OPA recognizes an optional bundle metadata file named exactly .manifest—including the leading dot. A file such as manifest.yaml is ignored in bundle context; OPA does not treat it as an alternative manifest name. Rename the file, ensure it contains JSON, and check bundle status and logs if the corrected bundle still fails validation or activation.
What filename and format does OPA expect?
For a bundle, the metadata filename is .manifest. The file is optional; when included, it should be a JSON-serialized object. The OPA CLI reference shows manifest.yaml in a bundle directory example and explicitly identifies it as ignored. See the OPA Bundles documentation and CLI Reference.
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That means a typo does not necessarily produce a particular error: the official documentation does not specify one response for every misspelling or bundle layout. If the rest of the bundle is loadable, OPA may proceed without applying the metadata you intended. Confirm what OPA actually received rather than assuming that a differently named file was parsed.
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- Inspect the bundle root. Check the actual directory entry or archive member for the exact name
.manifest, including its leading dot and capitalization. Make sure it is at the bundle root rather than nested elsewhere. - Check the content. Open
.manifestand confirm it is valid JSON representing an object, not YAML or an unrelated configuration file. - Review the fields that affect your bundle. The documented fields include
revision,rego_version,file_rego_versions,roots,wasm, andmetadata. Use fields supported by the OPA version you run. - Verify how OPA is loading the input. If you intend bundle behavior, use
--bundle. The CLI documents different behavior without that flag: OPA recursively loads a broader set of files rather than following bundle file conventions. - Check status and logs after correcting it. If the bundle is rejected, look for a validation or activation failure. OPA keeps the currently active bundle when a new bundle fails validation.
What the manifest fields change
Roots define the bundle’s scope
If roots is absent, its documented default is [""], meaning the bundle claims all policy and data. For scoped bundles, roots must not overlap within a bundle, and included policy and data must fall beneath the declared roots. A correctly named manifest with unsuitable roots can therefore still cause bundle validation to fail.
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Rego versions can be set generally or per file
rego_version sets a Rego syntax version, while file_rego_versions can provide per-file overrides. Check these values when a bundle contains policies that need a particular syntax version.
Wasm and other metadata
The manifest can also include Wasm resolver metadata under wasm, a revision, and arbitrary metadata. OPA’s bundle documentation says unknown top-level keys are ignored. That rule concerns keys inside a recognized manifest; it does not make a misspelled filename recognizable.
Which files are loaded as bundle content?
OPA bundle conventions recognize data files named data.json or data.yaml, and Wasm modules named policy.wasm. A bundle may be a gzipped tar archive containing policies and/or data, or a directory tree supplied as a bundle. File naming matters: the CLI example states that manifest.yaml is ignored in bundle context.
What happens when a bundle update fails?
OPA reports validation or activation failures through status and error logging. A failed validation does not replace the current active bundle, so a running instance can continue using the existing bundle while the new one is rejected. Check the reported failure rather than treating the continued operation as proof that the new metadata took effect.
Building from an existing bundle
When opa build loads an existing bundle, it includes the input .manifest in its output. Build flags that set manifest values—for example, --revision—override the corresponding values from the input manifest. This behavior is documented in OPA’s build command source.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does OPA ignore a misspelled manifest file?
In bundle context, OPA documents the exact name as .manifest and shows manifest.yaml as ignored. The documentation does not specify one error response for every typo or bundle layout.
Is the OPA bundle manifest YAML or JSON?
The documented .manifest file is a JSON-serialized object.
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