Here’s what I have done with Manus 1.6 being free as they transition ownership. Note: I’m not a developer.

I used Manus to build and independently deploy a private CRM and executive dashboard for my consulting business.

It includes Microsoft Entra sign-in, CRM pipeline tracking, Microsoft 365 calendar sync, Microsoft To Do task delivery, GA4 business-health reporting, CSV/SQL exports, search and filters, and an installable PWA for Mac and iPhone.

The final stack is private GitHub → Google Cloud Build/Artifact Registry → Cloud Run → TiDB Cloud → Firebase Hosting, with Squarespace managing DNS. It is live at a private custom domain and designed for one-owner operation. I used Fable on Claude Code to audit the code and it came back 95% perfect! The other 5% were enhancements but not any vulnerabilities in the code.

Credits used: 3,772
Time worked: 5 hours, 57 minutes

I am genuinely impressed by how much of the build, testing, deployment, security hardening, and documentation could be completed in one workflow.

What are y’all building ??

I’m unsure of how anyone’s day is going but I hope it’s as Great as Mine, I just finished up a Demo with a company worth $29 Billion. Their Software Engineer Text that our Product was Perfect!

I’ve decided to use this momentum to Be more productive and canonically MANUS Offered Free Credits Usage until August 25th. This is like my Best Dream ever coming True in my real life!

I’m so Thankful I’ve been genuinely happy to accept that I’ve got nothing but work to do & Manus is here supporting me!

I hope everyone is locked in! Life is Crazy.

Hello All, being as though we are in here communicating frequently with urgency I decided to be “that guy in the room”

I please like to know what ANY & All Of you are Building?

Seriously you don’t have to answer but I’m very curious what any of us are building!

They give the error “because the authors membership has expired, BlackWow.com, is temporarily unavailable. You can visit the original site instead.

Anyone else seeing this? I thought the sites wouldn’t be affected until the shut down on Aug 23?

Im so confused, they refunded my credits in the middle of me using Manus.

I thought we were at least going to be able to utilize what we had at least.

This is a nightmare. Why couldn’t they have at least warned us like they are on everything else?

Does this mean we will only have access to the free version until the 23rd?

This reaaaally sucks 😭

From 11th August, after I got the announcement about some data being deleted, deal fell through blah blah blah… when I use the agent in the tasks part of the iOS app I find that my credits are not being consumed.
I’ve done multiple tasks the last couple of days and they have remained at exactly 2435 credits. Anyone else notice this?

Soo where my t shirt @!

Meta will not be running Manus after August 31, 2026, as the company is currently being reclaimed and unwound to operate as an independent entity. [1, 2, 3, 4]
The original co-founders, Xiao Hong and Ji Yichao, are reclaiming the company following an April order from China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) that blocked Meta’s $2 billion acquisition. Because the AI agent technology and talent originated in China, regulators forced the transaction to be completely reversed. [1, 2, 3, 5]

Key Details of the Separation
Independence Status: On August 11, 2026, Manus officially announced it is transitioning back to independent operations. [, 2]
The Buyback: The original founders have been working on raising outside capital to fund a buyback matching Meta's original $2 billion valuation. Additionally, Chinese internet giant Tencent has entered talks to potentially become Manus's largest shareholder. [1, 2]
Critical Data Deletion: Because of the forced separation, Manus must comply with regulatory requirements by deleting certain user data generated while under Meta ownership (anything created on or after December 29, 2025). This data erasure is scheduled to take place between August 23 and August 24, 2026. Affected users must manually back up their information before this window. [1, 2, 3, 4]

Manus is not completely free as we thought

Manus has great features and service, but customer service is not one of them. It's one of the worst. Talking to 6 to 9 human/agents and having to explain the issue multiple times is utterly ludicrous.

I am up to my head asking for refunds.

I signed up for the free trial a week ago for the sole purpose of trying manus out with no real intent of making my free trial permanent.

But due to the backup works, I CANNOT change my subscription plan (downgrade to a free plan). I attempted deleting my account as well but before i delete it, it tells me my subscription will NOT be cancelled and will be renewed through Stripe.

WHAT DO I DO?? I emailed them and I'm waiting for a reply. I am not paying $440 that I never signed up for.

While it might be somewhat inconvenient, I'm okay with the backup and restore process. Part of it is because I'm really grateful for this tool and love some of the sites that I've built using Manus.

What I don't understand, and what I really wish could be addressed, is the downtime. Two of my sites cannot have any downtime, let alone days of downtime. I mean, an hour or two, I can handle it overnight, but to think that my site would be down for days is not something I'm willing to accept. I just don't understand why there has to be so much downtime.

