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Claude Code Integration

How to use beads with Claude Code.

Setup​

Quick Setup​

bd setup claude

This installs:

  • SessionStart hook - Runs bd prime on session start
  • PreCompact hook - Runs bd sync before context compaction

Manual Setup​

Add to your Claude Code hooks configuration:

{
  "hooks": {
    "SessionStart": ["bd prime"],
    "PreCompact": ["bd sync"]
  }
}

Verify Setup​

bd setup claude --check

How It Works​

  1. Session starts → bd prime injects ~1-2k tokens of context
  2. You work → Use bd CLI commands directly
  3. Session compacts → bd sync saves work to git
  4. Session ends → Changes synced via git

Essential Commands for Agents​

Creating Issues​

# Always include description for context
bd create "Fix authentication bug" \
  --description="Login fails with special characters in password" \
  -t bug -p 1 --json

# Link discovered issues
bd create "Found SQL injection" \
  --description="User input not sanitized in query builder" \
  --deps discovered-from:bd-42 --json

Working on Issues​

# Find ready work
bd ready --json

# Start work
bd update bd-42 --status in_progress --json

# Complete work
bd close bd-42 --reason "Fixed in commit abc123" --json

Querying​

# List open issues
bd list --status open --json

# Show issue details
bd show bd-42 --json

# Check blocked issues
bd blocked --json

Syncing​

# ALWAYS run at session end
bd sync

Best Practices​

Always Use --json​

bd list --json          # Parse programmatically
bd create "Task" --json # Get issue ID from output
bd show bd-42 --json    # Structured data

Always Include Descriptions​

# Good
bd create "Fix auth bug" \
  --description="Login fails when password contains quotes" \
  -t bug -p 1 --json

# Bad - no context for future work
bd create "Fix auth bug" -t bug -p 1 --json
# When you discover issues during work
bd create "Found related bug" \
  --deps discovered-from:bd-current --json

Sync Before Session End​

# ALWAYS run before ending
bd sync

Plugin (Optional)​

For enhanced UX with slash commands:

# In Claude Code
/plugin marketplace add steveyegge/beads
/plugin install beads
# Restart Claude Code

Adds slash commands:

  • /beads:ready - Show ready work
  • /beads:create - Create issue
  • /beads:show - Show issue
  • /beads:update - Update issue
  • /beads:close - Close issue

Troubleshooting​

Context not injected​

# Check hook setup
bd setup claude --check

# Manually prime
bd prime

Changes not syncing​

# Force sync
bd sync

# Check system health
bd doctor

Database not found​

# Initialize beads
bd init --quiet

See Also​