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docs: comprehensive README rewrite — keep everything good, fix dupes, add missing pieces

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Starting from Jordan's edited version on main:
- Fixed 3 duplicate sections (Quick Start, Add to Agent, Install)
- Fixed broken markdown (unclosed code block)
- Fixed orchestrator banner typos
- Added full bb CLI commands (agent register/send/inbox/reserve/release, daemon tui)
- Added work reservation system with liveness-aware conflict resolution
- Added templates (feature-dev, bug-fix, full-squad, greenfield, etc.)
- Added capability-gated agent types
- Added bb-pi orchestrator section with honest WIP status
- Added Dolt section framed as recommended
- Added cross-platform support
- Added human-sounding agent instructions
- Added emojis for section scanning
- Updated architecture diagram to show bb CLI layer
- Described beadboard-driver as 9-step operating contract

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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@ -1,92 +1,173 @@
## 🚧 Orchestrator is working but new — use your own coding agent for now (unless you want to help!) 🚧
# BeadBoard # BeadBoard
**A live operations console for multi-agent work. See what every agent is doing, what's blocked, and where to intervene.**
[![License: MIT](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-yellow.svg)](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT) [![License: MIT](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-yellow.svg)](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
[![GitHub stars](https://img.shields.io/github/stars/zenchantlive/beadboard?style=social)](https://github.com/zenchantlive/beadboard/stargazers)
[![Built on Beads](https://img.shields.io/badge/built%20on-Beads-blue)](https://github.com/steveyegge/beads) [![Built on Beads](https://img.shields.io/badge/built%20on-Beads-blue)](https://github.com/steveyegge/beads)
![BeadBoard social view — grouped task cards with agent context and dependency chains](docs/screenshots/image-9.png) **Multi-agent orchestration and communication system built on [Beads](https://github.com/steveyegge/beads).**
Agents claim tasks, send structured mail to each other, track dependencies, and close work with evidence. BeadBoard is the coordination layer — a dashboard that shows it all happening live, a CLI (`bb`) that hosts the orchestrator and manages agent communication, and a built-in execution runtime ([bb-pi](#-bb-pi-orchestrator)) that can spawn and manage agent workers directly.
Built on [Beads](https://github.com/steveyegge/beads) and inspired by [Gastown](https://github.com/steveyegge/gastown).
![BeadBoard Dashboard](docs/screenshots/image-9.png)
--- ---
Your agents are doing work. Who's watching? ## 🚀 Add BeadBoard to Your Agent
BeadBoard gives you eyes on multi-agent swarms: which tasks are in flight, which are blocked and why, what the dependency topology looks like, and where you need to step in. It reads [Beads](https://github.com/steveyegge/beads) issue files from your repos and renders them as a unified shell — Social, Graph, and Activity lenses — that updates in realtime as agents work. ```bash
npx skills add zenchantlive/beadboard --skill beadboard-driver
```
It's designed agents-first. Agents use the `bd` CLI to claim tasks, post progress, and send structured mail to each other. You watch from the dashboard and intervene when needed. This installs the [beadboard-driver](skills/beadboard-driver/SKILL.md) skill — a 9-step operating contract that gives your agent:
- 📋 Task coordination through dependency-constrained graphs
- 💬 Structured agent-to-agent messaging (`HANDOFF`, `BLOCKED`, `DECISION`, `INFO`)
- 🔒 Scope-based work reservations with liveness-aware conflict resolution
- 📡 Realtime progress tracking via heartbeats and activity streams
- ✅ Evidence-required workflow — agents can't close work without verification gates
Or just tell your agent:
> Install the beadboard-driver skill from https://github.com/zenchantlive/beadboard and use it to coordinate your work. Run `npx skills add zenchantlive/beadboard --skill beadboard-driver` then follow the SKILL.md runbook.
Then add to your project's `AGENTS.md` or `CLAUDE.md`:
```markdown
## BeadBoard
You have access to the **beadboard-driver** skill.
- Always use beadboard-driver as your entrypoint for coordination work (tasks, context, status)
instead of inventing your own workflow.
- Use it to read and update Beads via `bd`, keep work state consistent with the BeadBoard UI,
and obey the verification rules described in this repo.
- When in doubt about what to do next or how to record progress, call beadboard-driver and
follow its guidance rather than editing markdown ad hoc.
```
See [skills/beadboard-driver/SKILL.md](skills/beadboard-driver/SKILL.md) for the complete agent runbook.
