beads/CONFIG.md

Configuration System

bd has two complementary configuration systems:

1. Tool-level configuration (Viper): User preferences for tool behavior (flags, output format)
2. Project-level configuration (bd config): Integration data and project-specific settings

Tool-Level Configuration (Viper)

Overview

Tool preferences control how bd behaves globally or per-user. These are stored in config files or environment variables and managed by Viper.

Configuration precedence (highest to lowest):

1. Command-line flags (--json, --no-daemon, etc.)
2. Environment variables (BD_JSON, BD_NO_DAEMON, etc.)
3. Config file (~/.config/bd/config.yaml or .beads/config.yaml)
4. Defaults

Config File Locations

Viper searches for config.yaml in these locations (in order):

1. .beads/config.yaml - Project-specific tool settings (version-controlled)
2. ~/.config/bd/config.yaml - User-specific tool settings
3. ~/.beads/config.yaml - Legacy user settings

Supported Settings

Tool-level settings you can configure:

Setting	Flag	Environment Variable	Default	Description
json	--json	BD_JSON	false	Output in JSON format
no-daemon	--no-daemon	BD_NO_DAEMON	false	Force direct mode, bypass daemon
no-auto-flush	--no-auto-flush	BD_NO_AUTO_FLUSH	false	Disable auto JSONL export
no-auto-import	--no-auto-import	BD_NO_AUTO_IMPORT	false	Disable auto JSONL import
db	--db	BD_DB	(auto-discover)	Database path
actor	--actor	BD_ACTOR	$USER	Actor name for audit trail
flush-debounce	-	BEADS_FLUSH_DEBOUNCE	5s	Debounce time for auto-flush
auto-start-daemon	-	BEADS_AUTO_START_DAEMON	true	Auto-start daemon if not running

Example Config File

~/.config/bd/config.yaml:

# Default to JSON output for scripting
json: true

# Disable daemon for single-user workflows
no-daemon: true

# Custom debounce for auto-flush (default 5s)
flush-debounce: 10s

# Auto-start daemon (default true)
auto-start-daemon: true

.beads/config.yaml (project-specific):

# Project team prefers longer flush delay
flush-debounce: 15s

Why Two Systems?

Tool settings (Viper) are user preferences:

• How should I see output? (--json)
• Should I use the daemon? (--no-daemon)
• How should the CLI behave?

Project config (bd config) is project data:

• What's our Jira URL?
• What are our Linear tokens?
• How do we map statuses?

This separation is correct: tool settings are user-specific, project config is team-shared.

Agents benefit from bd config's structured CLI interface over manual YAML editing.

Project-Level Configuration (bd config)

Overview

Project configuration is:

• Per-project: Isolated to each .beads/*.db database
• Version-control-friendly: Stored in SQLite, queryable and scriptable
• Machine-readable: JSON output for automation
• Namespace-based: Organized by integration or purpose

Commands

Set Configuration

bd config set <key> <value>
bd config set --json <key> <value>  # JSON output

Examples:

bd config set jira.url "https://company.atlassian.net"
bd config set jira.project "PROJ"
bd config set jira.status_map.todo "open"

Get Configuration

bd config get <key>
bd config get --json <key>  # JSON output

Examples:

bd config get jira.url
# Output: https://company.atlassian.net

bd config get --json jira.url
# Output: {"key":"jira.url","value":"https://company.atlassian.net"}

List All Configuration

bd config list
bd config list --json  # JSON output

Example output:

Configuration:
  compact_tier1_days = 90
  compact_tier1_dep_levels = 2
  jira.project = PROJ
  jira.url = https://company.atlassian.net

JSON output:

{
  "compact_tier1_days": "90",
  "compact_tier1_dep_levels": "2",
  "jira.project": "PROJ",
  "jira.url": "https://company.atlassian.net"
}

Unset Configuration

bd config unset <key>
bd config unset --json <key>  # JSON output

Example:

bd config unset jira.url

Namespace Convention

Configuration keys use dot-notation namespaces to organize settings:

Core Namespaces

• compact_* - Compaction settings (see EXTENDING.md)
• issue_prefix - Issue ID prefix (managed by bd init)

Integration Namespaces

Use these namespaces for external integrations:

• jira.* - Jira integration settings
• linear.* - Linear integration settings
• github.* - GitHub integration settings
• custom.* - Custom integration settings

Example: Jira Integration

# Configure Jira connection
bd config set jira.url "https://company.atlassian.net"
bd config set jira.project "PROJ"
bd config set jira.api_token "YOUR_TOKEN"

# Map bd statuses to Jira statuses
bd config set jira.status_map.open "To Do"
bd config set jira.status_map.in_progress "In Progress"
bd config set jira.status_map.closed "Done"

# Map bd issue types to Jira issue types
bd config set jira.type_map.bug "Bug"
bd config set jira.type_map.feature "Story"
bd config set jira.type_map.task "Task"

Example: Linear Integration

# Configure Linear connection
bd config set linear.api_token "YOUR_TOKEN"
bd config set linear.team_id "team-123"

# Map statuses
bd config set linear.status_map.open "Backlog"
bd config set linear.status_map.in_progress "In Progress"
bd config set linear.status_map.closed "Done"

Example: GitHub Integration

# Configure GitHub connection
bd config set github.org "myorg"
bd config set github.repo "myrepo"
bd config set github.token "YOUR_TOKEN"

# Map bd labels to GitHub labels
bd config set github.label_map.bug "bug"
bd config set github.label_map.feature "enhancement"

Use in Scripts

Configuration is designed for scripting. Use --json for machine-readable output:

#!/bin/bash

# Get Jira URL
JIRA_URL=$(bd config get --json jira.url | jq -r '.value')

# Get all config and extract multiple values
bd config list --json | jq -r '.["jira.project"]'

Example Python script:

import json
import subprocess

def get_config(key):
    result = subprocess.run(
        ["bd", "config", "get", "--json", key],
        capture_output=True,
        text=True
    )
    data = json.loads(result.stdout)
    return data["value"]

def list_config():
    result = subprocess.run(
        ["bd", "config", "list", "--json"],
        capture_output=True,
        text=True
    )
    return json.loads(result.stdout)

# Use in integration
jira_url = get_config("jira.url")
jira_project = get_config("jira.project")

Best Practices

1. Use namespaces: Prefix keys with integration name (e.g., jira.*, linear.*)
2. Hierarchical keys: Use dots for structure (e.g., jira.status_map.open)
3. Document your keys: Add comments in integration scripts
4. Security: Store tokens in config, but add .beads/*.db to .gitignore (bd does this automatically)
5. Per-project: Configuration is project-specific, so each repo can have different settings

Integration with bd Commands

Some bd commands automatically use configuration:

• bd compact uses compact_tier1_days, compact_tier1_dep_levels, etc.
• bd init sets issue_prefix

External integration scripts can read configuration to sync with Jira, Linear, GitHub, etc.

See Also

• README.md - Main documentation
• EXTENDING.md - Database schema and compaction config
• examples/integrations/ - Integration examples