Bv

BV - Beads Viewer

A graph-aware triage engine for Beads projects (.beads/issues.jsonl in current br and Dolt-backed bd workspaces, with .beads/beads.jsonl supported for legacy workspaces). Computes graph metrics, generates execution plans, and explains recommendations. Human TUI for browsing; robot flags for AI agents. Compare source, scope, configuration, reference time and metric status when checking repeatability.

Why BV vs Raw Beads

Use BV instead of parsing Beads JSONL directly. It computes graph metrics deterministically.

CRITICAL: Robot Mode for Agents

Never run bare bv. It launches an interactive TUI that blocks your session.

Always use --robot-* flags:

bv --robot-triage        # THE MEGA-COMMAND: start here
bv --robot-next          # Minimal: just the single top pick
bv --robot-plan          # Parallel execution tracks
bv --robot-insights      # Full graph metrics

The 9 Graph Metrics

BV computes these metrics to surface hidden project dynamics:

Two-Phase Analysis

BV uses async computation with timeouts:

• Phase 1 (instant): degree, topo sort, density
• Phase 2: PageRank, betweenness, HITS, eigenvector, critical path, cycles, k-core, articulation points and slack. ConfigForSize selects per-metric budgets and size/density skips; this is not one 500 ms end-to-end deadline.

Check the capitalized metric keys in .status, such as .status.Betweenness. Normal states are pending, computed, timeout or skipped; sampled betweenness reports computed with reason: "approximate". Treat an error or unknown state as unavailable. Cycle detection stores one representative per cyclic component, subject to limits, rather than every simple cycle.

Robot Commands Reference

Triage & Planning

bv --robot-triage              # Full triage: recommendations, quick_wins, blockers_to_clear
bv --robot-next                # Claimable pick with route, or an explicit no-action response
bv --robot-plan                # Parallel execution tracks with unblocks lists
bv --robot-priority            # Priority misalignment detection

Graph Analysis

bv --robot-insights            # Full metrics: PageRank, betweenness, HITS, cycles, etc.
bv --robot-label-health        # Per-label health: healthy|warning|critical
bv --robot-label-flow          # Cross-label dependency flow matrix
bv --robot-label-attention     # Attention-ranked labels

History & Changes

bv --robot-history             # Bead-to-commit correlations
bv --robot-diff --diff-since HEAD~1 # Changes since an existing Git ref

Other Commands

bv --robot-burndown sprint-1  # Use an existing sprint ID for burndown/scope changes
bv --robot-forecast all       # Duration/velocity heuristic, not a scheduler
bv --robot-alerts              # Stale issues, blocking cascades
bv --robot-suggest             # Hygiene: duplicates, missing deps, cycle breaks
bv --robot-graph               # Dependency graph export (JSON, DOT, Mermaid)
bv --export-graph graph.html   # Self-contained interactive HTML visualization

Scoping & Filtering

bv --robot-plan --label backend              # Scope to label's subgraph
bv --robot-insights --as-of HEAD~30          # Historical point-in-time
bv --recipe actionable --robot-plan          # Pre-filter: ready to work
bv --recipe high-impact --robot-triage       # Pre-filter: top PageRank
bv --robot-triage --robot-triage-by-track    # Group by parallel work streams
bv --robot-triage --robot-triage-by-label    # Group by domain

Built-in Recipes

Robot Output Structure

Issue-backed responses include data_hash, source_authority, authority_hash and scope_hash. Use these alongside the reference clock and effective configuration. Metric-bearing commands include .status; graph export and metadata commands such as capabilities have their own schemas. Use bv --robot-schema for command-specific contracts. Historical issue analysis includes as_of / as_of_commit.

Partial or unknown authority permits exploratory results but withholds proven picks and claim commands. A computationally ready issue must be open or in progress, have no future deferral, and have satisfied direct and inherited parent dependency gates. Closed/tombstoned predecessors satisfy gates; missing records do not. Candidate filters stay separate from this full-source dependency context.

A new claim additionally requires an open, unassigned, non-epic issue with no open children or configured not-ready labels, plus a usable live tracker route. Plans can include ongoing work; the first recommendation is not necessarily claimable.

--robot-triage Output

Selected fields, with illustrative values; the full response also includes source diagnostics and metric status:

{
  "triage": {
    "quick_ref": { "open_count": 3, "actionable_count": 1, "blocked_count": 0 },
    "recommendations": [
      { "id": "bd-123", "score": 0.85, "reasons": ["Unblocks 5 tasks"] }
    ]
  }
}

Other triage fields include .triage.quick_wins, .triage.blockers_to_clear, .triage.project_health and .triage.commands. Inspect .actions in --robot-next for a selected issue's typed live route.

