What this does

This guide covers installing the Manus AI desktop application and configuring the local CLI backend that enables autonomous task execution, file manipulation, and workflow automation directly from the terminal. The setup process includes environment configuration, API key provisioning, and basic connectivity verification.

Steps

Download the Manus Desktop application for the target operating system from the official website at manus.im and run the installer. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the GUI installation.
Open a terminal and verify Python is present by running python3 --version. Confirm the output shows 3.10 or higher.
Install the Manus CLI backend package using pip install manus-ai if a pip-installable package is available, or clone the repository with git clone https://github.com/manusa/manus-ai.git and run the setup script.
Create a credentials file at ~/.manus/credentials.json with the following structure, replacing the placeholder with a valid API key:
```
{
  "api_key": "sk-your-key-here",
  "base_url": "https://api.openai.com/v1"
}
```
Set the MANUS_API_KEY environment variable as a fallback by adding export MANUS_API_KEY="sk-your-key-here" to the shell profile file such as ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc.
Verify the CLI installation by running manus --version. A version string should appear without errors.
Test connectivity by running manus check-config. This command attempts to reach the API endpoint and confirms whether authentication succeeds.
Start a Manus session with manus session start and follow the prompts to grant filesystem permissions for the first run.

Verification

manus check-config

Expected output:

Manus AI Configuration Check
API connectivity: OK
Authentication: OK
Local backend: running on port 8080
Configured model: gpt-4o

Common failures

Python version below 3.10 — The CLI may fail to start or exhibit missing module errors. Use python3 --version to confirm the version, and install a newer Python via python.org or a system package manager if needed.
API key rejected by the provider — An invalid or expired key produces an authentication error during manus check-config. Verify the key is active in the provider dashboard and that the base_url matches the correct endpoint for the key type.
Port 8080 already in use — The Manus local backend attempts to bind to port 8080 by default. If another process occupies this port, the startup fails. Identify the conflicting process with lsof -i :8080 and stop it, or configure Manus to use an alternative port in ~/.manus/config.json.
Missing write permissions for ~/.manus directory — The credentials file must be created in a directory that the user can write to. Create the directory manually with mkdir -p ~/.manus and set appropriate permissions before running the setup commands.

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