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": []
  }
}

Available Tools

The MCP server exposes these tools:

Tool	Description
beads_create	Create new issue
beads_list	List issues
beads_show	Show issue details
beads_update	Update issue
beads_close	Close issue
beads_ready	Show ready work
beads_sync	Sync to git
beads_dep_add	Add dependency
beads_dep_tree	Show dependency tree

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

Aspect	CLI + Hooks	MCP Server
Context overhead	~1-2k tokens	10-50k tokens
Latency	Direct calls	MCP protocol
Setup	Hooks config	MCP config
Availability	Shell required	MCP environments

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