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Generated from bd help --doc bootstrap. Bootstrap sets up the beads database without destroying existing data. Unlike ‘bd init —force’, bootstrap will never delete existing issues. Bootstrap auto-detects the right action: • If sync.remote is configured: clones from the remote • If git origin has Dolt data (refs/dolt/data): clones from git and wires origin for future push/pull • If .beads/backup/*.jsonl exists: restores from backup • If .beads/issues.jsonl exists: imports from git-tracked JSONL • If no database exists: creates a fresh one • If database already exists: validates and reports status This is the recommended command for: • Setting up beads on a fresh clone • Recovering after moving to a new machine • Repairing a broken database configuration Non-interactive mode (—non-interactive, —yes/-y, or BD_NON_INTERACTIVE=1): Skips the confirmation prompt before executing the bootstrap plan. Also auto-detected when stdin is not a terminal or CI=true is set. Examples: bd bootstrap # Auto-detect and set up bd bootstrap —dry-run # Show what would be done bd bootstrap —json # Output plan as JSON bd bootstrap —yes # Skip confirmation prompt
bd bootstrap [flags]
Flags:
      --dry-run           Show what would be done without doing it
      --non-interactive   Alias for --yes
  -y, --yes               Skip confirmation prompts (for CI/automation)