diff --git a/codex/manifest/coders.nim b/codex/manifest/coders.nim
index db504617..ee876265 100644
--- a/codex/manifest/coders.nim
+++ b/codex/manifest/coders.nim
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ import ../errors
 import ../blocktype
 import ./types
 
-proc encode*(_: DagPBCoder, manifest: Manifest): ?!seq[byte] =
+proc encode*(coder: DagPBCoder, manifest: Manifest): ?!seq[byte] =
   ## Encode the manifest into a ``ManifestCodec``
   ## multicodec container (Dag-pb) for now
   ##
@@ -41,8 +41,7 @@ proc encode*(_: DagPBCoder, manifest: Manifest): ?!seq[byte] =
   #   Message ErasureInfo {
   #     optional uint32 ecK = 1;                  # number of encoded blocks
   #     optional uint32 ecM = 2;                  # number of parity blocks
-  #     optional bytes originalTreeCid = 3;       # cid of the original dataset
-  #     optional uint32 originalDatasetSize = 4;  # size of the original dataset
+  #     optional bytes originalManifest = 3;      # manifest of the original dataset
   #   }
   #   Message Header {
   #     optional bytes treeCid = 1;       # cid (root) of the tree
@@ -61,8 +60,7 @@ proc encode*(_: DagPBCoder, manifest: Manifest): ?!seq[byte] =
     var erasureInfo = initProtoBuffer()
     erasureInfo.write(1, manifest.ecK.uint32)
     erasureInfo.write(2, manifest.ecM.uint32)
-    erasureInfo.write(3, manifest.originalTreeCid.data.buffer)
-    erasureInfo.write(4, manifest.originalDatasetSize.uint32)
+    erasureInfo.write(3, ? coder.encode(manifest.originalManifest)) # TODO: fix check
     erasureInfo.finish()
 
     header.write(4, erasureInfo)
@@ -72,7 +70,7 @@ proc encode*(_: DagPBCoder, manifest: Manifest): ?!seq[byte] =
 
   return pbNode.buffer.success
 
-proc decode*(_: DagPBCoder, data: openArray[byte]): ?!Manifest =
+proc decode*(coder: DagPBCoder, data: openArray[byte]): ?!Manifest =
   ## Decode a manifest from a data blob
   ##
 
@@ -81,10 +79,9 @@ proc decode*(_: DagPBCoder, data: openArray[byte]): ?!Manifest =
     pbHeader: ProtoBuffer
     pbErasureInfo: ProtoBuffer
     treeCidBuf: seq[byte]
-    originalTreeCid: seq[byte]
+    originalManifest: Manifest
     datasetSize: uint32
     blockSize: uint32
-    originalDatasetSize: uint32
     ecK, ecM: uint32
 
   # Decode `Header` message
@@ -112,12 +109,10 @@ proc decode*(_: DagPBCoder, data: openArray[byte]): ?!Manifest =
     if pbErasureInfo.getField(2, ecM).isErr:
       return failure("Unable to decode `M` from manifest!")
 
-    if pbErasureInfo.getField(3, originalTreeCid).isErr:
-      return failure("Unable to decode `originalTreeCid` from manifest!")
-
-    if pbErasureInfo.getField(4, originalDatasetSize).isErr:
-      return failure("Unable to decode `originalDatasetSize` from manifest!")
-
+    var buffer = newSeq[byte]()
+    if pbErasureInfo.getField(3, buffer).isErr:
+      return failure("Unable to decode `originalManifest` from manifest!")
+    originalManifest = coder.decode(buffer).get # TODO: fix check
 
   let 
     treeCid = ? Cid.init(treeCidBuf).mapFailure
@@ -133,8 +128,7 @@ proc decode*(_: DagPBCoder, data: openArray[byte]): ?!Manifest =
         codec = treeCid.mcodec,
         ecK = ecK.int,
         ecM = ecM.int,
-        originalTreeCid = ? Cid.init(originalTreeCid).mapFailure,
-        originalDatasetSize = originalDatasetSize.NBytes
+        originalManifest originalManifest
       )
       else:
         Manifest.new(
diff --git a/codex/manifest/manifest.nim b/codex/manifest/manifest.nim
index 886f9ead..db7c341e 100644
--- a/codex/manifest/manifest.nim
+++ b/codex/manifest/manifest.nim
@@ -40,8 +40,7 @@ type
     of true:
       ecK: int                              # Number of blocks to encode
       ecM: int                              # Number of resulting parity blocks
-      originalTreeCid: Cid                  # The original root of the dataset being erasure coded
-      originalDatasetSize: NBytes
+      originalManifest: Manifest            # The original Manifest being erasure coded
     else:
       discard
 
@@ -73,11 +72,15 @@ proc ecK*(self: Manifest): int =
 proc ecM*(self: Manifest): int =
   self.ecM
 
+proc originalManifest*(self: Manifest): Manifest =
+  self.originalManifest
+
 proc originalTreeCid*(self: Manifest): Cid =
-  self.originalTreeCid
+  self.originalManifest.treeCid
 
 proc originalBlocksCount*(self: Manifest): int =
-  divUp(self.originalDatasetSize.int, self.blockSize.int)
+  divUp(self.originalManifest.datasetSize.int, self.blockSize.int)
+
 
 proc originalDatasetSize*(self: Manifest): NBytes =
   self.originalDatasetSize
@@ -141,8 +144,7 @@ proc `==`*(a, b: Manifest): bool =
     (if a.protected:
       (a.ecK == b.ecK) and
       (a.ecM == b.ecM) and
-      (a.originalTreeCid == b.originalTreeCid) and
-      (a.originalDatasetSize == b.originalDatasetSize)
+      (a.originalManifest == b.originalManifest)
     else:
       true)
 
@@ -157,8 +159,7 @@ proc `$`*(self: Manifest): string =
     (if self.protected:
       ", ecK: " & $self.ecK &
       ", ecM: " & $self.ecM &
-      ", originalTreeCid: " & $self.originalTreeCid &
-      ", originalDatasetSize: " & $self.originalDatasetSize
+      ", originalManifest: " & $self.originalManifest
     else:
       "")
 
@@ -205,8 +206,7 @@ proc new*(
     blockSize: manifest.blockSize,
     protected: true,
     ecK: ecK, ecM: ecM,
-    originalTreeCid: manifest.treeCid,
-    originalDatasetSize: manifest.datasetSize)
+    originalManifest: manifest)
 
 proc new*(
     T: type Manifest,
@@ -215,14 +215,7 @@ proc new*(
   ## Create an unprotected dataset from an
   ## erasure protected one
   ##
-  Manifest(
-    treeCid: manifest.originalTreeCid,
-    datasetSize: manifest.originalDatasetSize,
-    version: manifest.version,
-    codec: manifest.codec,
-    hcodec: manifest.hcodec,
-    blockSize: manifest.blockSize,
-    protected: false)
+  manifest.originalManifest
 
 proc new*(
   T: type Manifest,
@@ -243,8 +236,7 @@ proc new*(
   codec: MultiCodec,
   ecK: int,
   ecM: int,
-  originalTreeCid: Cid,
-  originalDatasetSize: NBytes
+  originalManifest: Manifest
 ): Manifest =
   Manifest(
     treeCid: treeCid,
@@ -256,6 +248,5 @@ proc new*(
     protected: true,
     ecK: ecK,
     ecM: ecM,
-    originalTreeCid: originalTreeCid,
-    originalDatasetSize: originalDatasetSize
+    originalManifest: originalManifest
   )