Hands-On with Manus: My First Impression with an Autonomous AI Agent

Last month, I stumbled across an article about a new AI agent called Manus that was making waves in tech circles. Developed by Chinese startup Monica, Manus promised something different from the usual chatbots – true autonomy. Intrigued, I joined their waitlist without much expectation.

Then yesterday, my inbox pinged with a surprise: I'd been granted early access to Manus, complete with 1,000 complimentary credits to explore the platform. As someone who's tested every AI tool from ChatGPT to Claude, I couldn't wait to see if Manus lived up to its ambitious claims.

For context, Manus enters an increasingly crowded field of AI agents. OpenAI released Operator in January, Anthropic launched Computer Use last fall, and Google unveiled Project Mariner in December. Each promises to automate tasks across the web, but Manus claims to take autonomy further than its competitors.

This post shares my unfiltered experience – what Manus is, how it works, where it shines, where it struggles, and whether it's worth the hype. Whether you're considering joining the waitlist or just curious about where AI agents are headed, here's my take on being among the first to try this intriguing technology.

What Exactly Is Manus?

Manus (Latin for "hands") launched on March 6th as what Monica calls a "fully autonomous AI agent." Unlike conventional chatbots that primarily generate text within their interfaces, Manus can independently navigate websites, fill forms, analyze data, and complete complex tasks with minimal human guidance.

The name cleverly reflects its purpose – to be the hands that execute tasks in digital spaces. It represents a fundamental shift from AI that just "thinks" to AI that "does."

Beyond Conversational AI

Traditional AI assistants like ChatGPT excel at answering questions and generating content but typically can't take action outside their chat interfaces. Manus bridges this gap by combining multiple specialized AI models that work together to understand tasks, plan execution steps, navigate digital environments, and deliver results.

According to my research, Manus uses a combination of models including fine-tuned versions of Alibaba's open-source Qwen and possibly components from Anthropic's Claude. This multi-model approach allows it to handle complex assignments that would typically require human intervention – from building simple websites to planning detailed travel itineraries.

 

The Team Behind Manus

Monica (Monica.im) operates from Wuhan rather than China's typical tech hubs like Beijing or Shanghai. Founded in 2022 by Xiao Hong, a graduate of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, the company began as a developer of AI-powered browser extensions.

What started as a "ChatGPT for Google" browser plugin evolved rapidly as the team recognized the potential of autonomous agents. After securing initial backing from ZhenFund, Monica raised Series A funding led by Tencent and Sequoia Capital China in 2023.

In an interesting twist, ByteDance reportedly offered $30 million to acquire Monica in early 2024, but Xiao Hong declined. By late 2024, Monica closed another funding round that valued the company at approximately $100 million.

 

Current Availability

Manus remains highly exclusive. From what I've gathered, less than 1% of waitlist applicants have received access codes. The platform operates on a credit system, with tasks costing roughly $2 each. My 1,000 free credits theoretically allow for 500 basic tasks, though complex assignments consume more credits.

Despite limited access, Manus has generated considerable buzz. Several tech influencers have praised its capabilities, comparing its potential impact to that of DeepSeek, another Chinese AI breakthrough that surprised the industry last year.

How Manus Works

My first impression upon logging in was that Manus offers a clean, minimalist interface. The landing page displays previous sessions in a sidebar and features a central input box for task descriptions. What immediately sets it apart is the "Manus's Computer" viewing panel, which shows the agent's actions in real-time.

 

The Technical Approach

From what I've observed and researched, Manus operates through several coordinated steps:

1. When you describe a task, Manus analyzes your request and breaks it into logical components
2. It creates a step-by-step plan, identifying necessary tools and actions
3. The agent executes this plan by navigating websites, filling forms, and analyzing information
4. If it encounters obstacles, it attempts to adapt its approach
5. Once complete, it delivers results in a structured format

This process happens with minimal intervention. Unlike chatbots that need continuous guidance, Manus works independently after receiving initial instructions.

 

The User Experience

Using Manus follows a straightforward pattern:

1. You describe your task in natural language
2. Manus acknowledges and may ask clarifying questions
3. The agent begins working, with its actions visible in the viewing panel
4. For complex tasks, it might provide progress updates
5. Upon completion, it delivers downloadable results in various formats

One valuable feature is Manus's asynchronous operation. Once a task begins, it continues in the cloud, allowing you to disconnect or work on other things. This contrasts with some competing agents that require constant monitoring.

