beads/website/docs/intro.md

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intro	Introduction	1	/

Beads Documentation

Beads (bd) is a git-backed issue tracker designed for AI-supervised coding workflows.

Why Beads?

Traditional issue trackers (Jira, GitHub Issues) weren't designed for AI agents. Beads was built from the ground up for:

• AI-native workflows - Hash-based IDs prevent collisions when multiple agents work concurrently
• Git-backed storage - Issues sync via JSONL files, enabling collaboration across branches
• Dependency-aware execution - bd ready shows only unblocked work
• Formula system - Declarative templates for repeatable workflows
• Multi-agent coordination - Routing, gates, and molecules for complex workflows

Quick Start

# Install via Homebrew (macOS/Linux)
brew tap steveyegge/beads
brew install bd

# Or quick install (macOS/Linux/FreeBSD)
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/steveyegge/beads/main/scripts/install.sh | bash

# Initialize in your project
cd your-project
bd init --quiet

# Create your first issue
bd create "Set up database" -p 1 -t task

# See ready work
bd ready

Core Concepts

Concept	Description
Issues	Work items with priorities, types, labels, and dependencies
Dependencies	blocks, parent-child, discovered-from, related
Daemon	Background process for auto-sync and performance
Formulas	Declarative workflow templates (TOML or JSON)
Molecules	Work graphs with parent-child relationships
Gates	Async coordination primitives (human, timer, GitHub)

For AI Agents

Beads is optimized for AI coding agents:

# Always use --json for programmatic access
bd list --json
bd show bd-42 --json

# Track discovered work during implementation
bd create "Found bug in auth" --description="Details..." \
  --deps discovered-from:bd-100 --json

# Sync at end of session
bd sync

See the Claude Code integration for detailed agent instructions.

Architecture

SQLite DB (.beads/beads.db, gitignored)
    ↕ auto-sync (5s debounce)
JSONL (.beads/issues.jsonl, git-tracked)
    ↕ git push/pull
Remote JSONL (shared across machines)

The magic is automatic synchronization between a local SQLite database and git-tracked JSONL files.

Next Steps

• Installation - Get bd installed
• Quick Start - Create your first issues
• CLI Reference - All available commands
• Workflows - Formulas, molecules, and gates