--- ---
## Quick Start ## 📦 Installation
**Prerequisites:** Node.js 20 LTS, npm 7+ ### Prerequisites
- **Node.js** 18.18+ (Node 20 LTS recommended)
- **npm** 7.0+
- **[Dolt](https://github.com/dolthub/dolt)** (recommended — see [Dolt section](#-dolt))
### Install from Source
```bash ```bash
git clone https://github.com/zenchantlive/beadboard.git git clone https://github.com/zenchantlive/beadboard.git
cd beadboard cd beadboard
npm install npm install
npm install -g . npm install -g .
```
This installs:
- `beadboard` / `bb` — BeadBoard CLI: dashboard, orchestrator host, agent communication commands
- `bd` — Beads CLI for task management (also available standalone: `npm install -g @beads/bd`)
```bash
beadboard --version
bd --version
```
**Alternative:** POSIX install script (Linux/macOS):
```bash
bash ./install/install.sh # installs bb + beadboard shims to ~/.beadboard/bin
```
---
## ⚡ Quick Start
```bash
cd ~/my-project cd ~/my-project
bd init bd init # initialize Beads in your project
beadboard start beadboard start --dolt # start the dashboard with Dolt (recommended)
``` ```
Open [http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000). Open [http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000).
```bash
bd create --title "My first task" --type task --priority 0
```
--- ---
## Dolt (recommended) ## 🗄️ Dolt
BeadBoard works with [Dolt](https://github.com/dolthub/dolt) for version-controlled issue history, SQL queries across projects, and reliable multi-agent sync. It's the right backend for real work. BeadBoard uses [Dolt](https://github.com/dolthub/dolt) — a version-controlled SQL database — as its primary backend. Dolt gives you:
- Full version history of every issue state change
- SQL queries across all your issues and projects
- `bd dolt pull` / `bd dolt push` for multi-agent sync across machines
- Branch-based workflows
```bash ```bash
# macOS # macOS
brew install dolt brew install dolt
# Linux / Windows # Linux / Windows
go install github.com/dolthub/dolt/go/cmd/dolt@latest curl -L https://github.com/dolthub/dolt/releases/latest/download/install.sh | bash
# or: curl -L https://github.com/dolthub/dolt/releases/latest/download/install.sh | bash
``` ```
Then start the dashboard with Dolt: Without Dolt, BeadBoard falls back to reading `.beads/issues.jsonl` directly. This is enough to poke around, but you'll want Dolt for real work.
```bash
beadboard start --dolt
# or manage Dolt separately:
bd dolt start
```
Without Dolt, BeadBoard reads `.beads/issues.jsonl` directly — enough to explore, but you'll want Dolt for anything serious.
--- ---
## Features ## 🔧 What BeadBoard Does
### Social View — your swarm at a glance BeadBoard is three things:
Task cards organized by status, with dependency chains, thread context, and agent assignments surfaced inline. Built for scanning active work across many agents without losing the thread. ### The Dashboard
A live operations console with Social, Graph, and Activity views — updating in realtime via SSE as agents work.
![Social view showing grouped task cards with agent threads and dependency context](docs/screenshots/image-9.png) ### The CLI (`bb`)
A full agent command center — not just a dashboard launcher:
### Graph View — see the blockers before they block you ```bash
# Agent lifecycle
bb agent register --name <id> --role <role>
bb agent list
bb agent activity-lease --agent <id>
DAG visualization of your task graph using XYFlow and Dagre layout. Blocked chains are highlighted. Assignees appear on nodes. Use topology to drive assignment decisions, not gut feel. # Agent-to-agent communication
bb agent send --from <id> --to <id> --bead <id> --category HANDOFF --subject "..."
bb agent inbox --agent <id>
bb agent ack --agent <id> --message <msg-id>
![Dependency graph showing task DAG with blocker highlighting](docs/screenshots/image-8.png) # Work reservations
bb agent reserve --agent <id> --scope <scope> --bead <id>
bb agent release --agent <id> --scope <scope>
### Activity View — realtime operations feed # Orchestrator runtime
bb daemon start
bb daemon tui # interactive orchestrator REPL
bb daemon bootstrap # install Pi runtime
```
Live stream of session events, state transitions, and agent mail. Updates via file watchers and Server-Sent Events — no polling, no manual refresh. ### The Orchestrator ([bb-pi](#-bb-pi-orchestrator))
A built-in execution runtime that spawns and manages typed worker agents.
