bd - Beads

Distributed graph issue tracker for AI agents, powered by Dolt.

Platforms: macOS, Linux, Windows, FreeBSD

Beads provides a persistent, structured memory for coding agents. It replaces messy markdown plans with a dependency-aware graph, allowing agents to handle long-horizon tasks without losing context.

⚡ Quick Start

# Install beads CLI (system-wide - don't clone this repo into your project)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/steveyegge/beads/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

# Initialize in YOUR project
cd your-project
bd init

# Tell your agent
echo "Use 'bd' for task tracking" >> AGENTS.md

Note: Beads is a CLI tool you install once and use everywhere. You don't need to clone this repository into your project.

🛠 Features

• Dolt-Powered: Version-controlled SQL database with cell-level merge, native branching, and built-in sync via Dolt remotes.
• Agent-Optimized: JSON output, dependency tracking, and auto-ready task detection.
• Zero Conflict: Hash-based IDs (bd-a1b2) prevent merge collisions in multi-agent/multi-branch workflows.
• Compaction: Semantic "memory decay" summarizes old closed tasks to save context window.
• Messaging: Message issue type with threading (--thread), ephemeral lifecycle, and mail delegation.
• Graph Links: relates_to, duplicates, supersedes, and replies_to for knowledge graphs.

📖 Essential Commands

🔗 Hierarchy & Workflow

Beads supports hierarchical IDs for epics:

• bd-a3f8 (Epic)
• bd-a3f8.1 (Task)
• bd-a3f8.1.1 (Sub-task)

Stealth Mode: Run bd init --stealth to use Beads locally without committing files to the main repo. Perfect for personal use on shared projects. See Git-Free Usage below.

Contributor vs Maintainer: When working on open-source projects:

• Contributors (forked repos): Run bd init --contributor to route planning issues to a separate repo (e.g., ~/.beads-planning). Keeps experimental work out of PRs.
• Maintainers (write access): Beads auto-detects maintainer role via SSH URLs or HTTPS with credentials. Only need git config beads.role maintainer if using GitHub HTTPS without credentials but you have write access.

📦 Installation

• npm: npm install -g @beads/bd
• Homebrew: brew install beads
• Go: go install github.com/steveyegge/beads/cmd/bd@latest

Requirements: Linux, FreeBSD, macOS, or Windows.

Building from Source

Building from source requires CGO (a C compiler). The embedded Dolt engine links against C libraries.

# Install dependencies
# macOS: xcode-select --install && brew install icu4c
# Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt install build-essential
# Fedora: sudo dnf install gcc gcc-c++

# Build and install
make install

CGO_ENABLED=1 is set automatically by the Makefile. On macOS, Homebrew's icu4c paths are detected automatically. On Windows, MinGW or MSYS2 provides the C compiler (ICU is not required — a pure-Go fallback is used).

Security And Verification

Before trusting any downloaded binary, verify its checksum against the release checksums.txt.

The install scripts verify release checksums before install. For manual installs, do this verification yourself before first run.

On macOS, scripts/install.sh preserves the downloaded signature by default. Local ad-hoc re-signing is explicit opt-in via BEADS_INSTALL_RESIGN_MACOS=1.

See docs/ANTIVIRUS.md for Windows AV false-positive guidance and verification workflow.

💾 Storage Modes

Beads uses Dolt as its database. Two modes are available:

Embedded Mode (default)

bd init

Dolt runs in-process — no external server needed. Data lives in .beads/embeddeddolt/. Single-writer only (file locking enforced). This is the recommended mode for most users.

Server Mode

bd init --server

Connects to an external dolt sql-server. Data lives in .beads/dolt/. Supports multiple concurrent writers. Configure the connection with flags or environment variables:

Backup & Migration

Back up your database and migrate between modes using bd backup:

# Set up a backup destination and push
bd backup init /path/to/backup
bd backup sync

# Restore into a new project (any mode)
bd init           # or bd init --server
bd backup restore --force /path/to/backup

See docs/DOLT.md for full migration instructions.

🌐 Community Tools

See docs/COMMUNITY_TOOLS.md for a curated list of community-built UIs, extensions, and integrations—including terminal interfaces, web UIs, editor extensions, and native apps.

🚀 Git-Free Usage

Beads works without git. The Dolt database is the storage backend — git integration (hooks, repo discovery, identity) is optional.

# Initialize without git
export BEADS_DIR=/path/to/your/project/.beads
bd init --quiet --stealth

# All core commands work with zero git calls
bd create "Fix auth bug" -p 1 -t bug
bd ready --json
bd update bd-a1b2 --claim
bd prime
bd close bd-a1b2 "Fixed"

BEADS_DIR tells bd where to put the .beads/ database directory, bypassing git repo discovery. --stealth sets no-git-ops: true in config, disabling all git hook installation and git operations.

This is useful for:

• Non-git VCS (Sapling, Jujutsu, Piper) — no .git/ directory needed
• Monorepos — point BEADS_DIR at a specific subdirectory
• CI/CD — isolated task tracking without repo-level side effects
• Evaluation/testing — ephemeral databases in /tmp

For daemon mode without git, use bd daemon start --local (see PR #433).

📝 Documentation

• Installing | Agent Workflow | Copilot Setup | Articles | Sync Branch Mode | Troubleshooting | FAQ
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