Beads Issue Tracking Skill

Attribution: Beads by Steve Yegge

Description

Beads is a git-backed, AI-native issue tracking system. This skill helps AI agents work with Beads effectively.

When to Use

• Starting a new work session (bd prime → bd ready)
• Creating, updating, or closing issues
• Managing task dependencies
• Running workflow formulas
• Coordinating multi-session work

Quick Reference

Session Workflow

# START
bd prime                    # Inject context
bd ready                    # Find available work

# WORK
bd update ID --status in_progress  # Take task
# ... implement ...
bd close ID --reason "Done"        # Complete task
/push patch                        # Commit

# END (MANDATORY!)
bd sync
git push

Issue Creation

# Basic
bd create "Title" -t type -p priority

# With files (auto-labels)
bd create "Fix button" --files src/components/Button.tsx

# Emergent work
bd create "Found bug" -t bug --deps discovered-from:current-id

Types & Priorities

Formulas (Workflows)

bd formula list                                    # List all
bd mol wisp exploration --vars "question=How?"    # Ephemeral
bd mol pour bigfeature --vars "feature_name=auth" # Persistent
bd mol squash WISP_ID                             # Save result
bd mol burn WISP_ID                               # Discard

Resources

See resources/ for detailed guides:

• COMMANDS_QUICKREF.md - Command cheat sheet
• DECISION_MATRIX.md - When to use what
• WORKFLOWS.md - Common workflows
• SPECKIT_BRIDGE.md - Integration with Spec-kit

Integration with Spec-kit

For large features (>1 day):

1. /speckit.specify → requirements
2. /speckit.plan → design
3. /speckit.tasks → task breakdown
4. /speckit.tobeads → import to Beads
5. bd ready → work with Beads

Links

• Beads GitHub
• CLI Reference