Laughing because I came here and this is the top comment. My coworker asked if I heard about it over the weekend, so I came to HN to search. "How do you spell it, m-a-n-t-i-s?" "No, like anus with an M in front."
To the OP, I say forget this advice. There's a headhunting company called Monster, arguably the worst possible name, especially for that business. Last time I checked they were doing fine. The truly worst thing is not being talked about.
Manus means hand in Latin, not a bad name at all for a tool that lends you a hand. Some people will recognize this, others not. They'll be fine, or if not, it won't be for that reason.
It brings bad analogies with body parts. So, let’s change the name schema to gods, mythology or something on the sky. Maybe Uranus could be a better alternative.
I imagined it was short for "manuscript", as "manus" is the Swedish word for it. I also have a friend named Manu, who I imagine is hoping her name doesn't get Alexa'd.
I really thought this name was from the common word for "human" in many languages across India. Slightly different pronunciations in some languages but I think many Indians would relate to the word as a derivative of "human".
I've been building the same thing since 2023. It works really well, and was most recently pretty much cloned by Claude Code: https://github.com/ErikBjare/gptme
What makes Manus so special is the combination of many agents with different abilities, controlled by a central interface. At the moment, due to the limited access, it is difficult to assess whether Manus has primarily put together an impressive combination of existing AI agents or whether there is more to it than that.
Feedback: change the name
The current name will prevent this product/company from ever making it to the mainstream, or at least make it way less likely.
A great name can truly make a huge difference. An OK name that sticks is a necessity. A name that is mostly “anus” is actively bad.
Laughing because I came here and this is the top comment. My coworker asked if I heard about it over the weekend, so I came to HN to search. "How do you spell it, m-a-n-t-i-s?" "No, like anus with an M in front."
To the OP, I say forget this advice. There's a headhunting company called Monster, arguably the worst possible name, especially for that business. Last time I checked they were doing fine. The truly worst thing is not being talked about.
Manus means hand in Latin, not a bad name at all for a tool that lends you a hand. Some people will recognize this, others not. They'll be fine, or if not, it won't be for that reason.
Not only hand, but force, violence, etc.: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext...
Or fate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manos:_The_Hands_of_Fate
There is also MongoDB, which is also doing fine despite the very unfortunate name.
It brings bad analogies with body parts. So, let’s change the name schema to gods, mythology or something on the sky. Maybe Uranus could be a better alternative.
Or Janus?
I imagined it was short for "manuscript", as "manus" is the Swedish word for it. I also have a friend named Manu, who I imagine is hoping her name doesn't get Alexa'd.
The etymology of "manuscript" is from Latin "manu" by hand "script" (scriptus) written.
I really thought this name was from the common word for "human" in many languages across India. Slightly different pronunciations in some languages but I think many Indians would relate to the word as a derivative of "human".
ChatGPT's logo looks like an anus yet they're doing just fine.
Mananus?
Manus = माणुस in Marathi which means Man
Someone already made a clone with 15K stars: https://github.com/mannaandpoem/OpenManus
I've been building something very similar, but OSS and running in the terminal, since 2023 (3.5k stars): https://github.com/ErikBjare/gptme
Currently working on building out a web UI (https://chat.gptme.org) and managed service for it.
Manus also seems very similar to Claude Code (but not open source either).
How does a repo get 15k stars in just 2 days?
Bots and payola
China has a lot of users.
- Browser control tools
- Shell control tools
- File edits tools
- Task management workflow/tools
- Memory management workflow/tools
- Subtasks handoff to other agents
Anything major missing raw capability wise?
Maybe something to stop it succeeding at requests like "hack into some power stations and blackout city X" ?
What is the value add here over existing frameworks for multi-agent workflows?
Back in the day, AutoGPT was trying to do the same thing. I wonder what became of it.
I've been building the same thing since 2023. It works really well, and was most recently pretty much cloned by Claude Code: https://github.com/ErikBjare/gptme
How do you figure claude code pretty much cloned this as opposed to aider or other CLI-based tools with similar features? Anything in particular?
Agree about changing the name. Manus is the joke name of child in a British TV comedy called Amandaland. It's more of a joke name than anything.
Manus means 'hand' in Latin. I thought that was the idea. Their logo is a picture of a hand, too. English "manuscript" comes from it.
Manus means Human in Marathi language.
And ~hands in latin
But that doesn’t matter if your goal is to become a global brand
What makes Manus so special is the combination of many agents with different abilities, controlled by a central interface. At the moment, due to the limited access, it is difficult to assess whether Manus has primarily put together an impressive combination of existing AI agents or whether there is more to it than that.