Beads Task Tracking Skill

This skill integrates Claude Code with Beads (bd), a distributed, git-backed graph issue tracker built for AI coding agents. It handles task creation, dependency tracking, and status management — with storage defaulting outside the working repo using the --db flag.

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Prerequisites

Before any operation, check if bd is installed:

which bd

If not found:

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Beads (bd) is not installed.

Install with one of:

brew install beads          # macOS/Linux — recommended (verified checksums)
npm install -g @beads/bd    # npm
go install github.com/steveyegge/beads/cmd/bd@latest  # Go

After installing, retry your request.

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Dolt (the database backend) is bundled with beads and its server is auto-started transparently — no separate installation or server management needed. After resolving BD_DB using the steps below, use bd dolt status --db "$BD_DB" to inspect it if something seems wrong, and bd doctor --db "$BD_DB" for a full health check.

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Storage Mode Detection

Run this logic once per session to determine where the beads database lives. Store the resolved $BD_DB path for use in all subsequent bd --db "$BD_DB" calls.

Step 1 — Get repo info

REPO_ROOT=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2>/dev/null || echo "$PWD")
REPO_NAME=$(basename "$REPO_ROOT")

Step 2 — In-repo mode

Check if this repo has already initialized beads:

ls "$REPO_ROOT/.beads/"*.db 2>/dev/null

If a .db file exists → use in-repo mode. Set:

BD_DB=$(ls "$REPO_ROOT/.beads/"*.db | head -1)

Inform the user:

"Using in-repo beads storage (this repo has beads initialized)."

Skip the remaining steps and proceed to Running Commands. Even though bd can auto-discover .beads/ when run from the repo root, --db "$BD_DB" is still passed explicitly for consistency and to ensure commands work regardless of the current working directory.

Step 3 — Sidecar mode (default)

Build the sidecar path keyed by repo name:

SIDECAR_DIR="$HOME/.beads/$REPO_NAME"
MARKER="$SIDECAR_DIR/.beads-repo-path"

Collision detection

If $SIDECAR_DIR already exists, check whether it belongs to this repo:

cat "$MARKER" 2>/dev/null

• Matches $REPO_ROOT → use $SIDECAR_DIR as-is
• Marker missing or mismatch → the sidecar belongs to another (or unknown) repo. Use a fallback:

# Suffix = parent directory name, e.g. /Users/alice/work/my-app → "work"
SUFFIX=$(basename "$(dirname "$REPO_ROOT")")
SIDECAR_DIR="$HOME/.beads/$REPO_NAME-$SUFFIX"

Inform the user:

"Note: Another repo named my-app has a beads sidecar. Using ~/.beads/my-app-work/ for this one (disambiguated by parent directory)."

Initialize if new

If $SIDECAR_DIR/.beads/ does not exist:

if [ ! -d "$SIDECAR_DIR/.beads" ]; then
  mkdir -p "$SIDECAR_DIR"
  if cd "$SIDECAR_DIR" && bd init -p "$REPO_NAME" -q; then
    # Write the repo path marker for future collision detection
    echo "$REPO_ROOT" > "$SIDECAR_DIR/.beads-repo-path"
  else
    echo "Error: failed to initialize beads sidecar at '$SIDECAR_DIR'." >&2
    # Do not proceed to resolve BD_DB if initialization failed
    return 1  # Intended for use inside a shell function or script
  fi
fi

Inform the user:

"Initialized beads sidecar at ~/.beads/my-app/."

Resolve the db path

BD_DB=$(ls "$SIDECAR_DIR/.beads/"*.db | head -1)

Store $BD_DB for the session — use it in every bd --db "$BD_DB" ... call.

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Running Commands

Always pass --db "$BD_DB" to every bd invocation. This ensures commands target the correct database without changing the working directory.

bd --db "$BD_DB" <command> [flags]

Session Start

At the start of a session, call bd prime to load the beads workflow context:

bd --db "$BD_DB" prime

This outputs AI-optimized workflow instructions. Read and follow them.

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Core Workflows

Show Ready Tasks (Unblocked Work)

bd --db "$BD_DB" ready --json

Lists open tasks with no active blockers. Use --json for structured output. Present as a table: ID, title, priority.

List All Tasks

bd --db "$BD_DB" list --json

Create a Task

bd --db "$BD_DB" create "Task title"
bd --db "$BD_DB" create "Task title" -p 1             # with priority (0 = highest)
bd --db "$BD_DB" create "Task title" -d "Description" # with description

For quick capture (returns only the ID — useful for scripting):

bd --db "$BD_DB" q "Task title"

View Task Details

bd --db "$BD_DB" show bd-a1b2 --json

Claim a Task (Atomic)

Atomically sets assignee + marks in-progress:

bd --db "$BD_DB" update bd-a1b2 --claim

Update Status

bd --db "$BD_DB" update bd-a1b2 --status done
bd --db "$BD_DB" update bd-a1b2 --status in_progress
bd --db "$BD_DB" update bd-a1b2 --status open

Close a Task

bd --db "$BD_DB" close bd-a1b2

Reopen a Task

bd --db "$BD_DB" reopen bd-a1b2

Add Dependencies

# child-id is blocked by parent-id
bd --db "$BD_DB" dep add bd-a1b2 bd-c3d4

Search

bd --db "$BD_DB" search "auth" --json

Show Database Location

bd --db "$BD_DB" where

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Output Formatting

Use --json for all listing commands. When presenting to the user, format as a markdown table:

| ID | Title | Priority | Status |
|----|-------|----------|--------|
| bd-a1b2 | Implement auth flow | 1 | open |
| bd-c3d4 | Write tests | 2 | in_progress |

For bd ready, note that these are unblocked and immediately actionable.

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Write Operations

All state-modifying operations (create, update, close, dep add) execute directly — no confirmation needed.

Destructive operations require confirmation before execution:

Command	What it does
bd delete bd-a1b2	Permanently deletes a task
bd gc	Decays old issues, compacts Dolt commits, runs Dolt GC
bd purge	Deletes closed ephemeral tasks
bd compact	Squashes old Dolt commits

For any of the above, use AskUserQuestion to confirm before running.

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Setup (One-Time, Optional)

To integrate beads workflow instructions into the repo's CLAUDE.md:

# From within the repo root
bd --db "$BD_DB" setup claude --stealth

This writes beads workflow reminders into the project's Claude configuration without committing beads data to the repo.

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Error Handling

bd: command not found → see Prerequisites.

Dolt connection issues → bd manages the Dolt server automatically, but if something is wrong:

bd --db "$BD_DB" dolt status    # check server state
bd --db "$BD_DB" dolt start     # start it explicitly if needed
bd --db "$BD_DB" doctor         # full health check

bd where shows wrong location → verify $BD_DB resolves to the expected path.

No .db file found in sidecar → the sidecar directory exists but bd init may not have completed. Re-run:

cd "$SIDECAR_DIR" && bd init -p "$REPO_NAME"

Two repos with same name → the collision fallback appends the parent directory. Check cat ~/.beads/<name>/.beads-repo-path to see which repo owns which sidecar. A missing marker is treated as an unknown owner — the fallback path will be used rather than risking a collision.

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Additional Resources

For all bd CLI flags and subcommands, see references/cli-commands.md. For storage mode details and multi-repo patterns, see references/storage-modes.md.