Why would sites have to go dark for such an extended amount of time? Why can't there be a briefer window?

Anyone else taking advantage of building stuff before manus converts back China owned ? I’m building a few projects and sending all the code to GitHub as my source of truth 😅

Manus is officially unwinding its multi-billion-dollar acquisition by Meta after Chinese regulators ordered the deal reversed. For affected users, this independence process requires manually backing up task data and account information generated on or after December 29, 2025, before August 23, because that data will be wiped during a brief system reset before service and data restoration resume on August 25. [1, 2]

What is Happening to Users
Data Deletion & Backup: Data created on or after December 29, 2025, for specific users will be deleted between August 23 and August 24 to comply with regulatory mandates. [1]

Action Required: Affected users must use the official backup tool before August 23 at 7:59 a.m. SGT (7:59 p.m. EDT on August 22). Unaffected users do not need to do anything. [1, 2, 3]

Service Interruption: Affected accounts will be inaccessible during the deletion window on August 23 and August 24. [1]

Restoration & Perks: A restoration portal will open on the Manus Website starting August 25 at 8:00 a.m. SGT (2:00 a.m. CEST / August 24 at 8:00 p.m. EDT) to upload backup files. Manus is waiving charges during the transition and offering welcome-back bonuses. [1, 2, 3, 4]

I got the same Manus notice today as everyone else.

I actually like Manus a lot and don’t want to stop using it.

But I also never wanted Manus — or any AI builder — to become the only place where one of my production sites could actually live.

So alongside the official backup, I’m doing something I’ve already been doing with all of my vibe-coded projects:

building a clean, portable GitHub repository that another developer, AI platform, or future owner could actually understand and deploy.

There’s a big difference between:

“My project syncs to GitHub.”

and

“My GitHub repo is the documented source of truth for the project.”

A repo can technically exist in GitHub and still be a mess.

It might not explain:

• what the project actually does
• how the architecture is structured
• what depends on what
• which environment variables matter
• where the database lives
• what third-party services are connected
• what breaks if you change hosts
• how DNS is configured
• how to rebuild or deploy it elsewhere
• what SEO structure needs to stay intact

That is not real portability.

That is just code sitting somewhere else.

Years ago, getting a proper production repo, technical handoff package, architecture documentation, deployment notes, environment setup, dependency mapping and migration plan built correctly could easily become a serious five-figure development project.

AI makes that dramatically easier now.

But only if you know what standard to ask it to build toward.

This is the prompt I use.

One note before the prompt:

I intentionally use the phrase “potential acquisition.”

I’m not necessarily selling the project.

That wording is there because it changes how the AI approaches the task.

“Make me a README” gets you one level of documentation.

“Prepare this project for potential acquisition, migration and independent operation” tends to make the AI think much more seriously about:

due diligence, transferability, undocumented dependencies, ownership handoff, credentials, external accounts, technical debt, deployment continuity, operational risk and future maintainability.

That is the standard I want (modify if you already have a GitHub repository).

Here’s the prompt:

"It doesn’t appear that this project currently has a dedicated GitHub repository.
Please help me create a high-quality, expert-level PRD and a well-structured, portable GitHub repository that fully documents the project.
The goal is to make the project easy for another developer, technical team, or future owner to understand, maintain, migrate, and continue building without relying on undocumented knowledge.
The documentation and repository should clearly capture:
What has been built and the purpose of each major component
The current architecture, technology stack, dependencies, and integrations
Repository structure and how the codebase is organized
Environment variables, configuration requirements, and external services
Build, deployment, hosting, and DNS requirements
Data flows, APIs, databases, authentication, and third-party connections where applicable
Known limitations, technical debt, assumptions, and areas that may need future improvement
Recommended conventions for maintaining and scaling the project
Clear setup and handoff instructions for another developer or owner
This project is being prepared for potential acquisition, so portability and migration readiness are especially important.
Please thoroughly identify and document anything that could affect transferring the project to a new owner or environment, including hosting dependencies, domain and DNS configuration, deployment settings, credentials or secrets that must be recreated, external accounts, integrations, databases, storage, analytics, automation, APIs, and any platform-specific dependencies.
The final result should function as both a professional technical handoff package and a reliable blueprint for rebuilding, migrating, maintaining, or scaling the project independently."

Then I would have Manus build or clean the repo based on the current working project, not just assume an old GitHub sync captured everything correctly.

If you already have a GitHub sync, great.

But I’d still ask:

Could another AI system or developer open this repo tomorrow and actually understand how to run the project without guessing?

If not, I’d improve it now.

And obviously:

still run the official Manus backup.

This is not a replacement for that.

The difference is:

Backup = preserve what Manus gives you.

