GitHub Copilot Integration

How to use beads with GitHub Copilot in VS Code.

Setup

Quick Setup

Install beads-mcp:
bash
```
uv tool install beads-mcp
```
Create .vscode/mcp.json in your project:
json
```
{
  "servers": {
    "beads": {
      "command": "beads-mcp"
    }
  }
}
```
For all projects: Add to VS Code user-level MCP config:

Platform Path
macOS ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/mcp.json
Linux ~/.config/Code/User/mcp.json
Windows %APPDATA%\Code\User\mcp.json
json
```
{
  "servers": {
    "beads": {
      "command": "beads-mcp",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}
```
Initialize beads:
bash
```
bd init --quiet
```
Reload VS Code

Platform	Path
macOS	`~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/mcp.json`
Linux	`~/.config/Code/User/mcp.json`
Windows	`%APPDATA%\Code\User\mcp.json`

Verify Setup

Ask Copilot Chat: "What beads issues are ready to work on?"

Using Natural Language

With MCP configured, interact naturally:

You: Create a bug for the login timeout
Copilot: Created bd-42: Login timeout bug

You: What issues are ready?
Copilot: 3 issues ready: bd-42, bd-99, bd-17

You: Close bd-42, it's fixed
Copilot: Closed bd-42

MCP Tools

Tool	Description
`beads_ready`	List unblocked issues
`beads_create`	Create new issue
`beads_show`	Show issue details
`beads_update`	Update issue
`beads_close`	Close issue
`beads_dolt_push`	Push to Dolt remote
`beads_dep_add`	Add dependency
`beads_dep_tree`	Show dependency tree

Copilot Instructions

Optionally add .github/copilot-instructions.md:

markdown

## Issue Tracking

This project uses **bd (beads)** for issue tracking.
Run `bd prime` for workflow context.

Quick reference:
- `bd ready` - Find unblocked work
- `bd create "Title" --type task --priority 2` - Create issue
- `bd close <id>` - Complete work
- `bd dolt push` - Push changes to Dolt remote

Troubleshooting

Tools not appearing

Check VS Code 1.96+
Verify mcp.json syntax is valid JSON
Reload VS Code window
Check Output panel for MCP errors

"beads-mcp not found"

bash

# Check installation
which beads-mcp

# Reinstall if needed
uv tool install beads-mcp --force

No database found