Manifest.md (workflow_state.md) + GitSHA’s = God Mode
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After a long day fighting with Cursor flaking out on a massive monolithic script I hadn’t decomposed yet, I kept seeing it drop code blocks, delete whole files, and struggle to make _bak files to prevent regressions.
Eventually, I hit a wall. The backups it was generating weren’t consistent. It was restoring old work we’d already revised past. Context was getting scrambled. I was getting frustrated.
So I tried one last thing:
I told Cursor to explicitly make a backup before and after each task.
As it started churning through planning and ramping up for the task… I saw something weird:
It made a Git commit. On its own. Directly to the repo.
I thought:
“If Cursor is already committing, why don’t I track those commit SHAs right inside my .cursor/manifest.md (or workflow_state.md) alongside each task?”
But why Aaron?! Why track the GitSHA’s?
For point in time reference silly! Point 👏 in 👏 time 👏 reference!
Not just for you to roll back. For the AI to understand, compare, and rebase context like a goddamn memory surgeon. By embedding GitSHAs directly into the manifest beside each task, I’m not just tracking what got done, I’m anchoring it in time. Now when a feature fails or needs to be revisited, I don’t guess, no Cmd + Z panic hoping I get back to the right state after hours of work. I jump straight to the SHA from the last working phase, see exactly what was there, and tell the AI to pick up from that moment. The manifest becomes a timeline, not just a checklist, a versioned record of intent that both I and the AI can navigate like a map.
Example Manifest with SHA’s
## Task: Add Auth0 Login Flow
- [x] Install SDK
- GITSHA: `abc1234`
- [x] Build login form
- GITSHA: `def5678`
- [ ] Integrate backend sessionProject Settings Rules
- Always track GITSHA after every meaningful task completion.
- Add it to the manifest as a Phase Checkpoint.
- Reference these SHAs when debugging, testing, or asking AI to resume from previous states.Key Takeaways
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