# Beadbox

> Beadbox is a native desktop GUI for the beads issue tracker. It gives developers a visual view of the work their AI coding agents are doing: dependency graphs, epic progress trees, and real-time updates across an agent fleet. Built on Tauri (not Electron). macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Beadbox is the GUI. The underlying issue tracker is **beads** (the `bd` CLI), created by Steve Yegge: https://github.com/steveyegge/beads. Beads stores every issue ("bead") in a local Dolt database — a SQL database with Git-like version control — so issue data is local-first and never leaves the machine unless the user pushes to a Dolt remote.

Typical user: a developer running one or more AI coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) who needs a real-time view of what the agent fleet is doing, where work is blocked, and how epics are progressing. The CLI (`bd`) is faster for creating and closing single issues; Beadbox is for seeing the whole picture.

## Install

- Homebrew (macOS): `brew install --cask beadbox/beadbox/beadbox`
- Requires the beads CLI first: `brew install beads`
- All downloads: https://beadbox.app/en/#download

## Product pages

- [Homepage](https://beadbox.app/en): Product overview, hero, features.
- [Beads GUI](https://beadbox.app/en/beads-gui): What Beadbox shows that the CLI can't. Dependency graphs, epic progress, live updates.
- [Beads Dashboard](https://beadbox.app/en/beads-dashboard): Real-time fleet view for teams running multiple AI coding agents.
- [Local-First Issue Tracker](https://beadbox.app/en/local-first-issue-tracker): Privacy and Dolt-backed positioning. No cloud, no accounts, no telemetry on issue data.

## Documentation

- [Getting Started](https://beadbox.app/en/docs/getting-started): Install the bd CLI and Beadbox, open your first workspace. Full quickstart.
- [Core Concepts](https://beadbox.app/en/docs/concepts): The beads data model — workspaces, beads, epics, dependencies, comments.
- [Agent Setup](https://beadbox.app/en/docs/agent-setup): Wiring AI coding agents (Claude Code, etc.) to bd so they create and update issues.
- [Custom Statuses](https://beadbox.app/en/docs/custom-statuses): Define workflow states beyond the five built-in statuses (open, in_progress, blocked, deferred, closed).
- [Keyboard Shortcuts](https://beadbox.app/en/docs/keyboard-shortcuts): Full keyboard-driven navigation reference.
- [Connecting to a Dolt Server](https://beadbox.app/en/docs/connecting-dolt-server): Multi-writer setup against a shared Dolt SQL server.

## Core blog posts

- [Why We Built Beadbox](https://beadbox.app/en/blog/why-we-built-beadbox): Motivation and origin story.
- [I Ship Software with 13 AI Agents](https://beadbox.app/en/blog/coding-with-13-agents): Concrete description of a multi-agent development workflow that depends on beads for coordination.
- [Why Project Management Tools Don't Work for AI Agents](https://beadbox.app/en/blog/why-project-management-tools-dont-work-for-ai-agents): Argument for why Jira/Linear/GitHub Issues fall short when agents are the primary writers.
- [Visualizing Dependencies Between AI Agents in Real Time](https://beadbox.app/en/blog/visualizing-dependencies-between-ai-agents-real-time): How Beadbox's dependency graph surfaces blockers across a fleet.

## Policies

- [Privacy Policy](https://beadbox.app/en/privacy): What data Beadbox and beadbox.app collect (app-usage analytics only; never issue content).
- [Terms](https://beadbox.app/en/terms): Terms of use.

## Optional

- [Local-First Issue Tracking with Dolt](https://beadbox.app/en/blog/local-first-issue-tracking-dolt-cli-integration): Deep dive on why Dolt is the right backing store for a local-first issue tracker.
- [Spec-Driven Development with Claude Code](https://beadbox.app/en/blog/spec-driven-development-claude-code): Workflow for writing specs before code when driving agents through beads.
- [How to Manage Tasks for Claude Code Agents](https://beadbox.app/en/blog/manage-tasks-claude-code-agents): Practical guide to using beads as the task queue for Claude Code.
- [Keyboard-Driven Triage & Visual Issue Tracking](https://beadbox.app/en/blog/keyboard-driven-triage-visual-issue-tracking): Power-user triage patterns in the Beadbox UI.
- [Linear Alternatives: Local-First Issue Tracking](https://beadbox.app/en/blog/linear-alternatives-local-first-issue-tracking): Comparison with cloud issue trackers.
- [beads v1: The Hard Way](https://beadbox.app/en/blog/beads-v1-the-hard-way): Engineering notes from the v1 release of the bd CLI.
- [How to Monitor Multiple Claude Code Agents](https://beadbox.app/en/blog/how-to-monitor-multiple-claude-code-agents): Operational guide for running an agent fleet.
- [Triage Blocked Tasks in Parallel Development](https://beadbox.app/en/blog/triage-blocked-tasks-parallel-development): Using the blocked-bead view to unblock agents quickly.