 

Pricing Structure

Each task costs approximately $2 worth of credits, though I've noticed complex tasks consume more. For instance, a simple research assignment used 1 credit, while a detailed travel itinerary planning task used 5 credits.

At current rates, regular use would represent a significant investment. Whether this cost is justified depends entirely on how much you value the time saved and the quality of results.

 

Limitations and Safeguards

Like all AI systems, Manus has constraints. It cannot bypass paywalls or complete CAPTCHA challenges without assistance. When encountering these obstacles, it pauses and requests intervention.

The system also includes safeguards against potentially harmful actions. It won't make purchases or enter payment information without explicit confirmation and avoids actions that might violate terms of service.

 

How Manus Compares to Competitors

The AI agent landscape has become increasingly competitive, with major players offering their own solutions. Based on my testing and research, here's how Manus stacks up:

Performance Benchmarks

Manus reportedly scores around 86.5% on the General AI Assistants (GAIA) benchmark, though these figures remain partially unverified. For comparison:

• OpenAI's Operator achieves 38.1% on OSWorld (testing general computer tasks) and 87% on WebVoyager (testing browser-based tasks)
• Anthropic's Computer Use scores 22.0% on OSWorld and 56% on WebVoyager
• Google's Project Mariner scores 83.5% on WebVoyager

For context, human performance on OSWorld is approximately 72.4%, indicating that even advanced AI agents still fall short of human capabilities in many scenarios.

 

Key Differentiators

From my experience, Manus's most significant advantage is its level of autonomy. While all these agents perform tasks with some independence, Manus requires less intervention:

• Manus operates asynchronously in the cloud, allowing you to focus on other activities
• Operator requires confirmation before finalizing tasks with external effects
• Computer Use frequently needs clarification during execution
• Project Mariner often pauses for guidance and requires users to watch it work

Manus also offers exceptional transparency through its viewing panel, allowing you to observe its process in real-time. This builds trust and helps you understand how the AI approaches complex tasks.

Regarding speed, the picture is mixed. Manus can take 30+ minutes for complex tasks but works asynchronously. Operator is generally faster but still significantly slower than humans. Computer Use takes numerous steps for simple actions, while Project Mariner has noticeable delays between actions.

Manus stands out for global accessibility, supporting multiple languages including English, Chinese (traditional and simplified), Russian, Ukrainian, Indonesian, Persian, Arabic, Thai, Vietnamese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, and various European languages. In contrast, Operator is currently limited to ChatGPT Pro subscribers in the United States.

The business models also differ significantly. Manus uses per-task pricing at approximately $2 per task, while Operator is included in the ChatGPT Pro subscription ($200/month). Computer Use and Project Mariner's pricing models are still evolving.

 

Challenges Relative to Competitors

Despite its advantages, Manus faces several challenges:

• System stability issues, with occasional crashes during longer tasks
• Limited availability compared to competitors
• As a product from a relatively small startup, it lacks the resources of tech giants backing competing agents

 

My Hands-On Experience

After receiving my access code yesterday, I've tested Manus on various tasks of increasing complexity. Here's what I've found:

 

Tasks I've Attempted

1. Research Task: Compiling a list of top AI research papers from 2024 with summaries
2. Content Creation: Creating a comparison table of electric vehicles with specifications
3. Data Analysis: Analyzing trends in a spreadsheet of sales data
4. Travel Planning: Developing a one-week Japan itinerary based on my preferences
5. Technical Task: Creating a simple website portfolio template

 

Successes and Highlights

Manus performed impressively on several tasks. The research assignment was particularly successful – Manus navigated academic databases efficiently, organized information logically, and delivered a well-structured document with proper citations.

For the electric vehicle comparison, it created a detailed table with accurate, current information by navigating multiple manufacturer websites. This would have taken me hours to compile manually.

The travel planning showcase demonstrated Manus's coordination abilities. It researched flights, suggested accommodations at various price points, and created a day-by-day itinerary respecting my preferences for cultural experiences and outdoor activities. It even included estimated costs and transportation details.

Watching Manus work through the viewing panel was fascinating. The agent demonstrated logical thinking, breaking complex tasks into manageable steps and adapting when encountering obstacles.

