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This guide helps you adopt beads’ multi-repo workflow for OSS contributions, team collaboration, and multi-phase development.

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Quick Start

Already have beads installed? Jump to your scenario: New to beads? See Quick Start first.

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What is Multi-Repo Mode?

By default, beads stores issues in its Dolt database under .beads/ in your current repository (.beads/embeddeddolt/ in the default embedded mode). Multi-repo mode lets you:
  • Route issues to different repositories based on your role (maintainer vs. contributor)
  • Aggregate issues from multiple repos into a unified view
  • Keep contributor planning separate from upstream projects
  • Maintain data integrity everywhere - Dolt version control in every repo

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When Do You Need Multi-Repo?

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You DON’T need multi-repo if:

  • ✅ Working solo on your own project
  • ✅ Team with shared repository and trust model
  • ✅ All issues belong in the project’s git history

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You DO need multi-repo if:

  • 🔴 Contributing to OSS - don’t pollute upstream with planning
  • 🔴 Fork workflow - planning shouldn’t appear in PRs
  • 🔴 Multiple work phases - design vs. implementation repos
  • 🔴 Multiple personas - architect planning vs. implementer tasks

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Core Concepts

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1. Source Repository (source_repo)

Every issue has a source_repo field indicating which repository owns it: 
{"id":"bd-abc","source_repo":".","title":"Core issue"}
{"id":"bd-xyz","source_repo":"~/.beads-planning","title":"Planning issue"}
  • . = Current repository (default)
  • ~/.beads-planning = Contributor planning repo
  • /path/to/repo = Absolute path to another repo

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2. Auto-Routing

Beads automatically routes new issues to the right repository based on your role: 
# Maintainer (has SSH push access)
bd create "Fix bug" -p 1
# → Creates in current repo (source_repo = ".")

# Contributor (HTTPS or no push access)
bd create "Fix bug" -p 1  
# → Creates in ~/.beads-planning (source_repo = "~/.beads-planning")

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3. Multi-Repo Hydration

Beads can aggregate issues from multiple repositories into a unified database: 
bd list --json
# Shows issues from:
# - Current repo (.)
# - Planning repo (~/.beads-planning)
# - Any configured additional repos

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OSS Contributor Workflow

Problem: You’re contributing to an OSS project but don’t want your experimental planning to appear in PRs. Solution: Use a separate planning repository that’s never committed to upstream.

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Setup (One-Time)

# 1. Fork and clone the upstream project
git clone https://github.com/you/project.git
cd project

# 2. Initialize beads (if not already done)
bd init

# 3. Run the contributor setup wizard
bd init --contributor

# The wizard will:
# - Detect that you're in a fork (checks for 'upstream' remote)
# - Prompt you to create a planning repo (~/.beads-planning by default)
# - Configure auto-routing (contributor → planning repo)
# - Set up multi-repo hydration

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Manual Configuration

If you prefer manual setup: 
# 1. Create planning repository
mkdir -p ~/.beads-planning
cd ~/.beads-planning
git init
bd init --prefix plan

# 2. Configure routing in your fork
cd ~/projects/project
bd config set routing.mode auto
bd config set routing.contributor "~/.beads-planning"

# 3. Add planning repo to hydration sources
bd config set repos.additional "~/.beads-planning"

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Daily Workflow

# Work in your fork
cd ~/projects/project

# Create planning issues (auto-routed to ~/.beads-planning)
bd create "Investigate auth implementation" -p 1
bd create "Draft RFC for new feature" -p 2

# View all issues (current repo + planning repo)
bd ready
bd list --json

# Work on an issue
bd update plan-42 --claim

# Complete work
bd close plan-42 --reason "Completed"

# Create PR - your planning issues never appear!
git add .
git commit -m "Fix authentication bug"
git push origin my-feature-branch
# ✅ PR only contains code changes, no .beads/ pollution

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Proposing Issues Upstream

If you want to share a planning issue with upstream: 
# Option 1: Manually copy issue to upstream repo
bd show plan-42 --json > /tmp/issue.json
# (Send to maintainers or create GitHub issue)

# Option 2: Migrate issue (future feature, see bd-mlcz)
bd migrate plan-42 --to . --dry-run
bd migrate plan-42 --to .

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Team Workflow

Problem: Team members working on shared repository with branches, but different levels of planning granularity. Solution: Use branch-based workflow with optional personal planning repos.