### Swarm Coordination — agent pools and assignment queues ---
Monitor your agent pool with archetypes and a squad roster. "Needs Agent" and pre-assigned queues let you drive work assignment from the dashboard. ## 🧩 Core Features
![Swarm coordination panel showing agent pool, archetypes, and assignment queues](docs/screenshots/image-7.png) ### 💬 Agent Communication System
### Agent Mail — structured inter-agent messaging Structured message lifecycle for inter-agent coordination:
`HANDOFF`, `BLOCKED`, `DECISION`, `INFO` categories. High-signal categories require explicit acknowledgment. Per-task threads merge activity events, agent mail, and manual notes. - **Message categories**: `HANDOFF`, `BLOCKED`, `DECISION`, `INFO`
- **Required acknowledgment** for high-signal categories (`HANDOFF`, `BLOCKED`)
- **Broadcast & role-based routing** — send to all agents or by role (`role:tester`)
- **Per-task threads** combining activity events, agent mail, and local interactions
- **Message states**: `unread` → `read` → `acked`
```bash ```bash
bd mail inbox bd mail inbox
@ -94,28 +175,63 @@ bd mail send --to <agent> --bead <id> --category HANDOFF --subject "Ready for re
bd mail ack <message-id> bd mail ack <message-id>
``` ```
### Multi-Project Scope ### 🔒 Work Reservations
Scanner-backed project registry. Switch between single-project and aggregate views at runtime without leaving the workspace. Agents can lock scopes (file paths, task regions) to prevent conflicting work:
- TTL-based reservations (default 120 min)
- Liveness-aware conflict resolution — stale agents (15min no heartbeat) can be taken over
- File-based mutex prevents race conditions
### 📊 DAG Graph Visualization
DAG-oriented workspace for execution decisions:
- Task and dependency tab modes for different planning lenses
- Blocked chains highlighted, assignees on nodes
- Cycle detection and blocked-chain identification
![Dependency Graph View](docs/screenshots/image-8.png)
### 👥 Swarm Coordination
Agent pool monitor with:
- **Archetypes** — typed agent roles (architect, engineer, reviewer, tester, investigator, shipper)
- **Templates** — preset team compositions (`feature-dev`, `bug-fix`, `full-squad`, `greenfield`, `research-and-discovery`)
- "Needs Agent" queue for unassigned work
- Pre-assigned queue and squad roster
![Swarm Coordination Panel](docs/screenshots/image-7.png)
### 📡 Realtime Operations
- Live updates via Chokidar file watchers + Server-Sent Events
- Activity stream with session/task context
- Agent heartbeat and liveness tracking (active → stale → evicted)
### 🌐 Multi-Project Scope
- Project registry with scanner-backed discovery
- Single-project and aggregate modes
- Runtime scope switching without leaving the workspace
--- ---
## bb-pi Orchestrator ## 🤖 bb-pi Orchestrator
> **Under active construction.** The orchestrator works, but it's new and has rough edges. For now: run your own coding agent alongside BeadBoard and use the dashboard to coordinate. Help improving it is welcome. > 🚧 **Under active construction.** The orchestrator works but has known issues being fixed. Use your own coding agent alongside BeadBoard for now, or help us improve it!
BeadBoard doesn't just watch your agents — it can run them. bb-pi is BeadBoard's embedded execution runtime, built on [Pi](https://github.com/badlogic/pi-mono) ([@mariozechner/pi-coding-agent](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@mariozechner/pi-coding-agent)). It runs a long-lived orchestrator per project that spawns typed worker agents, tracks their bead claims, and streams a live transcript.
`bb-pi` is BeadBoard's embedded execution runtime, built on [Pi](https://github.com/badlogic/pi-mono). It exposes a long-lived orchestrator per project that spawns typed worker agents, tracks their bead claims, and streams a live transcript into the left panel.
**Working today (Phases 1-3):** **Working today (Phases 1-3):**
- Embedded orchestrator with BeadBoard-aware tools (`bb_spawn_worker`, `bb_worker_status`, `bb_create`, `bb_close`, and more) - Embedded orchestrator with BeadBoard-aware tools (`bb_spawn_worker`, `bb_worker_status`, `bb_create`, `bb_close`, etc.)
- Worker spawning with numbered display names (Engineer 01, Engineer 02...) - Worker spawning with numbered display names (Engineer 01, Engineer 02...)
