OPEN SOURCE LOCAL-FIRST BRING YOUR OWN KEY

Kumanga

The AI Manga Harness
developed, under final testing ~

AI creates the assets. Humans direct the story. The creator remains the author.

A manga studio that runs entirely on your machine — reusable characters, polygon panels, tones, dialogue and a natural-language Manga Agent. No account. No subscription. Your API keys, your projects, your pages.

★ Support the launch Try the live studio
Kumanga studio poster — the bear mascot behind a laptop running the manga editor, with the feature list: reusable characters, scene and asset library, manga editor, manga agent, export and share

The Kumanga studio: project library, manga assets, the page canvas and the Manga Agent — one editor.

WHY KUMANGA EXISTS

Most AI comics tools generate a finished page and leave you no way to change it. Kumanga generates reusable assets — characters, poses, expressions, backgrounds — and gives you a real non-destructive editor to compose them into pages you control.

Move a character without regenerating the panel. Reframe a full-body asset into a close-up with zero new generations. Rewrite one line of dialogue without touching the art. That's what a harness is: the AI is powerful, and you hold the reins.

WHAT'S INSIDE

A complete studio, not a prompt box

Everything below is already built and running in the v0.1 open-source preview.

Reusable Characters

Create a character once, use them across every panel. Structured pose & expression libraries, reference-aware generation, and semantic slot switching keep them consistent page after page.

Scene & Asset Library

Backgrounds, props, uploads, screentones, speed lines, focus lines and impact bursts — all organized, all drag-to-panel, all yours to reuse in any project.

Manga Editor

An infinite canvas with polygon panels you can reshape vertex by vertex, classic layouts (including yonkoma), viewport framing from full-body to close-up, and full undo/redo.

Manga Agent

Tell it what you want in plain language — "make them blush in panel 2" — and it plans, reuses what exists, generates only what's missing, and commits a verified, fully editable result.

Local-First & BYOK

Projects and images live on your machine, not our cloud. Connect any compatible AI provider with your own key — Gemini, OpenAI-compatible, or a custom endpoint. No account, ever.

Export & Share

High-quality PNG export straight from the live scene graph at 1× or 2×, with provenance metadata on every generated asset. Your pages leave the studio ready to publish.

HOW THE HARNESS WORKS

Natural language in, an editable page out

The Manga Agent treats the AI as a creative director — but code owns the state, the identity of every asset, and the final commit. Nothing lands on your page unverified.

1

You direct

Describe the scene, the shot, the mood, the dialogue — in your own words. Your exact wording is locked as evidence before any AI sees it.

2

The agent plans

A single creative-director pass maps your intent to cameras, interactions and bubbles — validated against a strict contract, never guessed IDs.

3

Reuse before generate

Existing characters and assets are reused or transformed first; new images are generated only for what's genuinely missing. Your tokens are respected.

4

Verified commit

A deterministic verifier checks every actor is placed and dialogue is byte-exact before committing. The run lands whole — or rolls back cleanly.

SEE IT IN ACTION

Watch the harness work

Two systems that make Kumanga different — recorded straight from the studio.

Character relation system
Define how characters relate to each other once — then generate interaction poses (a hug, a hand on a shoulder, a face-off) that respect the relationship, without character drift.
All elements are assets
Characters, backgrounds, props, bubbles, effects — everything on the page is a reusable asset you can move, reframe, swap and reuse across panels and projects.
MADE WITH KUMANGA

Meet Kumanga-chan

Three demo pages composed in the studio — same characters, page after page, scene after scene. Click any page to read it full size.

Demo manga page 1 — Kumanga-chan introduces herself as an open-source AI manga harness built by Tony Demo manga page 2 — Kumanga-chan and Maku-chan demonstrate the relationship system and local-first BYOK setup Demo manga page 3 — Kumanga-chan thanks readers and shows the GoFundMe campaign for launching the AI manga harness

Same two characters across every panel — poses, expressions and interactions generated as reusable assets, composed by hand.

BUILT PROPERLY

v0.1 is frozen, tested and live

This isn't a concept video. The open-source preview is running in production today — backing accelerates what comes next.

991
automated tests passing
0
npm vulnerabilities
98
dedicated security tests
0
accounts, sign-ups or lock-in
WHERE YOUR BACKING GOES

Shipped today → unlocked by you

The v0.1 foundation is done. Crowdfunding pays for the features creators ask for most.

✓ Shipped in v0.1 — free & open source

The working studio

  • Infinite workspace canvas with polygon panels & classic layouts
  • Reusable characters with pose / expression libraries
  • Viewport framing: one asset, every shot distance — zero regenerations
  • Speech, thought & shout bubbles, narration, tones and effects
  • Manga Agent with verified, rollback-safe runs
  • BYOK providers (Gemini, OpenAI-compatible, custom endpoints)
  • PNG export with provenance metadata
QUESTIONS, ANSWERED

Frequently asked questions

What people ask before trying an AI manga studio — straight answers, no fine print.

What is Kumanga?

Kumanga is an open-source, local-first AI manga harness — a complete manga studio that runs in your browser. AI generates reusable assets such as characters, poses and backgrounds, while you direct the story in a non-destructive editor. The creator remains the author: your API keys, your projects, your pages.

Is Kumanga free and open source?

Yes. Kumanga v0.1 is free and open source under the MIT license, and the preview is running today. A rewards-based crowdfunding campaign runs on Pozible until 29 September 2026 (all-or-nothing, AU$5,000), GoFundMe takes direct donations, and a Kickstarter campaign is in review — the core studio stays free.

Do I need an account or subscription?

No. Kumanga has zero accounts, sign-ups or lock-in. Projects and images live on your machine, not on a company cloud, and you connect AI providers with your own API key.

Which AI providers does Kumanga support?

Any compatible provider with your own key: Google Gemini, OpenAI-compatible endpoints, or a custom endpoint. You bring the key, so you choose the model and control the cost — Kumanga itself never bills you.

How is Kumanga different from other AI comic or manga generators?

Most AI comics tools generate a finished page and leave you no way to change it. Kumanga generates reusable assets — characters, poses, expressions, backgrounds — and gives you a real non-destructive editor, so you can move a character without regenerating the panel or rewrite one line of dialogue without touching the art.

Can I keep editing a page after the AI generates it?

Yes — everything stays editable. The Manga Agent plans, reuses existing assets and commits a verified, fully editable result. A deterministic verifier checks every actor placement and that dialogue is byte-exact before a run lands; failed runs roll back cleanly.

What file formats can I export?

Today: high-quality PNG at 1× or 2×, straight from the live scene graph, with provenance metadata on every generated asset. PDF, webtoon-strip and print-ready export are on the roadmap, funded by the current campaign.

Does Kumanga harvest my data?

No. Kumanga is local-first: projects and images stay on your machine. It is independent and open source — no VC, no ad model, no data harvesting — and the v0.1 codebase ships with 991 passing automated tests, including 98 dedicated security tests.

Support the launch.
Shape the future of AI manga creation.

Kumanga is independent and open source — no VC, no ad model, no data harvesting. Every contribution goes straight into building the features on the roadmap. A rewards-based crowdfunding campaign is live on Pozible until 29 September 2026 — all-or-nothing, AU$5,000 — funding PDF, webtoon and print export, multi-project management and collaboration. GoFundMe is open for direct donations, and a Kickstarter campaign is in review.

♥ Back us on Pozible Donate on GoFundMe Try it before you back it ★ Star on GitHub
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♥ Built with passion.
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