MANIFEST File

The MANIFEST file lives at the project root and controls which Odoo modules are installed and which addon paths are active. It is a Python dict literal (not JSON — comments and trailing commas are allowed).

Example

{
    "version": 17.0,

    # Modules loaded server-wide (available without database)
    "server-wide-modules": ["web"],

    # Python version for the Odoo container
    "python_version": "3.12",

    # Modules to install
    "install": [
        "sale",
        "purchase",
        "account",
        "stock",
        "my_custom_module",
    ],

    # Modules to uninstall (if present)
    "uninstall": [
        "web_tree_many2one_clickable",
    ],

    # Modules from "uninstall" whose code is gone and that may be
    # uninstalled anyway - their tables are dropped
    "uninstall_without_source": [
        "partner_simple_default_avatar",
    ],

    # Modules to uninstall only in DEVMODE
    "devmode_uninstall": [
        "password_security",
    ],

    # Extra SQL files run after a DEVMODE restore (relative to the project
    # root). A module's data/neutralize.sql is run by Odoo itself.
    "neutralize": [
        "devscripts/neutralize_interfaces.sql",
    ],

    # Modules to run tests for
    "tests": ["my_custom_module"],

    # Robot suites for `odoo robot run-all` (glob patterns, project root)
    "robotests": ["addons/*/tests/robot/*.robot"],

    # Run these update steps before the main update
    "before-odoo-update": [
        ["update", "base"],
    ],

    # Where Odoo looks for modules
    "addons_paths": [
        "odoo/odoo/addons",
        "odoo/addons",
        "enterprise",          # Odoo Enterprise (if available)
        "addons_tools",        # zodoo helper modules
        # "addons_OCA/sale-workflow",
        # "addons_OCA/account-invoicing",
    ],
}

Fields

Field	Description
`version`	Odoo version as float: `17.0`, `16.0`, etc.
`server-wide-modules`	Loaded without a database. Always include `"web"`.
`python_version`	Python version for the Odoo Docker image.
`install`	Modules to install/keep installed.
`uninstall`	Modules to force-uninstall. Their missing dependencies are ignored when resolving requirements.
`devmode_uninstall`	Modules to uninstall when `DEVMODE=1`.
`uninstall_without_source`	Modules from `uninstall` (or `devmode_uninstall`) whose code is no longer in any addons path and that may be uninstalled anyway. Without this entry `odoo update` lists the models that would be dropped and asks you to type the module name; non-interactive runs abort before any service is stopped.
`tests`	Modules to run tests for (used by `odoo module run-tests`).
`robotests`	Glob patterns (relative to the project root) selecting the robot suites `odoo robot run-all` runs and `odoo robot list` / `odoo module list-robot-test-files` (zCICD) report. Without it, every `*.robot` file of the project is used.
`neutralize`	Extra SQL files (relative to the project root) that `DEVMODE=1` runs after a restore, after Odoo's and zodoo's neutralization. Modules that talk to external systems should rather ship a `data/neutralize.sql` - Odoo runs it on `odoo-bin neutralize`, the database manager and every zodoo restore. From Odoo 16 on, entries pointing to a module's `data/neutralize.sql` are skipped, because Odoo already ran them.
`before-odoo-update`	Module update steps to run before main update.
`addons_paths`	Directories where Odoo searches for modules. Order matters.
`odoo_dir`	Where the Odoo source is cloned (default: `odoo`).
`upgrade_path`	Path to upgrade-utils for OpenUpgrade migrations.

Running Odoo from a non-standard directory

By default the Odoo source is cloned into odoo/ inside the project. Set odoo_dir to use a different folder — useful when you keep several Odoo versions side by side in one project, or when a custom Docker setup expects the source somewhere else:

{
  "odoo_dir": "odoo2"
}

zodoo resolves the server directory from this value at runtime; there is no separate setting for it. Remember to keep addons_paths in step, since the <odoo_dir>/odoo/addons and <odoo_dir>/addons paths are derived from it.

OCA addons

OCA modules are managed via gimera. Add the desired OCA repo to addons_paths (uncomment in template), then run:

gimera apply
odoo reload

Example​

Fields​

Running Odoo from a non-standard directory​

OCA addons​

Example

Fields

Running Odoo from a non-standard directory

OCA addons