CLAUDE.md

Task Management with Beads

You should use Beads for tracking tasks across contexts as much as possible.

In any project where you must create tasks, sub-tasks, epics, and so-on, you are expected to use Beads unless explicitly told to use Linear. If a project does not already have a .beads directory, you MUST run bd init --stealth before performing any actions that revolve around tasks.

Quick reference:

• bd ready - Find unblocked work
• bd create "Title" --type task --priority 2 - Create issue
• bd close <id> - Complete work
• bd sync - Sync with git (run at session end)
• bd show <id> --children - View the full task tree

For full workflow details: bd prime

Visual Design Anti-Patterns

NEVER use emoji-style icons (🔴🟠🟡🔵⚪) in CLI output. They cause cognitive overload.

ALWAYS use small Unicode symbols with semantic colors:

Status: ○ ◐ ● ✓ ❄ Priority: ● P0 (filled circle with color)

Agent Warning: Interactive Commands

DO NOT use bd edit - it opens an interactive editor ($EDITOR) which AI agents cannot use.

Use bd update with flags instead:

bd update <id> --description "new description"
bd update <id> --title "new title"
bd update <id> --design "design notes"
bd update <id> --notes "additional notes"
bd update <id> --acceptance "acceptance criteria"

Non-Interactive Shell Commands

ALWAYS use non-interactive flags with file operations to avoid hanging on confirmation prompts.

Shell commands like cp, mv, and rm may be aliased to include -i (interactive) mode on some systems, causing the agent to hang indefinitely waiting for y/n input.

Use these forms instead:

# Force overwrite without prompting
cp -f source dest           # NOT: cp source dest
mv -f source dest           # NOT: mv source dest
rm -f file                  # NOT: rm file

# For recursive operations
rm -rf directory            # NOT: rm -r directory
cp -rf source dest          # NOT: cp -r source dest

Other commands that may prompt:

• scp - use -o BatchMode=yes for non-interactive
• ssh - use -o BatchMode=yes to fail instead of prompting
• apt-get - use -y flag
• brew - use HOMEBREW_NO_AUTO_UPDATE=1 env var

Landing the Plane (Session Completion)

When ending a work session, you MUST complete ALL steps below. Work is NOT complete until git push succeeds.

MANDATORY WORKFLOW:

1. File issues for remaining work - Create issues for anything that needs follow-up
2. Run quality gates (if code changed) - Tests, linters, builds
3. Update issue status - Close finished work, update in-progress items
4. PUSH TO REMOTE - This is MANDATORY:

   git pull --rebase
   git push
   git status  # MUST show "up to date with origin"

5. Clean up - Clear stashes, prune remote branches
6. Verify - All changes committed AND pushed
7. Hand off - Provide context for next session

CRITICAL RULES:

• Work is NOT complete until git push succeeds
• NEVER stop before pushing - that leaves work stranded locally
• NEVER say "ready to push when you are" - YOU must push
• If push fails, resolve and retry until it succeeds
• If possible, each individual task should get its own atomic commit, rather than committing the epic/plan as a single item