Getting Started

This walkthrough follows the life of an ontology from an empty platform to a governed, queryable object model. Everything below happens in the designer UI of your Manifest instance, at its own host (https://<instance>.manifest-ontology.co.za, e.g. tradewinds.manifest-ontology.co.za). Every step is equally available through the REST API on the same host.

1. Sign in

Manifest authenticates through Authlink. What you can see and do — which types you may design, which actions you may propose, which instances you may read — is decided per request by Authlink's policy service, not by roles baked into Manifest.

2. Define object types

An object type declares the shape of a thing the organisation cares about — its properties, its primary unique key, its match keys for duplicate detection. Types are drafted in the designer and exist as designs until an ontology version carries them live.

3. Define action types

An action type declares a governed way an object may change: the parameters it takes, the validation it demands, and its review tier — whether it executes immediately once guards pass, or stages for human approval first.

4. Publish an ontology version

Designs become operational by being published as an ontology version. Publishing runs the platform's validation rules; a version that fails them cannot publish. The published version hot-reloads the serving registry — including the agent-facing tools, which are regenerated from it.

5. Propose actions

With a published ontology, instances are created and changed by proposing actions. A proposal passes validation and guards (including duplicate detection against match keys); depending on the action type's tier it either executes, or lands in the review queue for an approver to decide. Either way the outcome is an audited event.

6. Explore the data

The instance browser lists and searches instances per type; the object view shows an instance's current state and its links. Reads pass through the same access-control seam as everything else — rows you may not see are filtered, properties you may not see are explicitly redacted.