- Capability-gated agent types: architect, engineer, reviewer, tester, investigator, shipper - **Capability-gated agent types** — architects/reviewers get read-only tools, engineers/testers get full code edit/write/bash
- Template-based team spawning (`bb_spawn_team`) - **Template-based team spawning** via `bb_spawn_team` — spin up a full squad from a preset
- Bead-required workflow — every worker task claims a bead, posts progress, closes with evidence - Bead-required workflow — every worker claims a bead, posts progress, closes with evidence
- Async coordination — non-blocking spawn with status polling and result reads - Async coordination — non-blocking spawn with status polling and result reads
- Chat-style orchestrator transcript with realtime telemetry - Chat-style orchestrator transcript with realtime telemetry
- Interactive orchestrator REPL via `bb daemon tui`
**Known issues being fixed:** **Known issues being fixed:**
- Double-reply rendering in orchestrator chat - Double-reply rendering in orchestrator chat
@ -126,123 +242,128 @@ BeadBoard doesn't just watch your agents — it can run them.
--- ---
## For AI Agents ## 🏗️ Architecture
BeadBoard is designed to be operated by agents, not just watched by humans. Give your agent the operating contract:
```bash
npx skills add zenchantlive/beadboard --skill beadboard-driver
```
Then add to your project's `AGENTS.md` or `CLAUDE.md`:
```markdown
## BeadBoard
You have access to the **beadboard-driver** skill.
Use it as your entrypoint for all coordination work: claiming tasks, posting progress,
reading context, and following verification rules. When in doubt about what to do next
or how to record state, call beadboard-driver rather than editing markdown ad hoc.
```
Full operating manual: [AGENTS.md](AGENTS.md). Skill runbook: [skills/beadboard-driver/SKILL.md](skills/beadboard-driver/SKILL.md).
| Command | Role |
|---------|------|
| `bd` | Beads CLI — task and dependency management. Also: `npm install -g @beads/bd` |
| `bb` / `beadboard` | BeadBoard CLI — dashboard launcher and orchestrator interface |
---
## Architecture
``` ```
.beads/issues.jsonl <-- bd CLI (sole write interface) ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
| │ BeadBoard UI │
+-- Chokidar watcher (JSONL + WAL + .last_touched) │ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ │
| | │ │ Social │ │ Graph │ │ Activity │ │ Swarm │ │
| IssuesEventBus │ │ View │ │ View │ │ View │ │ Panel │ │
| | │ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ └──────────┘ │
| SSE /api/events --> browser (live) └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
| │ │ │ │
+-- Aggregate read --> Dolt SQL (primary, if running) ┌────▼──────────────▼──────────────▼──────────────▼────┐
issues.jsonl (fallback) │ bb CLI / bb-pi runtime │
│ agent register · agent send · daemon tui · spawn │
└──────────────────────────┬───────────────────────────┘
│
┌────────────────┼────────────────┐
│ │ │
┌─────▼─────┐ ┌──────▼──────┐ ┌──────▼──────┐
│ SSE │ │ Dolt │ │ Chokidar │
│ Events │ │ (SQL DB) │ │ Watchers │
└───────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘
│ │ │
└────────────────┼────────────────┘
│
┌──────▼──────┐
│ bd │
│ (Beads CLI) │
└─────────────┘
``` ```
All views live at `/` with query-param switching (`?view=social|graph|activity`). The `bd` CLI is the only write path — BeadBoard never writes to `.beads/issues.jsonl` directly. ### Tech Stack
| Layer | Technologies | | Layer | Technologies |
|-------|-------------| |-------|-------------|
| Frontend | Next.js 15 (App Router), React 19, TypeScript (strict) | | Frontend | Next.js 15 (App Router), React 19, TypeScript (strict) |
| Styling | Tailwind CSS, Radix UI, Framer Motion | | Styling | Tailwind CSS, Radix UI, Framer Motion |
| Graph | @xyflow/react, Dagre | | Graph | @xyflow/react, Dagre |
| Realtime | Chokidar, Server-Sent Events | | Database | Dolt (version-controlled SQL) |
| Database | Dolt (recommended, version-controlled SQL) | | Realtime | Chokidar watchers, Server-Sent Events |
| Agent runtime | @mariozechner/pi-coding-agent (bb-pi, under construction) | | Agent Runtime | @mariozechner/pi-coding-agent (bb-pi) |
### Data Flow
1. **Write path**: `bd` commands write to `.beads/issues.jsonl` and Dolt DB
2. **Read path**: UI queries Dolt SQL (falls back to JSONL when Dolt is unavailable)
3. **Realtime**: `bd` touches `.beads/last-touched` → Chokidar fires → SSE event → UI update
### Key Concepts
| Component | Purpose |
|-----------|---------|
| `bd` | Beads CLI — task and dependency management |
| `bb` / `beadboard` | BeadBoard CLI — dashboard, orchestrator host, agent commands |
| `bb-pi` | Embedded Pi execution runtime (under construction) |
| `beadboard-driver` | Agent skill — operating contract for coordination |
--- ---
## CLI Reference ## 🌍 Platform Support
### bd (Beads CLI)
```bash
bd init # initialize Beads in a project
bd create --title "Task title" --type task -p 1 # create a task bead
bd ready # list unblocked work
bd show <id> # show bead detail
bd update <id> --status in_progress # update a bead
bd close <id> --reason "Done" # close a bead
bd dep relate <parent> <child> --type parent-child
bd mail inbox
bd mail send --to <agent> --bead <id> --category HANDOFF --subject "..."
