Stack Harbor PaaS lets you describe an automated solution as a manifest. The manifest is built with the Cloud Scripting tool and declaratively captures the environment topology you want, plus the customization steps needed to turn that topology into a working application — initial configuration, package installs, database setup, post-deploy commands, anything you’d otherwise click through in the dashboard.
A manifest is reusable. You can:
- Run it for yourself to automate repetitive setup, or to wire up a CI/CD flow.
- Share it via a one-click install widget on your own site.
- Submit it to the platform Marketplace so other tenants can install your solution.
What a manifest captures
A typical manifest declares:
- The environment topology — which layers (load balancer, application server, database, cache, build node), which software stacks, and what resource limits each gets.
- Region and SSL settings — where the environment runs and whether built-in or custom certificates apply.
- Custom domain bindings and endpoint mappings.
- File-system actions — upload files, edit configs, install packages, run shell commands inside specific containers.
- Database setup — create schemas, run SQL, restore from a dump.
- Triggered actions — what should run on container start, scale, redeploy, or stop.
- User prompts — fields the installer fills in at install time (admin email, app name, license key).
Working with manifests
You can import a manifest into your account from a local file, a URL, or by pasting JSON/YAML directly into the dashboard’s import dialog. The orchestrator then runs the manifest the same way it runs any other lifecycle operation — you can watch progress in the Tasks panel and review the Cloud Scripting logs if something fails.
You can also export an existing environment as a manifest. The exported file captures the topology and configuration, which gives you a reproducible starting point for cloning the environment to a different region or another platform installation.