The Singapore-based AI agent platform overhauls its core architecture while introducing a standalone personal agent app called Cue
Manus, the AI agent platform developed by Singapore-based Butterfly Effect Pte. Ltd., rolled out Manus 2.0 on September 28, bringing a ground-up redesign of its agent architecture alongside two new product offerings. The centerpiece is Cascade, a dynamic framework that rethinks how AI agents allocate resources.
In internal testing, Cascade consumed 23.2% fewer tokens, completed tasks 28.2% faster, and cut operational costs by 32% compared to the previous system. For a company that reportedly hit roughly $125 million in revenue by December 2025, shaving nearly a third off infrastructure costs is the kind of efficiency gain that tends to get CFOs unusually enthusiastic.
What Cascade actually changes #
Cascade starts lightweight, initiating projects with minimal overhead, then dynamically adds specialized tools only when the context demands them. The result is a system that’s context-aware rather than brute-force, scaling its complexity to match the actual requirements of each task.
Two new products: Studio upgrade and Cue #
Alongside the architectural overhaul, Manus 2.0 ships with an upgraded version of its professional desktop application, now called Manus Studio, and an entirely new standalone product called Cue.
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Manus Studio is the professional-grade tool, designed for power users and teams who need to build, customize, and deploy AI agents at scale. The upgrade brings the Cascade architecture into the desktop environment, meaning the same efficiency gains apply to locally managed workflows.
Cue is a standalone personal agent app, positioned as a consumer-facing product rather than an enterprise tool. Cue is currently available through an invite-only early access program.
Context and competitive landscape #
Manus has had a notably eventful trajectory leading up to this launch. Meta announced an attempted acquisition in December 2025, valued between $2 billion and $3 billion. That deal ran into regulatory challenges and stalled, leaving Manus independent.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Diego Almada Lopez. For more information on how we create and review content, see our