Cargo Manifest Guide

A manifest is the legal record of what a freighter is carrying. This page mixes ordinary headings with steppers, so you can see where steps land in “On this page” depending on what they follow.

Filing is a fixed sequence, so it’s written as a stepper. Because these steps sit under an h2, they appear in the table of contents as sub-items of Filing a Manifest.

1. Collect the Cargo Records

   Pull every registered cargo item for the bay. Anything not registered at this point can’t be added once the manifest is sealed.

   cosmocargo cargo list --bay first-freighter --json > cargo.json

2. Declare Hazard Classes

   Each item needs a hazard class. Mixed-class holds need a separation plan attached, which the spaceport checks before the freighter is allowed to dock.

   Anti-matter containment units are class VII and can never share a hold with cryogenic freight.

3. Attach the Route

   A manifest is only valid for the lane it was filed against. Re-plot the lane if more than 6 standard hours pass between filing and launch.

4. Submit for Review

   Customs returns a decision within one standard hour. Until then the manifest sits in pending and the freighter stays docked.

Amendments are rarer and the rules differ by treaty region.

Sol lets you amend a pending manifest in place. These steps sit under an h3, which would put them four levels deep — too deep for the table of contents, so they’re deliberately left out of it, the same way an h4 would be.

1. Open the Amendment Window

   Amendments are only accepted while the manifest is still pending.

2. Submit the Delta

   Send only the changed items. A full replacement resets the customs clock.

3. Re-sign the Manifest

   The original signature is voided the moment an amendment is accepted.

Everywhere else, a filed manifest is immutable. Void it and file a fresh one.

When customs rejects a manifest, the notice carries a machine-readable reason code. The checklist below opts out of the table of contents with toc={false} — it’s a quick reference, not a section of the page worth linking to.

1. Find the reason code

   It’s the first field of the notice, formatted like CC-4021.

2. Look up the code

   Codes in the CC-40xx range are manifest problems; CC-50xx are lane problems.

3. Re-file

   Fix the cause, then file again. Rejections don’t count against your bay quota.

Sealed manifests are retained for 50 standard years and are available through the archive API.