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Manifest (knitpkg.yaml)

As we saw in the previous section, the main file src/KnitPkgSMA.mq5 tries to include a file that does not exist in the Git repository. To understand where that file comes from, we need to look at the project manifest:

knitpkg.yaml
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target: mql5
type: indicator

organization: douglasrechia
name: sma
version: 1.0.0
version_description: Initial version

# Registry search fields
description: KnitPkg for Metatrader - SMA Indicator Demo
keywords: [ "indicator", "sma", "showcase" ]
author: Douglas Rechia
license: MIT

# Include mode resolution
include_mode: flat

# File to be flattened with all the dependencies for this project
entrypoints:
  - src/KnitPkgSMA.mqh

compile:
  - src/KnitPkgSMA.mq5

# Dependencies of the project
dependencies:
    '@douglasrechia/calc': ^1.0.0

Key manifest points

The manifest is the “brain” of a KnitPkg repository: it tells KnitPkg what this repository is, how to build it, and which dependencies it needs.

Pay special attention to the highlighted parts:

  • include_mode and entrypoints: with include_mode: flat and src/KnitPkgSMA.mqh added as the entrypoint for dependency resolution in entrypoints, KnitPkg will use this file as the root to generate the flattened header needed for compilation.
  • dependencies: declares that this project depends on the package @douglasrechia/calc. KnitPkg will use this information to resolve the dependency version and fetch the required code.

In other words: the manifest explains why the repository is missing some includes—because they are produced during installation.

For the complete manifest field reference, see the Manifest reference page