Beads - Persistent Task Memory for AI Agents

Graph-based issue tracker that survives conversation compaction.

Overview

bd and br (beads_rust) replace markdown task lists with a dependency-aware graph stored in git. bv adds graph-aware triage using PageRank and betweenness centrality.

Key Distinction:

• bd/br: Multi-session work, dependencies, survives compaction, git-backed
• bv: Graph analysis, priority triage, bottleneck detection, parallel execution planning
• Task tools (TaskCreate/TaskUpdate/TaskList): Single-session tasks, status tracking, conversation-scoped

Decision Rule: If resuming in 2 weeks would be hard without bd, use bd.

br vs bd: br is the Rust rewrite. Commands are the same except: br never auto-commits (git is your job), and bd sync becomes br sync --flush-only. Use whichever is installed.

bv safety: NEVER run bare bv — it launches interactive TUI and blocks the terminal. Always use --robot-* flags.

Don't re-learn the command surface here. bd --help / br --help (and per-subcommand --help) self-describe every command and flag — run them before specifying enforcement commands; compose primitives, don't invent (composition-over-invention.md). Full catalogs ship in CLI_REFERENCE.md (bd), BR_REFERENCE.md (br), and BV_TRIAGE.md (bv robot flags). This skill carries the operating doctrine.