A manifest is the compact record that makes a data release inspectable. It connects the source artifact to the generated product files and the exact pipeline version that produced them.
What the manifest records
A useful manifest includes source identifiers, checksums, row counts, schema version, transform version, quality results, artifact paths, and timestamps.
Why object storage is a good fit
Immutable release files and manifests belong in versioned object storage. Postgres keeps the searchable control plane and the active catalog pointer; object storage keeps large artifacts and evidence economically.