bd dolt start
bd dolt pull && bd dolt push
```
### bb / beadboard (Dashboard CLI)
```bash
beadboard start # start the dashboard
beadboard start --dolt # start with Dolt backend
beadboard open # open in browser
beadboard status # check runtime status
```
### Development
```bash
npm run dev # Next.js dev server (localhost:3000)
npm run build # production build
npm run typecheck # tsc --noEmit
npm run lint # eslint
npm run test # full test suite
```
---
## Platform Support
Runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows. Runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows.
- **macOS / Linux:** Use `install/install.sh` to install `beadboard` and `bb` shims to `~/.beadboard/bin`. - **macOS / Linux**: `bash ./install/install.sh` installs shims to `~/.beadboard/bin`
- **Windows:** Path handling canonicalizes drive letter casing and backslash normalization. Mixed WSL2 + Windows setups require mirrored networking — see [AGENTS.md](AGENTS.md). - **Windows**: Path handling canonicalizes drive letter casing and backslash normalization. Mixed WSL2 + Windows setups require mirrored networking.
--- ---
## Contributing ## 📁 Project Structure
```text
beadboard/
├── src/
│ ├── app/ # Next.js App Router pages + API routes
│ ├── components/ # UI: shared, graph, social, swarm, agents, sessions
│ ├── hooks/ # React hooks (subscriptions, URL state, etc.)
│ ├── lib/ # Core domain logic (parser, types, mail, registry, etc.)
│ └── tui/ # Orchestrator TUI + agent tools
├── skills/
│ └── beadboard-driver/ # Agent skill package (runbook + scripts + tests)
├── install/ # Platform install scripts
├── docs/ # PRDs, roadmaps, ADRs, screenshots
└── tests/ # Test suite (explicitly enumerated in package.json)
```
---
## 🛠️ Scripts
```bash
npm run dev # Development server (localhost:3000)
npm run build # Production build
npm run start # Production server
npm run typecheck # TypeScript validation (tsc --noEmit)
npm run lint # ESLint
npm run test # Full test suite
```
> New test files must be added to the `test` script in `package.json` — the suite is explicitly enumerated, not auto-discovered.
---
## 🤝 Contributing
1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: `git checkout -b feature/my-feature`
3. Run quality gates before submitting:
```bash ```bash
npm run typecheck && npm run lint && npm run test npm run typecheck && npm run lint && npm run test
``` ```
Run that before submitting. Keep new features in `src/lib`, `src/components`, and `src/hooks` — not in `src/app` unless it's a route. New test files must be registered in the `test` script in `package.json` (the suite is explicit, not auto-discovered). PR against `main`. 4. Submit a pull request against `main`
--- ---
## License ## 📄 License
[MIT](LICENSE) [MIT](LICENSE)
Built on [Beads](https://github.com/steveyegge/beads) by [Steve Yegge](https://github.com/steveyegge), inspired by [Gastown](https://github.com/steveyegge/gastown). Embedded execution runtime uses [@mariozechner](https://github.com/mariozechner)'s [Pi SDK](https://github.com/badlogic/pi-mono). ---
## 🙏 Acknowledgments
Built on [Beads](https://github.com/steveyegge/beads) by [Steve Yegge](https://github.com/steveyegge), inspired by [Gastown](https://github.com/steveyegge/gastown). The bb-pi execution runtime uses [Pi](https://github.com/badlogic/pi-mono) by [@mariozechner](https://github.com/mariozechner).