Manifest reference

A mod's manifest.json tells DDMM its identity, description, icon, and any options it offers. DDMM supports three formats. Which one a manifest is depends only on its Version field: no Version field means Legacy; "Version": 1 means V1; "Version": 2 means V2. Any other value is rejected as an unknown version.

All field names are PascalCase. This page mirrors src-tauri/src/models/manifest.rs exactly — if in doubt, that file is authoritative.

Legacy

No Version field at all. The original, simplest format.

{
  "Guid": "b7f2c1a0-6e3d-4b8a-9f1e-2d3c4b5a6e7f",
  "Name": "Example Mod",
  "Description": "A short description.",
  "IconPath": "icon.png",
  "Options": ["Red", "Blue"]
}

Field	Type	Required	Notes
Guid	UUID string	Yes	The mod's stable identifier
Name	string	Yes
Description	string	Yes
IconPath	string	No	Relative path to an icon image
Options	array of strings	No	Each string is a subfolder name; the user picks exactly one — see Packaging your mod

Legacy manifests can't declare Sources or NexusData — DDMM has no way to associate a source with a Legacy manifest beyond whatever it records itself when you install from a URL (the .hd2mm-origin.json sidecar; see The Sources field). Auto-generated manifests (for a mod added without its own manifest.json) are always Legacy, with no Options.

V1

"Version": 1. Adds structured, toggleable options with sub-choices, and the provider-neutral Sources field.

{
  "Version": 1,
  "Guid": "b7f2c1a0-6e3d-4b8a-9f1e-2d3c4b5a6e7f",
  "Name": "Example Mod",
  "Description": "A short description.",
  "IconPath": "icon.png",
  "Options": [
    {
      "Name": "HUD Color",
      "Description": "Recolors the HUD.",
      "Include": ["hud"],
      "SubOptions": [
        { "Name": "Red", "Description": "Red HUD.", "Include": ["hud/red"] },
        { "Name": "Green", "Description": "Green HUD.", "Include": ["hud/green"] }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "Sources": [
    { "Provider": "nexus", "Id": "123", "Version": "1.2.0" }
  ]
}

Manifest:

Field	Type	Required	Notes
Version	integer	Yes	Must be 1
Guid	UUID string	Yes
Name	string	Yes
Description	string	Yes
IconPath	string	No
Options	array of Option	No
NexusData	NexusData	No	Legacy Nexus identification; still read, merged into Sources at runtime
Sources	array of Source	No	See The Sources field

V1 Option

Field	Type	Required	Notes
Name	string	Yes
Description	string	Yes
Include	array of strings (paths)	No	Folders (relative to mod root) deployed when this option is toggled on
Image	string	No	Relative path to a preview image
SubOptions	array of SubOption	No	A further single choice within this option

V1 SubOption

Field	Type	Required	Notes
Name	string	Yes
Description	string	Yes
Include	array of strings (paths)	Yes	Unlike Option.Include, this is required
Image	string	No

V1 NexusData

Field	Type	Required
ModId	integer	Yes
Version	string	Yes

JSON Schema

docs/schemas/manifest-v1.schema.json — validate your manifest against it with any JSON Schema (2020-12) validator.

V2

"Version": 2. Adds Categories (to group options) and Tags (shown on the mod's card).

V2 deploy semantics

V2 deploys the same way V1 does: each toggled-on option contributes its own Include directories, plus the selected sub-option's Include directories for any option that declares SubOptions. CategoryRef and Categories only affect how options are grouped in the options editor (see Mod options & variants) — they have no effect on what gets deployed.

{
  "Version": 2,
  "Guid": "b7f2c1a0-6e3d-4b8a-9f1e-2d3c4b5a6e7f",
  "Name": "Example Mod",
  "Description": "A short description.",
  "IconPath": "icon.png",
  "Tags": ["cosmetic", "hud"],
  "Categories": [
    { "Guid": "b1e3c5d7-1111-2222-3333-444455556666", "Name": "Visuals", "Description": "Visual changes." }
  ],
  "Options": [
    {
      "Guid": "c2f4d6e8-7777-8888-9999-aaaabbbbcccc",
      "Name": "HUD Color",
      "CategoryRef": "b1e3c5d7-1111-2222-3333-444455556666",
      "Description": "Recolors the HUD.",
      "Include": ["hud"]
    }
  ],
  "Sources": [
    { "Provider": "ayakamods", "Id": "4084", "Version": "2026-09-24" },
    { "Provider": "nexus", "Id": "123" },
    { "Provider": "github", "Id": "someone/example-mod" }
  ]
}

Manifest:

Field	Type	Required	Notes
Version	integer	Yes	Must be 2
Guid	UUID string	Yes
Name	string	Yes
Description	string	Yes
IconPath	string	No
Options	array of Option	No
Categories	array of Category	No
Tags	array of strings	No
NexusData	NexusData	No	Note: no Version field, unlike V1's NexusData
Sources	array of Source	No

V2 Option

Field	Type	Required	Notes
Guid	UUID string	Yes	Unlike V1, each V2 option has its own id
Name	string	Yes
CategoryRef	UUID string	No	Guid of an entry in Categories
Description	string	Yes
Include	array of strings (paths)	No
Image	string	No
SubOptions	array of SubOption	No

V2 SubOption

Field	Type	Required	Notes
Guid	UUID string	Yes
Name	string	Yes
Description	string	Yes
Include	array of strings (paths)	Yes
Image	string	No

V2 Category

Field	Type	Required
Guid	UUID string	Yes
Name	string	Yes
Description	string	Yes

V2 NexusData

Field	Type	Required
ModId	integer	Yes

JSON Schema

docs/schemas/manifest-v2.schema.json.

Notes for all formats

• Field names are case-sensitive PascalCase (Guid, not guid or GUID).
• Paths (IconPath, Image, Include entries) are relative to the mod's root folder and use forward slashes; DDMM matches them against what's on disk case-insensitively.
• Unknown/extra fields in a manifest are ignored, not rejected — DDMM only reads the fields it knows about.
• See The Sources field for Sources in depth, including how it interacts with legacy NexusData and DDMM's own install-time bookkeeping.