Project Manifest

Every scaffolded project carries .ai-native-project.json at its root. It records the project's state so re-runs (and your coding assistant) stay aware of what's already set up — avoiding duplicate or inapplicable actions.

Example

{
  "generator": "create-ai-native-project",
  "version": "0.3.4",
  "createdAt": "2026-07-14T00:00:00.000Z",
  "updatedAt": "2026-07-14T00:00:00.000Z",
  "projectType": "single",
  "projectName": "Acme Chat",
  "brief": "Realtime chat app for support teams",
  "tools": ["claude-code", "codex", "opencode", "cline"],
  "stacks": ["nextjs", "vercel-ai-sdk"],
  "apps": [],
  "databases": ["postgres"],
  "vectorDb": ["pgvector"],
  "orm": ["prisma"],
  "iac": ["opentofu"],
  "storage": ["seaweedfs"],
  "auth": ["better-auth"],
  "security": ["essential", "supply-chain"],
  "mcp": ["chrome-devtools", "context7"],
  "ci": ["github-actions"],
  "docker": true,
  "docs": [],
  "skills": ["engineering-standards", "knowledge-base", "security-standards"],
  "agents": ["code-reviewer", "security-reviewer", "threat-modeler", "security-auditor", "nextjs"]
}

Fields

Field	Type	Notes
generator	string	Always create-ai-native-project.
version	string	CLI version that last wrote the manifest.
createdAt / updatedAt	ISO string	createdAt is preserved across re-runs.
projectType	single | monorepo | null	Immutable once set.
projectName · brief	string | null	Human-readable name + one-line brief, asked up front and substituted into the instructions file's title / description / overview. A blank answer on a re-run keeps the existing value.
tools	string[]	claude-code / codex / opencode / cline. Additive — never dropped; defaults to ["claude-code"] for projects created before tool selection.
stacks	string[]	Installed stack ids.
apps	{group,name,stack}[]	Monorepo apps (deduped by group/name).
databases · vectorDb · orm · storage · auth · iac · security · mcp · ci · docs	string[]	Installed ids per kind. vectorDb / orm / iac / security / mcp were added later and backfill to [] on older manifests.
security	string[]	Security-standard priority groups the project follows (essential, infrastructure, governance, testing-validation, identity-access, supply-chain, industry-compliance). Picking any group auto-installs the security-standards skill + threat-modeler / security-auditor agents.
mcp	string[]	MCP servers configured for the project (chrome-devtools, playwright, context7, github, filesystem, git, fetch, sequential-thinking, memory). Each is written to every selected tool's MCP config — see MCP Servers.
docker	boolean	Sticky — stays true once enabled.
skills · agents	string[]	Installed skill/agent names (across every tool layout).

Merge semantics

On a re-run the manifest is merged, not replaced: arrays are unioned, createdAt is preserved, projectType keeps its existing value, docker stays true once set, and tools accumulates. This is why re-running the CLI is safe and idempotent — see Extending a Project.