Beads by Steve Yegge

Distributed, git-backed graph issue tracker for AI agents. “Wake up, ask what’s next, the agent knows”

• https://steve-yegge.medium.com/introducing-beads-a-coding-agent-memory-system-

• https://github.com/steveyegge/beads

• provides a persistent, structured memory for coding agents. It replaces messy markdown plans with a dependency-aware graph

• version-controlled SQL database

• JSON output, dependency tracking

• hash-based IDs to prevent merge collisions in multi-branch workflows

• memory decay compacts/summarizes old tasks to save context

• graph links for knowledge graphs - relates_to, duplicates, supersedes

problem statement

• vibe coding currently requires constant mundane monitoring.
• Dementia problem: Coding agents have no memory between sessions

solution

• “Trapping the Devil”: Centralize a plan store
• attempted using Markdown files that referenced each other but got very messy
• pivot to issue tracker
• built a SQL-based issue tracker with a CLI for creating and updating issues

• helps agents stay on track with long plans and shifting priorities
• can kill agents after they complete each issue - Beads helps agents find where to pick up again
• acts like a managed database but writes issues into Git as JSON lines, allowing version control - AI does intelligent merging when conflicts are encountered
• naturally distributed- worker agents can work on the same project in parallel, sharing the same database backed by Git in the same project as your code
• instead of scanning a Markdown to-do list, can just run CLI command and see definitive list of unblocked work
• solves multi-agent coordination - two agents can query the same database and see what’s claimed or ready