> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.manticscore.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Public projects API — read a published project

> Public, no-auth read of an opt-in published project by slug. Powers manticscore.com/p/{slug} and Twitter card previews.

A project becomes publicly readable only after its owner [publishes it](/api-reference/projects#publish-a-project). The public surface returns a filtered view of the project — header, idea, optional research summary, optional build plan, optional Forge PRs — gated by the owner's `public_options`. Unpublished or unknown slugs return `404`, so brute-forcing slugs cannot leak private projects.

## Get a published project

Returns the public-safe view of a project for the given slug.

No authentication required.

<ParamField path="slug" type="string" required>
  Public project slug, of the form `kebab-title-XXXXXX` where `XXXXXX` is a 6-character salted hash.
</ParamField>

<CodeGroup>
  ```bash curl theme={null}
  curl "https://api.manticscore.com/public/p/ai-expense-tracker-9f4e2a"
  ```

  ```python Python theme={null}
  import httpx

  resp = httpx.get("https://api.manticscore.com/public/p/ai-expense-tracker-9f4e2a")
  print(resp.json())
  ```
</CodeGroup>

```json 200 response theme={null}
{
  "project": {
    "short_title": "AI Expense Tracker",
    "description": "Automated receipt capture for freelancers.",
    "status": "ready",
    "published_at": "2026-04-19T11:30:00Z"
  },
  "slug": "ai-expense-tracker-9f4e2a",
  "idea": {
    "raw": "AI expense tracker for freelancers",
    "one_liner": "Automated receipt capture for freelancers.",
    "problem_statement": "Freelancers waste hours each month sorting receipts.",
    "target_user": "Independent contractors and small agencies",
    "product_type": "mobile_app"
  },
  "research": {
    "top_competitors": [],
    "features": [
      {"name": "Receipt OCR", "category": "capture"}
    ],
    "white_spaces": [
      {"name": "Crypto expense reporting", "category": "fintech"}
    ]
  },
  "build_plan": {
    "nodes_count": 12,
    "expanded_count": 6
  },
  "forge_prs": [
    {
      "repo": "acme/expense-tracker",
      "pr_number": 42,
      "pr_url": "https://github.com/acme/expense-tracker/pull/42"
    }
  ],
  "author_handle": "anon",
  "cta": {
    "label": "Process your own idea →",
    "href": "/start"
  }
}
```

<ResponseField name="project" type="object" required>
  Compact project header: `short_title`, `description`, `status`, `published_at`.
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="slug" type="string" required>
  The public slug (equal to the path parameter).
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="idea" type="object">
  Present when `public_options.show_idea` is `true` (default). Contains `raw`, `one_liner`, `problem_statement`, `target_user`, `product_type`.
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="research" type="object">
  Present when `public_options.show_research_summary` is `true` (default). Contains:

  <Expandable title="research fields">
    <ResponseField name="top_competitors" type="object[]">
      Top competitors (incumbents + emerging, up to 10 total). Empty array when `public_options.show_competitors` is `false`.
    </ResponseField>

    <ResponseField name="features" type="object[]">
      Up to 10 features from the latest completed research run.
    </ResponseField>

    <ResponseField name="white_spaces" type="object[]">
      Up to 5 identified white spaces from the latest completed research run.
    </ResponseField>
  </Expandable>
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="build_plan" type="object">
  Present when `public_options.show_build_plan` is `true`. Contains `nodes_count` and `expanded_count`. The full build tree is never exposed publicly.
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="forge_prs" type="object[]">
  Present when `public_options.show_forge_prs` is `true`. Up to 10 most recent Forge PRs scoped to this project. Each entry has `repo`, `pr_number`, `pr_url`.
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="author_handle" type="string" required>
  Author credit. Either the literal string `anon` (default) or the profile name when the owner set `show_handle_or_anon` to `handle`.
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="cta" type="object" required>
  Call-to-action object with `label` and `href` for the public page footer.
</ResponseField>

Responses include `Cache-Control: public, max-age=300, s-maxage=3600` — 5-minute browser cache, 1-hour shared cache.

Returns `404` if the slug does not exist or points to a project where `is_public` is `false`.