Manifest.json
Identity declaration for installable surfaces.
A Web App Manifest is the standard, machine-readable description of a site as an installable application - name, icons, scope, theme, language and start URL - which lets browsers, app stores and OS launchers establish a site's identity and entry point from a single JSON file rather than scraping HTML. Anything else that wants those facts can read the same file, because it is public, linked from the head and served under a registered media type.
Geordy generates this format for every page on your site that warrants it - auto-detected by page type, served from your subdomain, and refreshed on the cadence below.
{
"name": "Geordy - AI Optimization Platform",
"short_name": "Geordy",
"start_url": "/dashboard",
"display": "standalone",
"theme_color": "#2a9d8f",
"categories": ["productivity", "business", "seo"]
}How to make this format work for AI.
- Link the manifest from every HTML page with `<link rel="manifest" href="/manifest.webmanifest">` and serve it as `application/manifest+json`.
- Always provide name, short_name, start_url, display, icons (include 192x192 and 512x512 PNG, plus a maskable icon), theme_color and background_color.
- Set scope to the URL prefix the app controls and an explicit id so the browser identifies app updates correctly across start_url changes.
- Declare lang and dir, and use description so search engines and AI assistants can summarise the app from the manifest alone.
- Serving the file with the wrong MIME type or behind auth, so browsers silently ignore it.
- Omitting a 512x512 (or maskable) icon, which blocks installability prompts and degrades OS-level rendering.
- Using a relative start_url that resolves outside scope, which causes the installed app to fail to launch in standalone mode.
Use cases, scored for AI visibility.
Real sites already shipping Manifest.json.
Tools & resources for Manifest.json.
- Enables installation with app-like behavior
- Mobile-first advantage - improves mobile user experience
- States your site's identity once, in machine form, instead of leaving it to be inferred from markup
- Requires HTTPS setup and service worker
No AI engine publishes that it reads manifest.json. What it is worth on a page about AI readability is narrower than that, and true: your site's name, icons, language, description and entry point stated once, in machine form, at a conventional address, under a registered media type, so nothing anywhere has to infer them from your markup.