GUI for the beads issue tracker
A native desktop GUI for beads
The bd CLI is fast for creating and closing work. Beadbox is what you open when you need to see the shape of everything at once: dependency graphs, epic progress, and every agent's current task in one window.
Install with Homebrew
brew install --cask beadbox/beadbox/beadboxWhat it shows you that the CLI can't
bd list is excellent for pulling a filtered view into your terminal. But when you have forty beads across six epics with tangled dependencies, the output becomes a wall of text. You end up re-running queries trying to reconstruct the graph in your head.
Beadbox renders that graph directly. Every bead is a node. Every blocker is an edge. You see at a glance where work is stuck, which epics are actually close to done, and which dependency chains are going to bite you next week.
Visual dependency graphs
Click any bead to see what blocks it and what it blocks. Multi-level dependency chains render as an interactive tree, not a nested list of IDs.
Epic progress at a glance
Every epic shows a progress bar computed from its child beads. No manual status rollup. No stale dashboards. The tree reflects the database in real time.
Live updates from the CLI
When an agent runs bd create or bd update, Beadbox picks up the change within two seconds and re-renders. You can watch work move through your pipeline without a manual refresh.
Native, not Electron
Beadbox is built on Tauri. That means it uses your OS's built-in WebView instead of shipping Chromium, so the app launches in under a second and the installer is around 20 MB.
It runs on macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Linux (AppImage and .deb), and Windows. All from the same codebase.
Works with the bd CLI you already use
Beadbox does not replace bd. It reads the same Dolt database your CLI commands write to. You can keep using bd create, bd update, and bd close from your terminal. Beadbox just gives you a second window into the same data.
No import step. No config file. Point it at your workspace and it starts rendering.
Common questions
- Do I need the bd CLI to use Beadbox?
- Yes. Beadbox reads the database that bd manages. Install bd first (brew install beads), then install Beadbox.
- Does Beadbox replace the CLI?
- No. The CLI is faster for creating and updating single beads. Beadbox is better for seeing the whole picture. Most people use both.
- Is my data sent anywhere?
- No. Your beads live in a local Dolt database. Beadbox reads it directly. There is no account, no cloud sync, and no telemetry on your issue data.
Give your CLI a pair of eyes
If you are already running bd from the terminal, Beadbox slots in without changing anything about your workflow. Install it once, keep it open on a second monitor, and stop guessing about what your agents are doing.