What Manus Is in October 2026

A chat tool answers inside its window. You ask for a pitch email, it writes one, and you copy it out yourself.

Manus calls itself an autonomous general AI agent. An agent plans a job, carries out the steps, and hands back finished work instead of a reply. Each Manus task runs in a sandbox: a cloud virtual machine (a computer on Manus's servers that is set aside for your task) with its own browser, file system and software tools. Inside it, Manus can open websites, run code, install software and save files.

Example. Ask a chat tool, "What's a good timeline for a single releasing June 5?" and you get a generic list. Give Manus the same request with your approved fact sheet, and it can open your distributor's published lead-time page in its browser, build the timeline as a spreadsheet, and return the file along with the pages it used.

Because an agent can do that much, it can also go wrong in more ways. It might read an outdated page, or build a plan around a date that has already moved. That's why this course spends real time on setup, on checkpoints where Manus stops and waits, and on checking the output. You decide where it stops.

A lot of the work around a release ends up in files: a timeline, a list of outlets, a one-sheet, a deck, a press kit. Manus officially produces these kinds of output:

• Research reports and data analysis with charts
• Documents and spreadsheets
• Slide decks as editable .pptx, PDF, web slides and a speaker-notes file
• Websites, with hosting and optional custom domains

It also lists images, video, music and speech made with third-party models. This course doesn't use those to make anything for release. A generated sketch doesn't give you permission to release it.

Example. Say your manager needs four things before a June single: a rollout timeline, a list of playlist curators and blogs, a one-page summary for pitching, and an electronic press kit (EPK). The timeline and the curator list are spreadsheets with sources. The one-sheet is a document or PDF. The pitch deck is a .pptx. The EPK is a one-page website that you publish yourself after reviewing it.

Those four are the four projects in this course. Slides, Wide Research and website deployment need a paid plan, which the next lesson covers.

Manus's ownership changed twice in 2026, and old guides haven't caught up.

The developer is Butterfly Effect Pte. Ltd., a Singapore company. Manus has been based in Singapore since mid-2025. Here is what happened next:

• December 2025: Meta bought Manus.
• April 27, 2026: China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) prohibited the deal and ordered it withdrawn.
• August 11, 2026: Manus announced the separation and a service change for some accounts.
• September 1, 2026: Manus formally resumed independent operations under its founding team.

Meta does not own or run Manus today. A tutorial, video or blog post that calls it "Meta's Manus" is out of date, and its prices and screens probably are too. Some localized Manus pages still say "part of Meta". Those pages are stale, so don't read them as current.

This matters for release work for one practical reason. In the August 2026 service change, users in some unnamed jurisdictions lost data created on or after December 29, 2025, and some account types were deleted outright. So keep your own copies of every timeline, deck and kit Manus makes. Treat your release folder as the archive, not your Manus account.

Manus 2.0 shipped on September 28, 2026. It brought a new agent harness (the engine that runs tasks), a desktop workspace called Manus Studio, event-triggered Automations, Cloud Computers you can buy, and Cue, a separate invite-only app. This course doesn't use Cue.

So any screenshot, menu name or walkthrough from before late September 2026 may not match your screen. In this course, menu names are given exactly where Manus's own documentation confirms them. Where it doesn't, the step is described in general terms and you're told the screen may differ.

Manus 2.0 has three modes:

• Manus 2.0 Lite for quick work
• Manus 2.0, the standard mode
• Manus 2.0 Max for hard reasoning or creative work

The exact location of the mode picker isn't documented, so look for it near the chat box when you start a task.

Example. Checking whether a distributor's help page mentions a lead time is quick work for Lite. Rebuilding a whole rollout after the release date moves a week touches many dependent dates, so it may be worth Max. Free accounts can spend their daily credits only on Lite. Lesson 2 covers credits.

Do this now, with manus.im open.

1. Confirm you're 18 or older. Manus requires it.
2. Confirm Manus is offered where you are. There's no official list of supported countries. Mainland China has been blocked since mid-2025. In August 2026, new sales paused in some jurisdictions Manus didn't name, and those regions lost access from August 23 to 25. If sign-up or payment isn't offered where you live, stop. Don't use a VPN, a borrowed address or someone else's account to get around it.
3. Sign in. Choose to get started, then sign in with Google, Apple or Microsoft. If you sign up with email, you'll need to verify a phone number: digits only, with no leading zero or symbols. Facebook login has been withdrawn.
4. Choose where you'll work. Manus runs on the web at manus.im, in the Manus Studio desktop app (macOS on Apple Silicon, and Windows through the Microsoft Store), and on iOS/iPadOS and Android. For this course, use the web app or Studio on a computer, because you'll be opening spreadsheets and decks.

Checkpoint: you're signed in and can see the sidebar, including Projects. If it doesn't work: check the sign-in method, and if access is the problem, wait until Manus is offered in your region.

Most release damage happens in the handoffs, not in the studio. The wrong bounce gets uploaded. The session bassist is left out of the credits. The date moves, but the old one survives in three posts and a pre-save link.

Manus is good at the work around the song: researching lead times, building lists, drafting a one-sheet from approved facts, laying out a press kit. It can't decide what the song should make someone feel, whose voice belongs on it, or when it's ready to leave your hands. In the course's words, the artist calls the take.

In practice, every brief you write will name the fixed element: the one thing about the record that no copy or plan may flatten. In the single this course follows, that's a first verse of only voice and guitar, close enough to hear the breath before the band comes in. A one-sheet that calls the song "wall-to-wall energy from the first bar" contradicts it, and you'd send that draft back.

In this course, Manus drafts and checks. You approve, and nothing is sent or published without that approval. When Manus stops and asks you, the tool is working as it should.