Features

The loop — start → spec → rules → stories → dev → review — is the default and covers most phases. These are the parts you reach for when a project grows past it.

	What it is	When you need it
Build mode	Implement a phase straight from its approved brief, no story files	The phase is small enough to hold in one contract
Auto mode	Chain the commands you'd otherwise type, armed only by your scope approval	You've read enough briefs to trust their shape
Import	Turn an existing PRD or document into a backlog, then stop	You already wrote the requirements somewhere else
Team owners	Namespace phases per person, so two people don't both scope "phase 7"	More than one person planning in one repo
Tracks & filters	Narrow what a phase is allowed to contain	The backlog has absorbed several documents
Hooks	Wire your own review checklist into any skill	You've made the same correction three phases running

Everything here is optional. Nothing is on by default, and nothing arms itself.

Owner JSON files

Mano saves portable settings and chain state in _mano_output/[owner].json. Each owner has a separate file that you can commit with the project.

File	What it contains	Commit it?
_mano_output/alice.json	Alice's mode, track, and chain records by phase	Yes, to resume elsewhere
_mano_output/.default.json	The same settings for work without an owner	Yes, if used
_mano_output/.local.json	The owner selected in this checkout	No; Mano adds it to _mano_output/.gitignore

Use these commands in your agent's chat to create or update the files:

mano owner alice
mano mode auto
mano track "Option B"

A new owner starts in manual mode with no track. Selecting an existing owner restores that owner's saved settings. Bare mano owner, mano mode, and mano track show the effective values. mano mode clear resets the mode to manual; mano track clear resets the track to null. mano owner clear selects the unowned .default.json settings without deleting any owner's file.

An owner file with an approved chain in progress looks like this:

{
  "version": 1,
  "owner": "alice",
  "mode": "auto",
  "track": "Option B",
  "phases": {
    "alice-phase-1": {
      "skipped": ["ux"],
      "run": {
        "actions": ["ui", "build"],
        "repairs": []
      }
    }
  }
}

Field	Meaning
version	Settings format version; currently 1
owner	Owner slug matching the filename; null in .default.json
mode	manual or auto
track	Active work track, or null for none
phases	Chain records keyed by the exact phase ID
skipped	Planning actions the human explicitly removed from this phase's chain
run.actions	Remaining approved actions, in order; a nonempty list ends with build or dev
run.repairs	Artifact actions already given an automatic repair attempt in this run

run: null means there is no saved approval. A run with "actions": [] means the approved chain has finished. These records accompany the phase artifacts and implementation ledgers; they do not replace them. Mano updates the chain fields as approved actions finish, so use the commands to manage them rather than reconstructing approval by editing JSON.

The local selection contains only:

{ "owner": "alice" }

To continue on another computer:

1. Commit and push the owner JSON together with the phase artifacts and code.
2. Clone or pull the project on the other computer.
3. Run mano owner alice once in that checkout, then mano continue.

MANO_OWNER, MANO_MODE, and MANO_TRACK override the stored values for a shell or worktree without saving those overrides. Empty overrides are errors. Settings work without a Git repository; Git is only needed when you want to commit and share them.

Existing settings from older Mano versions migrate automatically when corresponding JSON state is missing. Existing JSON values win, including cleared settings and completed chains.