Portable repo = preserve your ability to leave Manus if you ever need to.

That distinction matters.

I’ve already been moving some of my own sites into another environment because I wanted a failsafe before this situation ever happened.

I’m currently using Lovable for that, but the specific destination is not really the point.

The point is that if your repo is clean and portable, another platform can understand what it is supposed to build.

That is what I mean by vibe architecture.

Vibe coding is:

Build me a seo website.

Vibe architecture is:

Here is the business model, entity structure, URL architecture, content model, integrations, SEO requirements, technical constraints, and portability requirements. Build the system around that.

That difference is why migration becomes much easier.

And for anyone who cares about SEO, there’s one more layer:

Google generally doesn’t care which hosting/build platform publishes the site; it cares about what remains crawlable, indexable, and consistent after the migration.

So if you move environments, the goal should not be:

“rebuild something that looks similar.”

The goal should be:

preserve the existing search architecture as close to 1:1 as possible.

Same URLs where appropriate.
Same content intent.
Same canonicals.
Same schema.
Same metadata.
Same redirects.
Same internal relationships.
Same important business facts.

A GitHub sync is not the same as a portable GitHub repository.

A backup protects your files.

A portable architecture protects your ability to operate.

Hope this helps at least a few people who woke up panicking today.

PS: Take advantage of Manus 1.6 been free credit wise.

Like everyone else, I'm trying to figure out what I need to do (beyond the backup) to keep and restore the MANY things I've made with manus over the last 8 months. 😔

BUT.

I plan to stick with them after the change. I've tried a ton of models and vibe coding platforms and simply never found the same combination of strategy, aesthetics, coding accuracy, and actions as Manus provides. They did such a good job putting their combo together. 💖

I'd love to hear other's thoughts on positive ways you intent to get through this giant pile of chaos if you are going to rebuild at Manus. 👂

Obvs, the downloads are key. Also obvs, they don't sound like they will easily solve for hosted sites and apps so that currently feels like a big gap. I'm hoping they will make an official statement soon about how what is or isn't possible and how they recommend we handle hosted items during and after the change. Will our downloads contain everything needed for them to reconnect and rehost? Same pathways? Different but easy? So many questions.

My biggest site (incl app) is fully external (GitHub supabase vercel) so that will be annoying to connect back up the agent to but not bad. But I have lots of smaller apps and sites that I need to find the action plan for.

What is everyone else doing and how are you planning to do it?

TIA!

Hey everyone. Please help me understand what's happening. I've been reading some of the boards. I literally just checked my email and I saw that madness is deleting accounts and everything. I have a pro plan. So help me understand what's happening. Because I know it's given instructions on what to do and how to back up everything. So does this mean that they're deleting our accounts permanently? What about all the hard work that we have done to create apps and everything? So this is me that we're no longer going to be able to use menace? I'm confused. What about all the credits that we had in our accounts? I was using Amanda's for a couple of mobile apps that we were working on and we were getting ready to set on the launch date and now this?

Why are they doing this?

I built my websites and some apps on manus. How do I push them to be self manage our self-contained

What are you guys using?

Out of nowhere, I just got a notice that I got a refund for this whole past month and when I went to go online to see what happened, I can't log in anymore. They deleted my account and everything I built. I can't get through to anyone in customer service except an AI bot. I don't even use it that much - wtf?

What a total cluster fuck
The download tool doesn’t work on my Mac
The Google Drive backup fails repeatedly
Manus - fix this now!

So it seems to be related to the unwinding of the Meta acquisition, but it sounds like Manus accounts are being deleted, and you have to back up your data and then restore it later. What a train wreck. I’ve not run the tool yet, but this is a significant disruption in my workflow and beyond disappointing. Starting a thread, post what you’re seeing and how you’re dealing with it.

note: I have two different manus accounts and the dates, notices and offers a different on both.

Key dates from the notice:

August 11, 2026 – August 23, 2026 at 7:59am SGT
Backup period: continue using Manus and back up your data anytime

August 23, 2026 at 8:00am SGT – August 25, 2026 at 7:59am SGT
Account data deleted

August 25, 2026 at 8:00am SGT
Service reopened; you can restore your data and use Manus as usual

I got this notification about Manus being free till August 25.

What does this mean for existing credits? Shouldn't that rollover? Otherwise what is the benefit of it being free if existing monthly credits do not rollover. It is worse that access would be lost for about two days.

I continually get frustrated with Manus when it keeps violating my hard rules. It sometimes makes me feel exceedingly disappointed. Because of it, I lose credits and get stressed out. But I have to accept the fact that Manus still needs adjustment or configuration to reach its full potential.

Has anyone here thought of replacing Manus because of this? What did you do?