- Create Beads Orchestration
- Set up lightweight multi-agent orchestration with git-native task tracking for Claude Code.
- What This Skill Does
- This skill bootstraps a complete multi-agent workflow where:
- Orchestrator
- (you) investigates issues, manages tasks, delegates implementation
- Supervisors
- (specialized agents) execute fixes in isolated worktrees
- Beads CLI
- tracks all work with git-native task management
- Hooks
- enforce workflow discipline automatically
- Each task gets its own worktree at
- .worktrees/bd-{BEAD_ID}/
- , keeping main clean and enabling parallel work.
- Beads Kanban UI
- The setup will auto-detect
- Beads Kanban UI
- and configure accordingly. If not found, you'll be offered to install it.
- Step 0: Detect Setup State (ALWAYS RUN FIRST)
- Check for bootstrap artifacts:
- ls
- .claude/agents/scout.md
- 2
- >
- /dev/null
- &&
- echo
- "BOOTSTRAP_COMPLETE"
- ||
- echo
- "FRESH_SETUP"
- If
- BOOTSTRAP_COMPLETE
- :
- Bootstrap already ran in a previous session
- Skip directly to
- Step 4: Run Discovery
- Do NOT ask for project info or run bootstrap again
- If
- FRESH_SETUP
- :
- This is a new installation
- Proceed to
- Step 1: Get Project Info
- Workflow Overview
- The setup is NOT complete until Step 4 (discovery) has run.
- Step 1: Get Project Info (Fresh Setup Only)
- Project directory
-
- Where to install (default: current working directory)
- Project name
-
- For agent templates (will auto-infer from package.json/pyproject.toml if not provided)
- Kanban UI
- Auto-detect, or ask the user to install
1.1 Get Project Directory and Name
Ask the user or auto-detect from package.json/pyproject.toml.
1.2 Detect or Install Kanban UI
which
bead-kanban
2
/dev/null && echo "KANBAN_FOUND" || echo "KANBAN_NOT_FOUND" If KANBAN_FOUND → Use --with-kanban-ui flag. Tell the user: Detected Beads Kanban UI. Configuring worktree management via API. If KANBAN_NOT_FOUND → Ask: AskUserQuestion( questions=[ { "question": "Beads Kanban UI not detected. It adds a visual kanban board with dependency graphs and API-driven worktree management. Install it?", "header": "Kanban UI", "options": [ {"label": "Yes, install it (Recommended)", "description": "Runs: npm install -g beads-kanban-ui"}, {"label": "Skip", "description": "Use git worktrees directly. You can install later."} ], "multiSelect": false } ] ) If "Yes" → Run npm install -g beads-kanban-ui , then use --with-kanban-ui flag If "Skip" → do NOT use --with-kanban-ui flag Step 2: Run Bootstrap
With Kanban UI:
npx beads-orchestration@latest bootstrap \ --project-name "{{PROJECT_NAME}}" \ --project-dir "{{PROJECT_DIR}}" \ --with-kanban-ui
Without Kanban UI (git worktrees only):
- npx beads-orchestration@latest bootstrap
- \
- --project-name
- "{{PROJECT_NAME}}"
- \
- --project-dir
- "{{PROJECT_DIR}}"
- The bootstrap script will:
- Install beads CLI (via brew, npm, or go)
- Initialize
- .beads/
- directory
- Copy agent templates to
- .claude/agents/
- Copy hooks to
- .claude/hooks/
- Configure
- .claude/settings.json
- Create
- CLAUDE.md
- with orchestrator instructions
- Update
- .gitignore
- Verify bootstrap completed successfully before proceeding.
- Step 3: STOP - User Must Restart
- Tell the user:
- Setup phase complete. You MUST restart Claude Code now.
- The new hooks and MCP configuration will only load after restart.
- After restarting:
- Open this same project directory
- Tell me "Continue orchestration setup" or run
- /create-beads-orchestration
- again
- I will run the discovery agent to complete setup
- Do not skip this restart - the orchestration will not work without it.
- DO NOT proceed to Step 4 in this session. The restart is mandatory.
- Step 4: Run Discovery (After Restart OR Detection)
- Verify bootstrap completed (check for
- .claude/agents/scout.md
- ) - already done in Step 0
- Run the discovery agent:
- Task
- (
- subagent_type
- =
- "discovery"
- ,
- prompt
- =
- "Detect tech stack and create supervisors for this project"
- )
- Discovery will:
- Scan package.json, requirements.txt, Dockerfile, etc.
- Fetch specialist agents from external directory
- Inject beads workflow into each supervisor
- Write supervisors to
- .claude/agents/
- After discovery completes, tell the user:
- Orchestration setup complete!
- Created supervisors: [list what discovery created]
- You can now use the orchestration workflow:
- Create tasks with
- bd create "Task name" -d "Description"
- The orchestrator will delegate to appropriate supervisors
- All work requires code review before completion
- What This Creates
- Beads CLI
- for git-native task tracking (one bead = one worktree = one task)
- Core agents
-
- scout, detective, architect, scribe, code-reviewer (all run via Claude Task)
- Discovery agent
-
- Auto-detects tech stack and creates specialized supervisors
- Hooks
-
- Enforce orchestrator discipline, code review gates, concise responses
- Worktree-per-task workflow
- Isolated development in .worktrees/bd-{BEAD_ID}/ With --with-kanban-ui : Worktrees created via API (localhost:3008) with git fallback Requires Beads Kanban UI running Without --with-kanban-ui : Worktrees created via raw git commands Epic Workflow (Cross-Domain Features) For features requiring multiple supervisors (e.g., DB + API + Frontend), use the epic workflow : When to Use Epics Task Type Workflow Single-domain (one supervisor) Standalone bead Cross-domain (multiple supervisors) Epic with children Epic Workflow Steps Create epic : bd create "Feature name" -d "Description" --type epic Create design doc (if needed): Dispatch architect to create .designs/{EPIC_ID}.md Link design : bd update {EPIC_ID} --design ".designs/{EPIC_ID}.md" Create children with dependencies : bd create "DB schema" -d "..." --parent { EPIC_ID }
BD-001.1
bd create "API endpoints" -d "..." --parent { EPIC_ID } --deps BD-001.1
BD-001.2
bd create "Frontend" -d "..." --parent { EPIC_ID } --deps BD-001.2
BD-001.3
- Dispatch sequentially
-
- Use
- bd ready
- to find unblocked tasks (each child gets own worktree)
- User merges each PR
-
- Wait for child's PR to merge before dispatching next
- Close epic
- :
- bd close
- after all children merged
- Design Docs
- Design docs ensure consistency across epic children:
- Schema definitions (exact column names, types)
- API contracts (endpoints, request/response shapes)
- Shared constants/enums
- Data flow between layers
- Key rule
-
- Orchestrator dispatches architect to create design docs. Orchestrator never writes design docs directly.
- Hooks Enforce Epic Workflow
- enforce-sequential-dispatch.sh
-
- Blocks dispatch if task has unresolved blockers
- enforce-bead-for-supervisor.sh
-
- Requires BEAD_ID for all supervisors
- validate-completion.sh
-
- Verifies worktree, push, bead status before supervisor completes
- Requirements
- beads CLI
- Installed automatically by bootstrap (via brew, npm, or go) More Information See the full documentation: https://github.com/AvivK5498/The-Claude-Protocol