MCP Server

Use beads in MCP-only environments.

When to Use MCP

Use MCP server when CLI is unavailable:

• Claude Desktop (no shell access)
• Sourcegraph Amp without shell
• Other MCP-only environments

Prefer CLI + hooks when shell is available - it's more context efficient.

Installation

Using uv (Recommended)

uv tool install beads-mcp

Using pip

pip install beads-mcp

Configuration

Claude Desktop (macOS)

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "beads": {
      "command": "beads-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop (Windows)

Add to %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "beads": {
      "command": "beads-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Sourcegraph Amp

Add to MCP settings:

{
  "beads": {
    "command": "beads-mcp",
    "args": []
  }
}

VS Code / GitHub Copilot

Create .vscode/mcp.json in your project:

{
  "servers": {
    "beads": {
      "command": "beads-mcp"
    }
  }
}

For all projects: Add to VS Code user-level MCP config:

{
  "servers": {
    "beads": {
      "command": "beads-mcp",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Note: Requires VS Code 1.96+ with MCP support enabled.

See GitHub Copilot Integration for complete setup guide.

Available Tools

The MCP server exposes these tools:

There is no MCP sync tool — syncing stays on the CLI (bd dolt push / bd dolt pull).

Usage

Once configured, use naturally:

Create an issue for fixing the login bug with priority 1

The MCP server translates to appropriate bd commands.

Trade-offs

Troubleshooting

Server won't start

Check if beads-mcp is in PATH:

which beads-mcp

If not found:

# Reinstall
pip uninstall beads-mcp
pip install beads-mcp

Tools not appearing

1. Restart Claude Desktop
2. Check MCP config JSON syntax
3. Verify server path

Permission errors

# Check directory permissions
ls -la .beads/

# Initialize if needed
bd init --quiet

See Also

• Claude Code - CLI integration
• Installation - Full install guide