Multi-Repo Auto-Routing

April 24, 2026 · View on GitHub

This document describes the auto-routing feature that intelligently directs new issues to the appropriate repository based on user role.

Overview

Auto-routing solves the OSS contributor problem: contributors want to plan work locally without polluting upstream PRs with planning issues. The routing layer automatically detects whether you're a maintainer or contributor and routes bd create to the appropriate repository.

User Role Detection

Strategy

The routing system detects user role via:

  1. Explicit git config (highest priority):

    git config beads.role maintainer
# or
git config beads.role contributor

  2. Push URL inspection (automatic):

    • SSH URLs (git@github.com:user/repo.git) → Maintainer
    • HTTPS with credentials → Maintainer
    • HTTPS without credentials → Contributor
    • No remote → Contributor (fallback)

Examples

# Maintainer (SSH access)
git remote add origin git@github.com:owner/repo.git
bd create "Fix bug" -p 1
# → Creates in current repo (.)

# Contributor (HTTPS fork)
git remote add origin https://github.com/fork/repo.git
git remote add upstream https://github.com/owner/repo.git
bd create "Fix bug" -p 1
# → Creates in planning repo (~/.beads-planning by default)

Configuration

Routing is configured via the database config:

# Auto-routing is disabled by default (routing.mode="")
# Enable with:
bd init --contributor
# OR manually:
bd config set routing.mode auto

# Set default planning repo
bd config set routing.default "~/.beads-planning"

# Set repo for maintainers (in auto mode)
bd config set routing.maintainer "."

# Set repo for contributors (in auto mode)
bd config set routing.contributor "~/.beads-planning"

CLI Usage

Auto-Routing

# Let bd decide based on role
bd create "Fix authentication bug" -p 1

# Maintainer: creates in current repo (.)
# Contributor: creates in ~/.beads-planning

Explicit Override

# Force creation in specific repo (overrides auto-routing)
bd create "Fix bug" -p 1 --repo /path/to/repo
bd create "Add feature" -p 1 --repo ~/my-planning

Discovered Issue Inheritance

Issues created with discovered-from dependencies automatically inherit the parent's source_repo:

# Parent in current repo
bd create "Implement auth" -p 1
# → Created as bd-abc (source_repo = ".")

# Discovered issue inherits parent's repo
bd create "Found bug in auth" -p 1 --deps discovered-from:bd-abc
# → Created with source_repo = "." (same as parent)

This ensures discovered work stays in the same repository as the parent task.

Multi-Repo Hydration

⚠️ Critical: When using routing to separate repos, you must enable multi-repo hydration or routed issues won't appear in bd list.

The Problem

Auto-routing writes issues to a separate repository (e.g., ~/.beads-planning), but by default, bd list only shows issues from the current repository's database. Without hydration, routed issues are "invisible" even though they exist.

The Solution

Add routing targets to repos.additional in config.yaml:

routing:
  mode: auto
  contributor: ~/.beads-planning
repos:
  primary: "."
  additional:
    - ~/.beads-planning

Automatic Setup

bd init --contributor now automatically configures both routing AND hydration:

cd ~/my-forked-repo
bd init --contributor

# This sets up:
# 1. routing.mode=auto
# 2. routing.contributor=~/.beads-planning
# 3. repos.additional=[~/.beads-planning]

Manual Setup (Advanced)

If you configured routing before this feature, add hydration manually:

# Add planning repo to hydration list
bd repo add ~/.beads-planning

# Verify configuration
bd repo list

How It Works

Multi-repo hydration imports issues from all configured repos into the current database:

  1. Dolt database as source of truth: Each repo maintains its own Dolt database
  2. Periodic sync: Beads syncs from repos.additional every sync cycle
  3. Source tracking: Each issue tagged with source_repo field
  4. Unified view: bd list shows issues from all repos

Requirements

For optimal hydration, start Dolt servers in all repos:

# In main repo
bd dolt start

# In planning repo
cd ~/.beads-planning
bd dolt start

Without running servers, hydration only sees old data.

Troubleshooting

Run bd doctor to check for configuration issues:

bd doctor

# Checks:
# - routing.mode=auto with routing targets but repos.additional not configured
# - Routing targets not in repos.additional list
# - Dolt servers not running in hydrated repos

Common Issues:

  1. Routed issues not appearing in bd list

    • Cause: repos.additional not configured
    • Fix: bd repo add <routing-target>

  2. Issues appear but data is stale

    • Cause: Dolt server not running in target repo
    • Fix: cd <target-repo> && bd dolt start

  3. After upgrading, routed issues missing

    • Cause: Upgraded before hydration was automatic
    • Fix: bd repo add <routing-target> to enable hydration manually

Backward Compatibility

  • Single-repo workflows unchanged: If no multi-repo config exists, all issues go to current repo
  • Explicit --repo always wins: --repo flag overrides any auto-routing
  • No schema changes: Routing is pure config-based, no database migrations

Implementation

Key Files:

  • internal/routing/routing.go - Role detection and routing logic
  • internal/routing/routing_test.go - Unit tests
  • cmd/bd/create.go - Integration with create command
  • routing_integration_test.go - End-to-end tests

API:

// Detect user role based on git configuration
func DetectUserRole(repoPath string) (UserRole, error)

// Determine target repo based on config and role
func DetermineTargetRepo(config *RoutingConfig, userRole UserRole, repoPath string) string

Testing

# Run routing tests
go test -v -run TestRouting

# Tests cover:
# - Maintainer detection (git config)
# - Contributor detection (fork remotes)
# - SSH vs HTTPS remote detection
# - Explicit --repo override
# - End-to-end multi-repo workflow

Future Enhancements

See bd-k58 for proposal workflow:

  • bd propose <id> - Move issue from planning to upstream
  • bd withdraw <id> - Un-propose
  • bd accept <id> - Maintainer accepts proposal