so is this something like core's interpretation of things like ztellman's manifold (https://github.com/clj-commons/manifold)?

EDIT:

gpt says,

Choose core.async.flow when you want a declarative, monitorable process graph over channels (pause/resume, error channel, flow monitor).

Choose Manifold when you need deferreds/streams as general primitives, precise per-op backpressure, error-aware chaining, or you’re in the Aleph/Netty stack.

very abstract but based on this, the answer is no.