Manus AI

What is Manus AI?

Manus AI is an autonomous AI agent originally developed by a Chinese-founded startup, Butterfly Effect that later relocated to Singapore. 

Unlike traditional chatbots that rely on back-and-forth prompting, Manus can independently plan, reason, and execute tasks such as research, coding, web development, and data analysis.

Manus has a Linux based cloud computing platform running in the background to execute tasks autonomously. When a task is started, Manus spins up a sandboxed Linux virtual machine (VM) in the cloud that provides the agent with: 

• A file system
• A terminal to run python scripts, install libraries and run code
• A browser to surf the internet and interact with web applications.

Key Use cases of Manus AI

Below are some common use cases of Manus AI.

Autonomous Web Application Development and Deployment

Normal Gen AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini can generate the code for a simple web application. But Manus AI can write the code, set up a local development environment within its sandbox, run tests, debug and make corrections. It can even initiate deployment to a specified hosting service in response to a high-level instruction, without human prompting.

It can analyze the error logs, implement fixes, and re-run the code until the desired outcome is achieved, effectively acting as a programmer and tester.

Fully autonomous, long‑running task execution

With Manus, you can give one high-level goal and watch it complete the task. 

E.g: Research the top 20 logistics SaaS companies in Southeast Asia, compare pricing, and generate a spreadsheet.

Manus can:

• Decide the research strategy
• Browse multiple sites
• Collect data
• Normalize it
• Output a spreadsheet

All the above without step-by-step prompting. A chat-based model like ChatGPT can’t handle multi-step execution on its own. It will need detailed chain-of-thought prompts to execute these tasks. 

Background execution without an active user session

Manus AI is designed to work asynchronously. It can run tasks in the background and complete work while the user is offline. Chat-based GenAI platforms requires the user to stay online and re-initiate context each time.

Automated File System and Content Management

Manus AI can create, modify, move, and manage files within its operating environment. For example, it can be instructed to download multiple images, resize them using an image processing library, rename them according to a pattern, and then upload them to a specified cloud storage. 

Differences between standard LLMs and Manus AI

Below are the differences between a standard LLM like ChatGPT, Gemini etc and Manus AI. 

If you need an answer or a poem or image, ChatGPT and Gemini are excellent. If you require a finished product, a deployed app, or a complex workflow automated, Manus AI is designed for that purpose.

Why Manus AI matters

Manus represents the shift toward autonomous systems that perform tasks, rather than simply answer questions.

Meta acquired Manus AI in December 2025 to boost its strategic position in the Agentic AI race, where Meta seemed to be lagging.