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Setup (Team Lead)

# 1. Initialize beads in main repo
cd ~/projects/team-project
bd init --prefix team

# 2. Run team setup wizard  
bd init --team

# The wizard will:
# - Detect shared repository (SSH push access)
# - Configure auto-routing (maintainer → current repo)
# - Set up protected branch workflow (if using GitHub/GitLab)
# - Create example workflows

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Setup (Team Member)

# 1. Clone team repo
git clone git@github.com:team/project.git
cd project

# 2. Beads auto-detects you're a maintainer (SSH access)
bd create "Implement feature X" -p 1
# → Creates in current repo (team-123)

# 3. Optional: Create personal planning repo for experiments
mkdir -p ~/.beads-planning-personal
cd ~/.beads-planning-personal
git init
bd init --prefix exp

# 4. Configure multi-repo in team project
cd ~/projects/project
bd config set repos.additional "~/.beads-planning-personal"

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Daily Workflow

# Shared team planning (committed to repo)
bd create "Implement auth" -p 1 --repo .
# → team-42 (visible to entire team)

# Personal experiments (not committed to team repo)
bd create "Try alternative approach" -p 2 --repo ~/.beads-planning-personal
# → exp-99 (private planning)

# View all work
bd ready
bd list --json

# Complete team work and sync
bd dolt push

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Multi-Phase Development

Problem: Project has distinct phases (planning, implementation, maintenance) that need separate issue spaces. Solution: Use separate repositories for each phase.

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Setup

# 1. Create phase repositories
mkdir -p ~/projects/myapp-planning
mkdir -p ~/projects/myapp-implementation
mkdir -p ~/projects/myapp-maintenance

# 2. Initialize each phase
cd ~/projects/myapp-planning
git init
bd init --prefix plan

cd ~/projects/myapp-implementation  
git init
bd init --prefix impl

cd ~/projects/myapp-maintenance
git init
bd init --prefix maint

# 3. Configure aggregation in main workspace
cd ~/projects/myapp-implementation
bd config set repos.additional "~/projects/myapp-planning,~/projects/myapp-maintenance"

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Workflow

# Phase 1: Planning
cd ~/projects/myapp-planning
bd create "Design auth system" -p 1 -t epic
bd create "Research OAuth providers" -p 1

# Phase 2: Implementation (view planning + implementation issues)
cd ~/projects/myapp-implementation
bd ready  # Shows issues from both repos
bd create "Implement auth backend" -p 1
bd dep add impl-42 plan-10 --type blocks  # Link across repos

# Phase 3: Maintenance
cd ~/projects/myapp-maintenance
bd create "Security patch for auth" -p 0 -t bug

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Multiple Personas

Problem: You work as both architect (high-level planning) and implementer (detailed tasks). Solution: Separate repositories for each persona’s work.

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Setup

# 1. Create persona repos
mkdir -p ~/architect-planning
mkdir -p ~/implementer-tasks

cd ~/architect-planning
git init
bd init --prefix arch

cd ~/implementer-tasks
git init  
bd init --prefix impl

# 2. Configure aggregation
cd ~/implementer-tasks
bd config set repos.additional "~/architect-planning"

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Workflow

# Architect mode
cd ~/architect-planning
bd create "System architecture for feature X" -p 1 -t epic
bd create "Database schema design" -p 1

# Implementer mode (sees both architect + implementation tasks)
cd ~/implementer-tasks
bd ready
bd create "Implement user table" -p 1
bd dep add impl-10 arch-42 --type blocks

# Complete implementation
bd close impl-10 --reason "Completed"

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Configuration Reference

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Routing Settings

# Auto-detect role and route accordingly
bd config set routing.mode auto

# Always use default repo (ignore role detection)
bd config set routing.mode explicit  
bd config set routing.default "."

