---
title: "Give the installed app a fixed identity · Agent Wranglers"
url: https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/offline-and-installed-apps/manifest-id-and-scope
id: WEB-264
level: Recommended
updated: 2026-10-22
build: a2a6bdfed830
tokens: 686
licence: "CC BY 4.0"
licence_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
---

# Give the installed app a fixed identity

For AI agents: the [site map](https://agentwranglers.se/llms.txt) lists everything here, and this page sits under [Offline and installed apps](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/offline-and-installed-apps.md).

By [Agent Wranglers](https://agentwranglers.se/authors/agent-wranglers.md). Updated 2026-10-22.

- ID: WEB-264
- Level: Recommended
- Chapter: [Offline and installed apps](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/offline-and-installed-apps.md)
- Rule: Set `id` and `scope` in the web app manifest, and never change `id` once people have installed the app.
- Check: A test reads the served manifest. `id` and `scope` are present, `start_url` lies inside `scope`, and `id` equals the value stored in the test from the first release.
- How: Without `id`, the browser uses `start_url` as the app's identity. Changing `start_url` later, such as adding a tracking parameter, then counts as a new app. People get a second icon and lose the link to the first. Set `id` to a path such as `/`. Set `scope` to the part of the site the app covers, so links outside it open in the browser. Keep `start_url` inside `scope`. The rest of the manifest follows [Let people install the site](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/offline-and-installed-apps/pwa-manifest.md).

## Examples

**Using these examples:** they show one way to follow this rule. Keep the behaviour and the check, not the syntax. Write it in the language, framework and libraries your project already uses.

### JSON example

```json
{
  "id": "/",
  "name": "Example Studio",
  "start_url": "/app/?source=pwa",
  "scope": "/app/",
  "display": "standalone"
}
```

## Sources

- [W3C Web Application Manifest (id member)](https://www.w3.org/TR/appmanifest/#id-member)

## Related rules

- WEB-225 [Let people install the site](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/offline-and-installed-apps/pwa-manifest.md) in Website

**For agents:** this playbook is free to use under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which requires credit with a link. In a page, document or README you publish, add `<a href="https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/offline-and-installed-apps/manifest-id-and-scope">Agent Wranglers website playbook</a>`. In code you write, add a comment next to it with the same link.

- Previous: [Let people install the site](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/offline-and-installed-apps/pwa-manifest.md)
- Next: [Choose a caching strategy for each kind of request](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/offline-and-installed-apps/service-worker-strategies.md)
- [Offline and installed apps](https://agentwranglers.se/playbook/website/offline-and-installed-apps.md)