 

Limitations and Frustrations

Despite these successes, Manus wasn't without struggles. The data analysis task revealed limitations – while it identified basic trends, its analysis lacked the depth a human analyst would provide. The visualizations were functional but basic.

The website creation task encountered several hiccups. Manus created a basic HTML/CSS structure but struggled with complex responsive design elements. The result was usable but would require significant refinement.

I experienced two system crashes during longer tasks, requiring me to restart. In one case, Manus lost progress on a partially completed task, which was frustrating.

When Manus encountered paywalls or CAPTCHA challenges, it appropriately paused for intervention. While necessary, this interrupted the otherwise autonomous workflow.

 

Overall User Experience

The interface is clean and intuitive, and the viewing panel provides valuable transparency. Task results are well-organized and easy to download. The asynchronous operation is particularly valuable, allowing me to focus on other activities while Manus works.

However, load times can be lengthy, especially for complex tasks. Occasional stability issues interrupt the workflow, and the system sometimes struggles with nuanced instructions. There's also limited ability to intervene once a task is underway.

 

Final Thoughts

After my initial day with Manus, I'm cautiously optimistic about its potential. The agent demonstrates impressive capabilities that genuinely save time on certain tasks. The research, content creation, and planning functions are particularly strong.

However, stability issues, variable performance across task types, and occasional need for human intervention prevent Manus from being the truly autonomous assistant it aspires to be. It's a powerful tool but one that still requires oversight and occasional course correction.

The 1,000 free credits provide ample opportunity to explore Manus's capabilities without immediate cost concerns. Based on my usage, these should last several weeks with moderate use.

For early adopters and those with specific use cases aligned with Manus's strengths, the value proposition is compelling despite the $2 per-task cost. For professionals whose time is valuable, the hours saved could easily justify the expense.

However, for general users or those with tighter budgets, the current limitations and cost structure might make Manus a luxury rather than a necessity.

As Manus evolves in response to user feedback and competitive pressures, I expect many current limitations to be addressed. The foundation is strong, and if Monica can improve stability and refine capabilities in weaker areas, Manus could become an indispensable productivity tool.

The autonomous AI revolution is just beginning, and Manus represents one of its most intriguing early manifestations. Whether it ultimately leads the field or serves as a stepping stone to more capable systems remains to be seen, but its contribution to advancing autonomous AI is already significant.

I'll continue experimenting with my remaining credits, focusing on tasks where Manus excels, and will likely share updates as I discover more about this fascinating technology.

How the Model Context Protocol (MCP) is Revolutionizing AI Model Integration

As artificial intelligence continues to grow more advanced—especially with the rapid rise of Large Language Models (LLMs)—there’s been a persistent roadblock: how to connect these powerful AI models to the massive range of tools, databases, and services in the digital world without reinventing the wheel every time.

Traditionally, every new integration—whether it's a link to an API, a business application, or a data repository—has required its own unique setup. These one-off, custom-built connections are not only time-consuming and expensive to develop, but also make it incredibly hard to scale up when things evolve. Imagine trying to build a bridge for every single combination of AI model and tool. That’s what developers have been facing—what many call the "N by N problem": integrating n LLMs with m tools requires n × m individual solutions. Not ideal.

That’s where the Model Context Protocol (MCP) steps in. Introduced by Anthropic in late 2024, MCP is an open standard designed to simplify and standardize how AI models connect to the outside world. Think of it as the USB-C of AI—one universal plug that can connect to almost anything. Instead of developers building custom adapters for every new tool or data source, MCP provides a consistent, secure way to bridge the gap between AI and external systems.

Why Integration Used to Be a Mess

Before MCP, AI integration was like trying to wire a house with dozens of different plugs, each needing a special adapter. Every tool—whether it's a database or a piece of enterprise software—needed to be individually wired into the AI model. This meant developers spent countless hours creating one-off solutions that were hard to maintain and even harder to scale. As AI adoption grew, so did the complexity and the frustration.

This fragmented approach didn’t just slow things down—it also prevented different systems from working together smoothly. There wasn’t a common language or structure, making collaboration and reuse of integration tools nearly impossible.

MCP: A Smarter Way to Connect AI

Anthropic created MCP to bring some much-needed order to the chaos. The protocol lays out a standard framework that lets applications pass relevant context and data to LLMs while also allowing those models to tap into external tools when needed. It’s designed to be secure, dynamic, and scalable. With MCP, LLMs can interact with APIs, local files, business applications—you name it—all through a predictable structure that doesn’t require starting from scratch.