# Configure repos for each role
bd config set routing.maintainer "."
bd config set routing.contributor "~/.beads-planning"

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Multi-Repo Hydration

# Add additional repos to aggregate
bd config set repos.additional "~/repo1,~/repo2,~/repo3"

# Set primary repo (optional)
bd config set repos.primary "."

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Override Auto-Routing

# Force issue to specific repo (ignores auto-routing)
bd create "Issue" -p 1 --repo /path/to/repo

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Troubleshooting

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Issues appearing in wrong repository

Problem: bd create routes issues to unexpected repository. Solution: 
# Check current routing configuration
bd config get routing.mode
bd config get routing.maintainer
bd config get routing.contributor

# Check detected role
bd config get beads.role

# Override with explicit flag
bd create "Issue" -p 1 --repo .

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Can’t see issues from other repos

Problem: bd list only shows issues from current repo. Solution: 
# Check multi-repo configuration
bd config get repos.additional

# Add missing repos
bd config set repos.additional "~/repo1,~/repo2"

# Verify hydration
bd dolt push
bd list --json

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Merge conflicts

Problem: Multiple repos with conflicting changes. Solution: Dolt handles merge conflicts natively with cell-level merge. See Troubleshooting for details.

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Discovered issues in wrong repository

Problem: Issues created with discovered-from dependency appear in wrong repo. Solution: Discovered issues automatically inherit parent’s source_repo. This is intentional. To override: 
bd create "Issue" -p 1 --deps discovered-from:bd-42 --repo /different/repo

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Planning repo polluting PRs

Problem: Your ~/.beads-planning changes appear in PRs to upstream. Solution: This shouldn’t happen if configured correctly. Verify: 
# Check that planning repo is separate from fork
ls -la ~/.beads-planning/.git  # Should exist
ls -la ~/projects/fork/.beads/  # Should NOT contain planning issues

# Verify routing
bd config get routing.contributor  # Should be ~/.beads-planning

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Backward Compatibility

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Migrating from Single-Repo

No migration needed! Multi-repo mode is opt-in: 
# Before (single repo)
bd create "Issue" -p 1
# → Creates in local Dolt database

# After (multi-repo configured)
bd create "Issue" -p 1
# → Auto-routed based on role
# → Old issues in local database still work

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Disabling Multi-Repo

# Remove routing configuration
bd config unset routing.mode
bd config unset repos.additional

# All issues go to current repo again
bd create "Issue" -p 1
# → Back to single-repo mode

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Best Practices

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OSS Contributors

  • ✅ Always use ~/.beads-planning or similar for personal planning
  • ✅ Never commit .beads/ changes to upstream PRs
  • ✅ Use descriptive prefixes (plan-, exp-) for clarity
  • ❌ Don’t mix planning and implementation in the same repo

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Teams

  • ✅ Use bd dolt push to sync the shared Dolt database
  • ✅ Use protected branch workflow for main/master
  • ✅ Review issue changes in PRs like code changes
  • ❌ Don’t delete .beads/ - you lose all issue data

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Multi-Phase Projects

  • ✅ Use clear phase naming (planning, impl, maint)
  • ✅ Link issues across phases with dependencies
  • ✅ Archive completed phases periodically
  • ❌ Don’t duplicate issues across phases

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Next Steps

  • bd-8rd - Migration and onboarding epic
  • bd-mlcz - bd migrate command (planned)
  • bd-kla1 - bd init --contributor wizard - implemented
  • bd-twlr - bd init --team wizard - implemented