From c7e1451ce6581337272a5dada83fd73994c7785e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: gastown/crew/dennis <steve.yegge@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:26:22 -0800
Subject: [PATCH] fix(polecat): ignore .beads/ files when detecting uncommitted
 work

Add CleanExcludingBeads() method that returns true if the only uncommitted
changes are .beads/ database files. These files are synced across worktrees
and shouldn't block polecat cleanup.

Fixes #516

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 internal/git/git.go         | 31 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 internal/polecat/manager.go |  4 ++--
 2 files changed, 33 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/internal/git/git.go b/internal/git/git.go
index 4fb0eac5..da59ce94 100644
--- a/internal/git/git.go
+++ b/internal/git/git.go
@@ -973,6 +973,37 @@ func (s *UncommittedWorkStatus) Clean() bool {
 	return !s.HasUncommittedChanges && s.StashCount == 0 && s.UnpushedCommits == 0
 }
 
+// CleanExcludingBeads returns true if the only uncommitted changes are .beads/ files.
+// This is useful for polecat stale detection where beads database files are synced
+// across worktrees and shouldn't block cleanup.
+func (s *UncommittedWorkStatus) CleanExcludingBeads() bool {
+	// Stashes and unpushed commits always count as uncommitted work
+	if s.StashCount > 0 || s.UnpushedCommits > 0 {
+		return false
+	}
+
+	// Check if all modified files are beads files
+	for _, f := range s.ModifiedFiles {
+		if !isBeadsPath(f) {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+
+	// Check if all untracked files are beads files
+	for _, f := range s.UntrackedFiles {
+		if !isBeadsPath(f) {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+
+	return true
+}
+
+// isBeadsPath returns true if the path is a .beads/ file.
+func isBeadsPath(path string) bool {
+	return strings.Contains(path, ".beads/") || strings.Contains(path, ".beads\\")
+}
+
 // String returns a human-readable summary of uncommitted work.
 func (s *UncommittedWorkStatus) String() string {
 	var issues []string
diff --git a/internal/polecat/manager.go b/internal/polecat/manager.go
index ed54557a..a761845e 100644
--- a/internal/polecat/manager.go
+++ b/internal/polecat/manager.go
@@ -1021,9 +1021,9 @@ func (m *Manager) DetectStalePolecats(threshold int) ([]*StalenessInfo, error) {
 		polecatGit := git.NewGit(p.ClonePath)
 		info.CommitsBehind = countCommitsBehind(polecatGit, defaultBranch)
 
-		// Check for uncommitted work
+		// Check for uncommitted work (excluding .beads/ files which are synced across worktrees)
 		status, err := polecatGit.CheckUncommittedWork()
-		if err == nil && !status.Clean() {
+		if err == nil && !status.CleanExcludingBeads() {
 			info.HasUncommittedWork = true
 		}