D016 - The manifest format is one tool's file, plus port

Status: decided Date: 2026-09-26

The payload manifest copies the fields of the repository cache a payload manager keeps on the target, and adds one: port, which makes a payload's presence measurable. A port is never read out of a description, a merge with the target's repository keeps it, and the schema is tested against the type.

Why: interoperating with the file already on people's targets is worth more than a cleaner format. It is one tool's cache, not a standard, and is not cited as one. A declared port turns an unknown row into a measurement by editing a file rather than releasing a binary.

Rejected:

• A format of this project's own: nobody else can read it.
• Parsing ports out of prose: a wrong guess reports one listener's state under another name.
• Letting the target's repository overwrite port: an absence is not a correction.