Manus 2.0 puts its agents on event triggers and dedicated cloud computers

Cost fell further than token count in that test. Had the price of each token stayed the same, a 23.2% token cut would have produced a 23.2% cost cut ^[1]. Manus reports 32% ^[1]. The gap means the average token also got cheaper, by about 11.5%, because 0.68 divided by 0.768 is 0.885 ^[17]. Some share of the work moved to cheaper tokens. Manus has not said which share, what task the test ran, or how many runs sit behind the figure, and The Decoder describes it as the result of one tested configuration ^[2].

The token cut has a stated cause. Cascade loads specialist capabilities only when a task needs them ^[13]. If leaving unused capabilities out of the working context is where the saving comes from, its size depends on how much of the toolkit a given task skips. A narrow task would gain more than the test did. A task that calls on most of the specialists would gain less. For the 32% to carry over to someone else's work, their tasks would need to use Cascade's specialists in roughly the proportion the test did, and their per-token prices would need to fall the same way ^[17].

The always-on features add a machine to the bill. Projects that must stay online, including multiplayer games and permanent automations, run on Cloud Computer, a dedicated environment users buy ^[5]. For multiplayer games, Manus handles hosting and networking on that machine ^[6]. Triggers cover email, ad-performance changes, calendar events, Slack messages and Notion updates, and the user writes the trigger and the task in a single prompt ^[4].

Triggers and Computer Use raise an access question when combined. An email trigger begins from text an outside sender wrote ^[4]. Computer Use extends sessions into approved local files and apps, and Manus's own examples include carrying on while the user is away ^[7]. If a triggered workflow can open one of those sessions, the approval list is what separates that sender from the user's files. Cue's wallet puts payments into the same pattern ^[10].

Cue's examples include QR-code restaurant orders and holding a place in line, with several agents coordinating in a group chat ^[11]. Waiting in a queue is now a job for software. Cue is in limited free early access through the invite code MEETCUE, and iOS access waits on App Store review ^[12].

I think the Video Editor is the best-engineered part of the release. It lays clips, images, text, motion graphics and audio on an editable timeline, and the user can change any of them before asking Manus to continue ^[9]. Game Dev follows the same idea for code: users start from playable templates, manage assets and code in an Edit panel, and publish games as playable websites ^[16].

Meta now backs its own agent, Muse, and The Decoder reports that Muse also gives every user a cloud computer ^[15]. Manus sells its Cloud Computer as a purchase ^[5]. Tencent has been negotiating for the largest stake in Manus since the Meta deal was unwound ^[18].