When should I choose to use a 'Bead' over a simple checklist?

Use Beads (bd) for any work that will span more than one session, has complex dependencies, or contains context you will need to recover in the future.

Do I need to install anything locally to use the Beads skill?

Yes, Beads requires the 'bd' CLI (v0.47.0+) to be installed in your PATH and initialized within a Git repository.

Can Beads be used for team collaboration?

Yes. Because Beads is Git-backed, you can use the 'bd sync' command to push and pull task states, allowing multiple team members and AI agents to stay aligned.

How does Beads differ from the standard TodoWrite tool?

TodoWrite is ephemeral and scoped to a single conversation. Beads is Git-backed and persistent, meaning it survives across multiple sessions and conversation compaction.

What is conversation compaction and how does Beads help?

Compaction occurs when an AI's context window reaches its limit and old information is discarded. Beads prevents context loss by storing task data in your local Git repository rather than just the chat history.

Beads Persistent Task Memory

Name: Beads Persistent Task Memory
Author: steveyegge

bysteveyegge

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11,680

Productivity & Workflow

Provides a Git-backed, graph-based issue tracker that grants AI agents persistent memory across multiple sessions and conversation compaction.

About

Beads acts as a specialized memory upgrade for Claude, solving the problem of context loss during long-running projects. While standard task lists are ephemeral and die with the session, Beads uses a Git-backed infrastructure to maintain a persistent 'source of truth' for complex development workflows. It allows Claude to track deep dependency graphs, manage blockers, and recover project state even after conversation compaction or multi-day breaks. By integrating directly with the developer's Git repository, it ensures that task progress is synchronized across teams and survives the technical limitations of LLM context windows.

Key Features

Molecules and Chemistry patterns for defining and deploying repeatable task templates.
11,680 GitHub stars
Git-backed persistence ensures task data survives across different sessions and devices.
Async Gates for managing human-in-the-loop blockers and review requirements.
Graph-based dependency tracking for managing complex, non-linear development workflows.
Compaction-resistant memory that stores critical project context outside the chat history.

Use Cases

Maintaining development continuity when switching between different feature branches or worktrees.
Executing multi-day architectural refactors that require tracking dozens of interdependent sub-tasks.
Collaborative AI-human project management where task state must be shared via Git sync.

About

Key Features

Molecules and Chemistry patterns for defining and deploying repeatable task templates.
11,680 GitHub stars
Git-backed persistence ensures task data survives across different sessions and devices.
Async Gates for managing human-in-the-loop blockers and review requirements.
Graph-based dependency tracking for managing complex, non-linear development workflows.
Compaction-resistant memory that stores critical project context outside the chat history.

Use Cases

Maintaining development continuity when switching between different feature branches or worktrees.
Executing multi-day architectural refactors that require tracking dozens of interdependent sub-tasks.
Collaborative AI-human project management where task state must be shared via Git sync.