What Is the Semantic Manifest?
The Semantic Manifest is a structured JSON document generated from AXAG annotations. It serves as the intermediate artifact between annotated UI elements and MCP tool definitions.
Purpose
The manifest:
- Catalogs all annotated operations in a structured format
- Normalizes annotation data into a consistent schema
- Enables discovery — agents query the manifest to find available operations
- Serves as input for MCP tool generation
- Provides a validation target for CI/CD pipelines
Structure
axag-manifest.json — example structure
{
"version": "0.1.0",
"conformance_level": "intermediate",
"generated_at": "2026-03-14T10:00:00Z",
"source": "ecommerce-app",
"pages": [
{
"page_id": "product-listing",
"url_pattern": "/products",
"operations": [
{
"intent": "product.search",
"entity": "product",
"operation_id": "product_search",
"description": "Search the product catalog",
"action_type": "read",
"parameters": {
"query": { "type": "string", "required": true },
"category": { "type": "string", "required": false }
},
"scope": "catalog",
"risk_level": "none",
"idempotent": true,
"preconditions": [],
"postconditions": [],
"confirmation_required": false
}
]
}
]
}
Manifest vs Annotations
| Aspect | Annotations | Manifest |
|---|---|---|
| Format | HTML attributes | JSON document |
| Location | Inline in UI code | Standalone file |
| Scope | Single element | Entire page/application |
| Consumer | Build tools, extractors | Agent runtimes, validators |
| Mutability | Changed by developers | Generated from annotations |
The manifest is a derived artifact. The annotations are the source of truth.