# Beads - A memory upgrade for your coding agent - Host: [github.com](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/hosts/github.com/) - Saved: October 16, 2025 (2025-10-16T16:13:25Z) - Record: https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/36b99d6c1b0c/ - JSON: https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/36b99d6c1b0c.json ## What Jamie wrote New project from Steve Yegge that seems pretty wild on first blush. > Beads is a lightweight memory system for coding agents, using a graph-based issue tracker. Four kinds of dependencies work to chain your issues together like beads, making them easy for agents to follow for long distances, and reliably perform complex task streams in the right order. If you aren't close to software development let me just highlight that all software of any size uses an issue tracker of some sort. Think of it like a database that has probably thousands of issues — features, bugs, stories, what have you that are all work "to be done" on a code base. They often have all sorts of metadata. This is key to getting several developers organized to build something. There has been a ton of work via MCP to get coding agents access to these databases so they can better work alongside developers. I've mused for a while that I wonder if that isn't all backwards and in reality the developers and people should just move into the code. Create a `stories` directory and write away. This is now labeled spec-driven development. Beads is a whole different thing and instead is an issue tracker built for agents. It is a novel approach and notable because it in effect relieves context window issues from your agents — just like people. Developers use issue trackers because you cannot possibly remember all this stuff. Same thing for agents. But instead give the agent a super-fast local data store that is command-line available. > You don't use Beads directly as a human. Your coding agent will file and manage issues on your behalf. They'll file things they notice automatically, and you can ask them at any time to add or update issues for you. > > Beads gives agents unprecedented long-term planning capability, solving their amnesia when dealing with complex nested plans. They can trivially query the ready work, orient themselves, and land on their feet as soon as they boot up. He also wrote a [full introduction](https://steve-yegge.medium.com/introducing-beads-a-coding-agent-memory-system-637d7d92514a) and an article about [how he built it](https://steve-yegge.medium.com/the-beads-revolution-how-i-built-the-todo-system-that-ai-agents-actually-want-to-use-228a5f9be2a9). Fascinating stuff! ## Facts - Kind: [Repository](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/kinds/repository/) - Repository: gastownhall/beads: Beads - A memory upgrade for your coding agent - About the repository: Go, 28,155 stars, MIT, last push October 23, 2026 - Homepage: ## Appears in - [WT330: Weekly Thing 330 / Music, Intervals, Nanochat](https://weekly.thingelstad.com/archive/330/), Notable ## Same host - [container: A tool for creating and running Linux containers using lightweight virtual machines on a Mac](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/f6b90900bc49/) (github.com, October 1, 2025) - [ai-agents-for-beginners: 12 Lessons to Get Started Building AI Agents](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/94985b3bfb1f/) (github.com, October 1, 2025) - [nanochat: The best ChatGPT that $100 can buy.](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/971dc80d2487/) (github.com, October 16, 2025) - [srssly: Minimalistic RSS server and ui](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/52b9f2dc6816/) (github.com, October 28, 2025) - [toon: 🎒 Token-Oriented Object Notation – JSON for LLMs at half the token cost](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/d7d36c1f4421/) (github.com, October 29, 2025) ## Saved the same week - [The Great De-Leveraging: Friday Flash Crash - Tanay Ved](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/6e650bd543fe/) (coinmetrics.substack.com, October 16, 2025) - [LLMs As Conduits for Data Portability Between Apps - MacStories](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/597d9e963728/) (macstories.net, October 16, 2025) - [Why Signal’s post-quantum makeover is an amazing engineering achievement - Ars Technica](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/b16ea636b3dc/) (arstechnica.com, October 16, 2025) - [nanochat: The best ChatGPT that $100 can buy.](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/971dc80d2487/) (github.com, October 16, 2025) - [Switch to Jujutsu already: a tutorial - Stavros' Stuff](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/8304f6d03d74/) (stavros.io, October 16, 2025) ## Elsewhere - Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://github.com/steveyegge/beads