---
id: MAN-8
family: GR-MAN
level: extended
profiles: [storage-api]
posture: normative-target
added: "1.0"
changed: "1.0"
source: https://flowdrop.io/spec/rules/gr-man/man-8
specification: FlowDrop Workflow Specification 1.0-draft
licence: CC BY 4.0
---

# MAN-8 — An entry that cannot be built is skipped, not fatal

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

One broken entry must not cost the workflow its whole contract, so the build drops it and carries on.

## The rule

> **Normative.** This is the rule.
>
> 1. An entry that cannot be resolved (the node it names is missing, the node declares no such port) is skipped with a logged warning, and the remaining entries are still built.
>
> 2. An entry that is structurally malformed, missing or empty in `name`, `node_id` or `port`, is likewise skipped and never contributes to the contract.


## What it means

A manifest can go wrong in two different ways, and neither costs the workflow
the rest of its contract. An entry can be structurally malformed — its
`name`, `node_id` or `port` missing or empty — in which case it never named
anything to resolve in the first place. Or it can be well-formed but point
nowhere real: a node that is not in the graph, or a port its node's own
type never declared. Either way the entry is dropped and the build carries on with
whatever else the manifest names.

## Example

```json title="An entry naming a node absent from the graph" verdict="skipped"
{ "name": "gone", "node_id": "ghost", "port": "key" }
```

```json title="An entry naming a port its node's own type never declared" verdict="skipped"
{ "name": "gone", "node_id": "n1", "port": "nope" }
```

```json title="An entry with no name at all" verdict="skipped"
{ "node_id": "n1", "port": "key" }
```

None of the three contributes a property to the built contract; a valid
sibling entry elsewhere in the same manifest still would.

## Related rules

- Names: MAN-14, MAN-17
- Referenced by: MAN-14, MAN-17

---

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.