Specification: the static publishing manifest #

This page is the normative description of the manifest exp-static-manifest/1 that every static publishing build of Exponential 6.0.15 writes, and of how the build, the diff, the preview, the publish and the rollback use it. The format of the rest of a build is in The build format; this page goes deeper into the one file every other part relies on.

Specifications · Related: Static publishing, The build format, The form endpoint

Files #

manifest.json is committed and pushed with every publish, so the repository holds the manifest of each publish next to its files. manifest.previous.json stays in the local folder only (publishing adds it to .gitignore).

Encoding #

• JSON in UTF-8, pretty-printed, slashes and Unicode not escaped.
• \n line ends and one final newline, on every system.
• The keys of meta are sorted. The same build gives the same bytes on Linux, macOS and Windows.

Structure #

{
    "format": "exp-static-manifest/1",
    "meta": { "base_path": "/my-site/", "built_at": "2026-11-01T09:30:00+00:00", "links": "relative",
              "public_url": "https://owner.github.io/my-site/", "run_id": "20261101-093000-4f2a1c",
              "scope": "full", "siteaccess": "site", "target": "github-public" },
    "files": {
        "about-us/index.html": { "kind": "page", "sha256": "…", "size": 18234, "url": "/about-us",
                                 "node": 59, "modified": 1761984000 }
    }
}

Paths #

A path is relative to the target's folder (to <folder>/docs with Folder=docs), with / separators, no leading slash, no drive letter, no empty, . or .. segment. A path of any other form is rejected when the manifest is read or written. The manifest never lists itself, .git or files the build did not write (a README you added).

A file entry #

All six keys are always present. A reader requires kind, sha256 and size and treats a missing url, node or modified as empty or null.

How the manifest is used #

• Diff. Two manifests are compared by path and sha256: a path only in the new one is added, one in both with a different hash is changed, one only in the old one is removed. Sizes give the bytes added and removed. This is what Preview, exp:static:diff and the report show.
• Applying a build. New and changed files are copied, a listed file missing from the folder is copied again, files the previous manifest listed and this one does not are removed, and folders left empty go too. Files no manifest lists are never touched.
• Partial builds. A partial build starts from the entries of the manifest before it and replaces only the pages it built and the files they name, so the result still describes the whole folder.
• Verify. exp:static:diff --verify hashes the folder and compares it with the manifest.
• Pages of a publish. After a commit, the page entries (path, url, node) are written to the table exp_static_page; a content publish marks its node's rows stale there, which the dashboard and the sidebar panel show.
• Rollback. The manifests before and after give the counts of what a rollback changes.

Compatibility #

Later versions may add keys to meta and to a file entry; they never rename or remove one, and never change the meaning of a value. A change that would do so takes a new format value.