How MCP Is Built: Hosts, Clients, and Servers

The MCP framework works using a three-part architecture that will feel familiar to anyone with a background in networking or software development:

• MCP Hosts are the AI-powered applications or agents that need access to outside data—think tools like Claude Desktop or AI-powered coding environments like Cursor.
• MCP Clients live inside these host applications and handle the job of talking to MCP servers. They manage the back-and-forth communication, relaying requests and responses.
• MCP Servers are lightweight programs that make specific tools or data available through the protocol. These could connect to anything from a file system to a web service, depending on the need.

What MCP Can Do: The Five Core Features

MCP enables communication through five key features—simple but powerful building blocks that allow AI to do more without compromising structure or security:

1. Prompts – These are instructions or templates the AI uses to shape how it tackles a task. They guide the model in real-time.
2. Resources – Think of these as reference materials—structured data or documents the AI can “see” and use while working.
3. Tools – These are external functions the AI can call on to fetch data or perform actions, like running a database query or generating a report.
4. Root – A secure method for accessing local files, allowing the AI to read or analyze documents without full, unrestricted access.
5. Sampling – This allows the external systems (like the MCP server) to ask the AI for help with specific tasks, enabling two-way collaboration. 

Unlocking the Potential: Advantages of MCP

The adoption of MCP offers a multitude of benefits compared to traditional integration methods. It provides universal access through a single, open, and standardized protocol. It establishes secure, standardized connections, replacing ad hoc API connectors. MCP promotes sustainability by fostering an ecosystem of reusable connectors (servers). It enables more relevant AI by connecting LLMs to live, up-to-date, context-rich data. MCP offers unified data access, simplifying the management of multiple data source integrations. Furthermore, it prioritizes long-term maintainability, simplifying debugging and reducing integration breakage. By offering a standardized "connector," MCP simplifies AI integrations, potentially granting an AI model access to multiple tools and services exposed by a single MCP-compliant server. This eliminates the need for custom code for each tool or API.

MCP in Action: Applications Across Industries

The potential applications of MCP span a wide range of industries. It aims to establish seamless connections between AI assistants and systems housing critical data, including content repositories, business tools, and development environments. Several prominent development tool companies, including Zed, Replit, Codeium, and Sourcegraph, are integrating MCP into their platforms to enhance AI-powered features for developers. AI-powered Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) like Cursor are deeply integrating MCP to provide intelligent assistance with coding tasks. Early enterprise adopters like Block and Apollo have already integrated MCP into their internal systems. Microsoft's Copilot Studio now supports MCP, simplifying the incorporation of AI applications into business workflows. Even Anthropic's Claude Desktop application has built-in support for running local MCP servers.

A Collaborative Future: Open Source and Community Growth

MCP was officially released as an open-source project by Anthropic in November 2024. Anthropic provides comprehensive resources for developers, including the official specification and Software Development Kits (SDKs) for various programming languages like TypeScript, Python, Java, and others. An open-source repository for MCP servers is actively maintained, providing developers with reference implementations. The open-source nature encourages broad participation from the developer community, fostering a growing ecosystem of pre-built, MCP-enabled connectors and servers.

Navigating the Challenges and Looking Ahead

While MCP holds immense promise, it is still a relatively recent innovation undergoing development and refinement. The broader ecosystem, including robust security frameworks and streamlined remote deployment strategies, is still evolving. Some client implementations may have current limitations, such as the number of tools they can effectively utilize. Security remains a paramount consideration, requiring careful implementation of visibility, monitoring, and access controls. Despite these challenges, the future outlook for MCP is bright. As the demand for AI applications that seamlessly interact with the real world grows, the adoption of standardized protocols like MCP is likely to increase significantly. MCP has the potential to become a foundational standard in AI integration, similar to the impact of the Language Server Protocol (LSP) in software development.

A Smarter, Simpler Future for AI Integration

The Model Context Protocol represents a significant leap forward in simplifying the integration of advanced AI models with the digital world. By offering a standardized, open, and flexible framework, MCP has the potential to unlock a new era of more capable, context-aware, and beneficial AI applications across diverse industries. The collaborative, open-source nature of MCP, coupled with the support of key players and the growing enthusiasm within the developer community, points towards a promising future for this protocol as a cornerstone of the evolving AI ecosystem.