Advanced Features

Advanced beads functionality.

Issue Rename

Rename issues while preserving references:

bash

bd rename bd-42 bd-new-id
bd rename bd-42 bd-new-id --dry-run  # Preview

Updates:

All dependencies pointing to old ID
All references in other issues
Comments and descriptions

Issue Merge

Merge duplicate issues:

bash

bd merge bd-42 bd-43 --into bd-41
bd merge bd-42 bd-43 --into bd-41 --dry-run

What gets merged:

Dependencies → target
Text references updated across all issues
Source issues closed with merge reason

Database Compaction

Reduce database size by compacting old issues:

bash

# View compaction statistics
bd admin compact --stats

# Preview candidates (30+ days closed)
bd admin compact --analyze --json

# Apply agent-generated summary
bd admin compact --apply --id bd-42 --summary summary.txt

# Immediate deletion (CAUTION!)
bd admin cleanup --force

When to compact:

Database > 10MB with old closed issues
After major milestones
Before archiving project phase

Restore from History

View deleted or compacted issues from git:

bash

bd restore bd-42 --show
bd restore bd-42 --to-file issue.json

Database Inspection

bash

# Schema info
bd info --schema --json

# Raw database query (advanced — requires dolt sql-server running)
bd dolt sql "SELECT * FROM issues LIMIT 5"

Custom Tables

Extend the database with custom tables:

// In Go code using beads as library
storage.UnderlyingDB().Exec(`
  CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS custom_table (...)
`)

See EXTENDING.md.

Event System

Subscribe to beads events:

bash

# View recent events
bd events list --since 1h

# Watch events in real-time
bd events watch

Events:

issue.created
issue.updated
issue.closed
dependency.added
sync.completed

Batch Operations

Create Multiple

bash

# Bootstrap a new database from JSONL
bd init --from-jsonl issues.jsonl

Update Multiple

bash

bd list --status open --priority 4 --json | \
  jq -r '.[].id' | \
  xargs -I {} bd update {} --priority 3

Close Multiple

bash

bd list --label "sprint-1" --status open --json | \
  jq -r '.[].id' | \
  xargs -I {} bd close {} --reason "Sprint complete"

API Access

Use beads as a Go library:

import "github.com/steveyegge/beads/internal/storage/embeddeddolt"

store, _ := embeddeddolt.New(ctx, ".beads", "beads", "main")
defer store.Close()
issue, _ := store.GetIssue(ctx, "bd-a1b2")

Performance Tuning

Large Databases

bash

# Enable WAL mode
bd config set database.wal_mode true

# Increase cache
bd config set database.cache_size 10000

Many Concurrent Agents

Beads uses Dolt server mode to handle concurrent access from multiple agents. The server manages transaction isolation automatically.

bash

# Start the Dolt server
bd dolt start

# Check server health
bd doctor

CI/CD Optimization

In CI/CD environments, beads uses embedded mode by default (no server required):

bash

# Just run commands directly — no special flags needed
bd list