beads

Productivity

Activate beads (bd) issue tracking for persistent task memory across sessions. Use when work spans multiple sessions, has complex dependencies, or needs to survive compaction. For simple single-session linear tasks, use TodoWrite instead.

QUICK START

How to use this skill

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I want to install this Agent Skill for this project in Codex.

Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/majiayu000/claude-skill-registry/blob/HEAD/skills/productivity/beads-johnnymo87-workstation/SKILL.md

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Beads Issue Tracking

Git-backed issue tracker for persistent memory across sessions. JSONL is source of truth (committed to git), SQLite is local cache (gitignored).

Session Activation

At session start, check for ready work:

bd ready --json

Report to user: number of ready items, top priorities, any blockers worth noting.

When to Use bd vs TodoWrite

Use bd when	Use TodoWrite when
Multi-session work	Single-session tasks
Complex dependencies	Linear step-by-step
Need to survive compaction	Immediate context only
Resume after weeks away	Simple checklist

Rule of thumb: If resuming after 2 weeks would be hard without bd, use bd.

Quick Command Reference

# Check work
bd ready                    # What's unblocked
bd blocked                  # What's stuck
bd show bd-a1b2             # Full issue details

# Create (write for handoff - future Claude has no conversation context!)
bd create "Specific actionable title" -d "Full context: what, why, where" -p 2
bd q "Quick capture"        # Returns only ID

# Update as you work
bd update bd-a1b2 --status in_progress
bd update bd-a1b2 --notes "DONE: X. NEXT: Y. BLOCKER: Z"
bd update bd-a1b2 --design "Decided approach A because..."

# Close when done
bd close bd-a1b2 --reason "Completed: summary of what was done"

# Sync (usually automatic via daemon)
bd sync                     # Full cycle: export→commit→pull→push

IDs use hash format like bd-a1b2, not sequential numbers.

Write for Handoff

Every bead must be understandable by a future Claude with:

No access to this conversation
Only the bead's title, description, notes, design fields
General codebase knowledge from exploration

Anti-patterns:

"As discussed above..." (no "above" after compaction)
Vague titles only making sense in context
Assuming file paths or function names are remembered
in_progress status without notes on current state

Session End Checklist

Before ending or if context is long:

All in_progress items have current notes
Discovered work captured as new issues
Blockers documented in issue notes
Run bd sync if daemon not running

Reference Files

Topic	File
bd vs TodoWrite decision criteria	references/BOUNDARIES.md
Complete CLI with all flags	references/CLI_REFERENCE.md
Dependency types and patterns	references/DEPENDENCIES.md
Workflow walkthroughs	references/WORKFLOWS.md

Other versions

Version 2 on GitHub