--robot-insights Output

Selected fields; names and ID/Value casing are significant:

{
  "Bottlenecks": [{ "ID": "bd-123", "Value": 0.45 }],
  "Keystones": [{ "ID": "bd-456", "Value": 12.0 }],
  "Cycles": [["bd-A", "bd-B", "bd-A"]],
  "ClusterDensity": 0.045,
  "full_stats": { "pagerank": { "bd-123": 0.15 } },
  "status": { "PageRank": { "state": "computed" }, "Cycles": { "state": "computed" } }
}

jq Quick Reference

bv --robot-triage | jq '.triage.quick_ref'                 # At-a-glance summary
bv --robot-triage | jq '.triage.recommendations[0]'        # Top recommendation, not necessarily claimable
bv --robot-plan | jq '.plan.summary.highest_impact'        # Best unblock target
bv --robot-insights | jq '.status'                         # Check metric readiness
bv --robot-insights | jq '{status: .status.Cycles, cycles: .Cycles}' # Stored cycle representatives
bv --robot-label-health | jq '.results.labels[] | select(.health_level == "critical")'

Agent Workflow Pattern

# 1. Inspect priorities and cycle computation status
bv --robot-triage | jq '.triage.quick_ref'
bv --robot-insights | jq '{status: .status.Cycles, cycles: .Cycles}'

# 2. Ask for a live next action; metadata-free/historical/partial sources may refuse
NEXT=$(bv --robot-next)
printf '%s\n' "$NEXT" | jq '{actionable, id, diagnostic_top_pick, actions}'

# 3. Require the actual claim route before considering a mutation
printf '%s\n' "$NEXT" | jq -e '.actionable == true and .source_authority.claim_safe == true and (.actions.claim.argv | type == "array")'

The last check intentionally fails for a no-action response. Inspect .actions.show against the current tracker state, then use the returned .actions.claim.argv in its .working_directory only when a claim is intended. Execute the argument array directly (for example, Python subprocess.run(action["argv"], cwd=action["working_directory"], check=True)); do not split a shell string or substitute a namespaced display ID. Analysis does not reserve work or guarantee a later claim succeeds. Close work through the same tracker and original local ID after completion.

TUI Views (for Humans)

When running bv interactively (not for agents):

Integration with br/bd CLIs

BV reads .beads/issues.jsonl in current br and Dolt-backed bd workspaces and .beads/beads.jsonl in legacy workspaces:

br ready --json             # Show actionable beads
br sync --flush-only        # Export current br state to JSONL

Legacy bd workflow:

bd init                    # Initialize beads in project
bd create "Task title"     # Create a bead
bd list                    # List beads
bd ready                   # Show actionable beads
bd update bd-123 --claim --json # Claim through the selected bd tracker
bd close bd-123            # Close a bead

Integration with Agent Mail

Use bead IDs as thread IDs for coordination:

file_reservation_paths(..., reason="bd-123")
send_message(..., thread_id="bd-123", subject="[bd-123] Starting...")

Graph Export Formats

bv --robot-graph                              # JSON (default)
bv --robot-graph --graph-format=dot | jq -r .graph      # Extract Graphviz DOT from JSON
bv --robot-graph --graph-format=mermaid | jq -r .graph  # Extract Mermaid from JSON
bv --robot-graph --graph-root=bd-123 --graph-depth=3  # Subgraph
bv --export-graph report.html                 # Interactive HTML

For JSON graphs, .nodes and .edges are counts. Records are in .adjacency.nodes and .adjacency.edges; an empty result may omit .adjacency.

Time Travel

Compare against historical states:

bv --robot-insights --as-of HEAD~10        # 10 commits ago
bv --robot-insights --as-of v1.0.0         # At an existing tag
bv --robot-insights --as-of "2024-01-15"   # At a date
bv --robot-diff --diff-since HEAD~30  # Changes in last 30 commits

Common Pitfalls

Performance Notes

• Phase 1 metrics (degree, topo, density): instant
• Phase 2 uses per-metric size/density budgets; see .analysis_config and .status
• Graph-stat caches use both data and analysis-configuration hashes; readiness and rankings also depend on scope and the reference clock
• Prefer --robot-plan over --robot-insights when speed matters