diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index f109ac8..69c4156 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -290,6 +290,26 @@ dependencies = [
  "generic-array",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "dirs"
+version = "3.0.2"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "30baa043103c9d0c2a57cf537cc2f35623889dc0d405e6c3cccfadbc81c71309"
+dependencies = [
+ "dirs-sys",
+]
+
+[[package]]
+name = "dirs-sys"
+version = "0.3.6"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "03d86534ed367a67548dc68113a0f5db55432fdfbb6e6f9d77704397d95d5780"
+dependencies = [
+ "libc",
+ "redox_users",
+ "winapi",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "discard"
 version = "1.0.4"
@@ -1198,6 +1218,16 @@ dependencies = [
  "redox_syscall",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "redox_users"
+version = "0.4.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "528532f3d801c87aec9def2add9ca802fe569e44a544afe633765267840abe64"
+dependencies = [
+ "getrandom 0.2.2",
+ "redox_syscall",
+]
+
 [[package]]
 name = "regex"
 version = "1.4.5"
@@ -1637,6 +1667,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "base64",
  "clap",
  "cookie",
+ "dirs",
  "hmac-sha1",
  "lazy_static 1.4.0",
  "log",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 8026e97..1f893f3 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -33,3 +33,4 @@ lazy_static = "1.4.0"
 uuid = { version = "0.8", features = ["v4"] }
 termion = "1.5.6"
 steamguard = { path = "./steamguard" }
+dirs = "3.0.2"
diff --git a/src/accountmanager.rs b/src/accountmanager.rs
index 537b86d..6105a96 100644
--- a/src/accountmanager.rs
+++ b/src/accountmanager.rs
@@ -10,11 +10,17 @@ use steamguard::SteamGuardAccount;
 pub struct Manifest {
 	pub encrypted: bool,
 	pub entries: Vec<ManifestEntry>,
+	/// Not implemented, kept for compatibility with SDA.
 	pub first_run: bool,
+	/// Not implemented, kept for compatibility with SDA.
 	pub periodic_checking: bool,
+	/// Not implemented, kept for compatibility with SDA.
 	pub periodic_checking_interval: i32,
+	/// Not implemented, kept for compatibility with SDA.
 	pub periodic_checking_checkall: bool,
+	/// Not implemented, kept for compatibility with SDA.
 	pub auto_confirm_market_transactions: bool,
+	/// Not implemented, kept for compatibility with SDA.
 	pub auto_confirm_trades: bool,
 
 	#[serde(skip)]
@@ -32,8 +38,34 @@ pub struct ManifestEntry {
 	pub steam_id: u64,
 }
 
+impl Default for Manifest {
+	fn default() -> Self {
+		Manifest {
+			encrypted: false,
+			entries: vec![],
+			first_run: false,
+			periodic_checking: false,
+			periodic_checking_interval: 0,
+			periodic_checking_checkall: false,
+			auto_confirm_market_transactions: false,
+			auto_confirm_trades: false,
+
+			accounts: vec![],
+			folder: "".into(),
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 impl Manifest {
-	pub fn load(path: &Path) -> anyhow::Result<Manifest> {
+	/// `path` should be the path to manifest.json
+	pub fn new(path: &Path) -> Self {
+		Manifest {
+			folder: String::from(path.parent().unwrap().to_str().unwrap()),
+			..Default::default()
+		}
+	}
+
+	pub fn load(path: &Path) -> anyhow::Result<Self> {
 		debug!("loading manifest: {:?}", &path);
 		let file = File::open(path)?;
 		let reader = BufReader::new(file);
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 96e55b6..ae7cecd 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ use termion::{
 extern crate lazy_static;
 #[macro_use]
 extern crate anyhow;
+extern crate dirs;
 mod accountmanager;
 
 lazy_static! {
@@ -57,7 +58,7 @@ fn main() {
 				.long("mafiles-path")
 				.short("m")
 				.default_value("~/maFiles")
-				.help("Specify which folder your maFiles are in.")
+				.help("Specify which folder your maFiles are in. This should be a path to a folder that contains manifest.json.")
 		)
 		.arg(
 			Arg::with_name("passkey")
@@ -116,15 +117,39 @@ fn main() {
 		return;
 	}
 
-	let path = Path::new(matches.value_of("mafiles-path").unwrap()).join("manifest.json");
+	let mafiles_dir = if matches.occurrences_of("mafiles-path") > 0 {
+		matches.value_of("mafiles-path").unwrap().into()
+	} else {
+		get_mafiles_dir()
+	};
+	info!("reading manifest from {}", mafiles_dir);
+	let path = Path::new(&mafiles_dir).join("manifest.json");
 	let mut manifest: accountmanager::Manifest;
-	match accountmanager::Manifest::load(path.as_path()) {
-		Ok(m) => {
-			manifest = m;
+	if !path.exists() {
+		error!("Did not find manifest in {}", mafiles_dir);
+		print!(
+			"Would you like to create a manifest in {} ? [Yn] ",
+			mafiles_dir
+		);
+		match prompt().to_lowercase().as_str() {
+			"n" => {
+				info!("Aborting!");
+				return;
+			}
+			_ => {}
 		}
-		Err(e) => {
-			error!("Could not load manifest: {}", e);
-			return;
+		std::fs::create_dir_all(mafiles_dir).expect("failed to create directory");
+
+		manifest = accountmanager::Manifest::new(path.as_path());
+	} else {
+		match accountmanager::Manifest::load(path.as_path()) {
+			Ok(m) => {
+				manifest = m;
+			}
+			Err(e) => {
+				error!("Could not load manifest: {}", e);
+				return;
+			}
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -657,3 +682,18 @@ fn demo_confirmation_menu() {
 	]);
 	println!("accept: {}, deny: {}", accept.len(), deny.len());
 }
+
+fn get_mafiles_dir() -> String {
+	let paths = vec![
+		Path::new(&dirs::config_dir().unwrap()).join("steamguard-cli/maFiles"),
+		Path::new(&dirs::home_dir().unwrap()).join("maFiles"),
+	];
+
+	for path in &paths {
+		if path.join("manifest.json").is_file() {
+			return path.to_str().unwrap().into();
+		}
+	}
+
+	return paths[0].to_str().unwrap().into();
+}