bd - Beads
Distributed graph issue tracker for AI agents, powered by Dolt.
Platforms: macOS, Linux, Windows, FreeBSD
Docs: https://beads.gascity.com/
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.
flowchart LR
create["bd create<br/>new bead"] --> depgraph["dependency<br/>graph"]
depgraph --> ready["bd ready<br/>claimable work"]
ready --> claim["bd update --claim<br/>agent takes it"]
claim --> close["bd close<br/>work done"]
close -->|blockers released| ready
depgraph <-->|"bd dolt push / pull"| remote[("other machines<br/>and agents")]
🛠 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
| Command | Action |
|---|
bd ready | List tasks with no open blockers. |
bd create "Title" -p 0 | Create a P0 task. |
bd update <id> --claim | Atomically claim a task (sets assignee + in_progress). |
bd dep add <child> <parent> | Link tasks (blocks, related, parent-child). |
bd show <id> | View task details and audit trail. |
bd prime | Print agent workflow context and persistent memories. |
bd remember "insight" | Store project memory that bd prime injects later. |
🔗 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.
💾 Storage Modes
Beads uses Dolt as its database. Two modes:
- Embedded (default) —
bd init. Dolt runs in-process, data lives in
.beads/embeddeddolt/, single writer. Recommended for most users.
- Server —
bd init --server. Connects to an external dolt sql-server
for multiple concurrent writers; data lives in .beads/dolt/.
Cross-machine sync uses bd dolt push / bd dolt pull against
refs/dolt/data on your git remote; .beads/issues.jsonl is an export for
viewers and interchange, not the source of truth or a backup. Back up and
migrate between modes with bd backup; reclaim space with bd prune /
bd purge.
Full detail — connection flags, sockets, maintenance, backup, and migration —
in the Dolt backend guide.
Schema Version Guard
bd checks the database schema version at open time. If the database has been
migrated by a newer binary and an older binary tries to open it, bd exits
with an actionable error rather than issuing queries that fail with cryptic SQL
errors:
schema version mismatch: database is at v45, binary knows up to v42 (3 migrations ahead)
Your bd binary is stale. Queries for dropped or renamed columns will fail
with cryptic SQL errors (e.g. "column X could not be found in any table in scope").
Rebuild from main:
CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -tags gms_pure_go ./cmd/bd
Or install the latest release:
CGO_ENABLED=0 go install -tags gms_pure_go github.com/steveyegge/beads/cmd/bd@latest
To proceed despite the risk (some read commands may still work):
BD_IGNORE_SCHEMA_SKEW=1 bd <command>
bd --ignore-schema-skew <command>
When this fires: only when the database schema is ahead of the binary
(a newer binary migrated the database; this binary doesn't know those
migrations). Normal upgrades, where the binary migrates the database forward,
are unaffected.
Escape hatch: BD_IGNORE_SCHEMA_SKEW=1 (or --ignore-schema-skew) bypasses
the guard with a warning on stderr. Use this only if you know the forward
migrations are additive and safe for your specific workload.
🌐 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.
See docs/related-projects.md for adjacent or complementary projects that solve different problems in the same neighborhood.
🚀 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
📝 Documentation