1, MAN-6, MAN-15, MAN-20

---

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.