37ec967619
The --stealth flag was writing absolute paths to global gitignore, but git pattern matching does not support absolute paths in gitignore files. Patterns are interpreted relative to the gitignore location, making absolute paths like /home/user/project/.beads/ never match. Fix: Use .git/info/exclude which is the git-recommended location for user-specific, per-repository ignores. Patterns here are relative to repo root, so .beads/ works correctly. Benefits: - Patterns actually work (fixes the bug) - Per-repo isolation (stealth in one repo does not affect others) - No global gitignore pollution - Follows git best practices for user-local ignores Generated with Claude Code Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
bd - Beads
Distributed, git-backed graph issue tracker for AI agents.
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 (macOS/Linux)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/steveyegge/beads/main/scripts/install.sh | bash
# Initialize (Humans run this once)
bd init
# Tell your agent
echo "Use 'bd' for task tracking" >> AGENTS.md
🛠 Features
- Git as Database: Issues stored as JSONL in
.beads/. Versioned, branched, and merged like code. - 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. - Invisible Infrastructure: SQLite local cache for speed; background daemon for auto-sync.
- Compaction: Semantic "memory decay" summarizes old closed tasks to save context window.
📖 Essential Commands
| Command | Action |
|---|---|
bd ready |
List tasks with no open blockers. |
bd create "Title" -p 0 |
Create a P0 task. |
bd dep add <child> <parent> |
Link tasks (blocks, related, parent-child). |
bd show <id> |
View task details and audit trail. |
bd quickstart |
Interactive guide for AI agents. |
🔗 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.
📦 Installation
- npm:
npm install -g @beads/bd - Homebrew:
brew install steveyegge/beads/bd - Go:
go install github.com/steveyegge/beads/cmd/bd@latest
Requirements: Linux (glibc 2.32+), macOS, or Windows.
🌐 Community Tools
- beads_viewer - Keyboard-driven terminal UI with kanban board, insights panel, and graph view. Built by @Dicklesworthstone.
- beads.el - Emacs UI to browse, edit, and manage beads. Built by @ctietze.
- beads-ui - Local web interface with live updates and kanban board.
npx beads-ui start. Built by @mantoni. - bdui - Real-time terminal UI with tree view, dependency graph, and vim-style navigation. Built by @assimelha.
- perles - Terminal UI with BQL (Beads Query Language) and multi-view kanban. Built by @zjrosen.
- vscode-beads - VS Code extension with issues panel and daemon management. Built by @jdillon.
