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ECHO Manifest Schema

Version: 1.0 Status: Specification

Overview

The ECHO manifest provides machine-readable metadata for archives. It enables tools to:

  • Generate unified browsable sites
  • Discover and configure data sources
  • Present archives intelligently in user interfaces

The manifest follows ECHO philosophy: simple, self-describing, durable (JSON/YAML).

Schema

The canonical JSON Schema is at: schemas/manifest.schema.json

Required Fields

Field Type Description
version string Schema version (currently "1.0")
name string Human-readable name
description string Brief description of contents

Optional Fields

Field Type Description
type string One of: database, documents, site, mixed
browsable boolean Whether to include in generated sites (default: true)
site string Path to pre-built site directory
docs string Path to markdown documentation
icon string Icon identifier for UI presentation
sources array For hierarchical archives: list of sub-archive configs
order number Display order in unified site

Examples

Minimal Manifest

{
  "version": "1.0",
  "name": "My Archive",
  "description": "Personal data archive"
}

Data Source Manifest

{
  "version": "1.0",
  "name": "Conversations",
  "description": "AI conversation history from ChatGPT and Claude",
  "type": "database",
  "browsable": true,
  "site": "site/"
}

Top-Level Archive Manifest

For archives that contain other ECHO archives as subdirectories:

{
  "version": "1.0",
  "name": "Alex's Data Archive",
  "description": "Personal data archive",
  "sources": [
    {"path": "conversations/", "order": 1},
    {"path": "bookmarks/", "order": 2},
    {"path": "blog/", "order": 3, "browsable": false}
  ]
}

Complete Example

{
  "version": "1.0",
  "name": "Conversation History",
  "description": "AI conversations exported from ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini",
  "type": "database",
  "browsable": true,
  "site": "site/",
  "docs": "docs/",
  "icon": "chat",
  "order": 1
}

Source Configuration

When a manifest includes sources, each source object can have:

Field Type Required Description
path string Yes Relative path to sub-archive directory
order number No Display order (lower = first)
browsable boolean No Override sub-archive's browsable setting
name string No Override sub-archive's name

Example:

{
  "sources": [
    {"path": "conversations/", "order": 1},
    {"path": "bookmarks/", "order": 2, "name": "My Bookmarks"},
    {"path": "drafts/", "browsable": false}
  ]
}

Icon Identifiers

Common icon identifiers (tools may support more):

Icon Suggested Use
chat Conversations, messages
bookmark Bookmarks, links
document Documents, notes
database Databases, structured data
image Photos, images
music Music, audio
video Videos
code Code, projects
archive Generic archive

YAML Support

Manifests may also be written in YAML as manifest.yaml:

version: "1.0"
name: "My Archive"
description: "Personal data archive"
type: database
browsable: true
site: site/

Tools should check for manifest.json first, then manifest.yaml.