Linear vs Beads-ui
Beads-ui is a focused, MIT-licensed local interface for Beads issues, epics, and boards, with live updates and coding-agent collaboration. Choose it when self-operation, source access, and a lightweight developer workflow matter more than breadth. Choose Linear when you need a hosted product-development system spanning roadmaps, cycles, analytics, customer intake, code review, or managed AI coding sessions; the Beads
Decision guide
The practical reasons to choose either option, based on documented capabilities.
Choose Beads-ui if
- Developers already using the Beads `bd` CLI who want a local graphical issue interface
- Small engineering workflows needing searchable issues, epic progress, a status board, and keyboard-driven editing
- Teams prepared to operate an npm-installed service and wanting MIT-licensed source they can inspect or modify
Stay with Linear if
- You need documented initiatives, roadmaps, product specifications, or recurring cycles; no equivalents are described for Beads-ui
- You require progress analytics, dashboards, or organization-scale reporting; the supplied Beads-ui material documents only epic progress
- You rely on customer-feedback intake, Zendesk or Intercom connections, structural code review, or cloud coding sessions; these capabilities are not documented for Beads-ui
Deployment and operations
Beads-ui is MIT-licensed and self-hostable. It installs globally through npm and starts from a project directory with `bdui start --open`; the default bind address is `127.0.0.1` and default port is 3000, both configurable. macOS and Linux are fully supported, while Windows has documented CLI and process-management caveats. No Docker or Kubernetes packaging is supplied. Maintainers can clone the repository, run `npm install`, and start development with `npm start`.
Feature fit
What Beads-ui covers
- Issue browsing, filtering, and editing
- Epic-level work grouping and progress
- Status-oriented board workflow
- Multiple project workspaces
- Coding-agent issue collaboration
What’s different or missing
- No documented initiatives, roadmaps, or product specifications
- No documented cycles or team workspaces
- No documented issue relationships or triage inbox
- No documented dashboards or broader analytics
- No documented customer-request integrations
- No documented structural code review
- No documented cloud AI coding sessions
Project snapshot
- GitHub stars
- 697
- Contributors
- 19
- Language
- JavaScript
- Last commit
- Aug 11, 2026
- Latest release
- Aug 11, 2026
Categories: Customer Feedback, DevOps, Business Intelligence
Sources and editorial review11 linked sources
Public documentation supports this comparison. Automation assists collection and classification; editorial standards and corrections remain the responsibility of Kris.
Local UI for Beads — Collaborate on issues with your coding agent.
repository description · github.comIssues view – Filter and search issues, edit inline
readme · github.comEpics view – Show progress per epic, expand rows, edit inline
readme · github.comBoard view – Blocked / Ready / In progress / Closed columns
readme · github.comMulti-workspace – Switch between projects via dropdown, auto-registers workspaces
readme · github.comnpm i beads-ui -g ... bdui start --open
readme · github.comHOST overrides the bind address (default 127.0.0.1). PORT overrides the listen port (default 3000).
readme · github.comLocal UI for Beads — Collaborate on issues with your coding agent.
verdict · github.com- 🔎 **Issues view** – Filter and search issues, edit inline - ⛰️ **Epics view** – Show progress per epic, expand rows, edit inline - 🏂 **Board view** – Blocked / Ready / In progress / Closed columns
shared feature · github.comnpm i beads-ui -g # In your project directory: bdui start --open
deployment · github.com- macOS/Linux are fully supported. On Windows, the CLI uses `cmd /c start` to open URLs and relies on Node’s `process.kill` semantics for stopping the daemon.
deployment · github.com
