Welcome to the Bead Project! We're building tools to solve the reproducibility crisis in computational research by making it easy to track, share, and reproduce data-driven analyses.

Bead is a command-line tool that packages your computational workflows into self-contained, versioned units called "beads." Each bead follows the fundamental pattern:

output = code(*inputs)

Every day, researchers ask themselves:

• "What exact version of the data did we use?"
• "How do we reproduce this result?"
• "Which code did we run?"
• "What happened to our intermediate files?"

Bead answers these questions by creating immutable snapshots of your complete computational environment.

• 🔒 Immutable & Versioned: Every bead save creates a new timestamped archive
• 🌐 Language Agnostic: Works with Python, R, Stata, Shell scripts, or any tool that uses files
• 📁 Local-First: No servers required - works completely offline with simple directory storage
• 🔗 Dependency Tracking: Explicit input management with content verification
• 👥 Team Friendly: Easy sharing via file systems, network drives, or manual transfer
• 📦 Human Readable: Standard zip archives accessible even without bead tools

# Install bead (see main repository for detailed installation instructions)
# Note: Requires Python 3.10+
python -m pip install --user pipx
pipx install git+https://github.com/bead-project/bead

# Create a new computational workspace
bead new my-analysis
cd my-analysis

# Add your code and data
echo "print('Hello reproducible world!')" > src/analyze.py
python src/analyze.py > output/results.txt

# Save as an immutable bead
bead save my-project-box

• bead - Main tool repository with Python module and CLI

• Documentation Site - Complete user manual, guides, and best practices
• Demo Materials - Live demonstration examples

• 📖 Read the documentation for detailed usage instructions
• 🐛 Report issues in the main repository
• 💬 Join discussions in our GitHub Discussions

• Data Scientists tracking analysis versions and dependencies
• Research Teams collaborating on computational projects
• Academic Researchers ensuring reproducible publications
• Analysts managing complex data processing pipelines

• Source data collection and versioning
• Multi-step data processing workflows
• Collaborative research with shared dependencies
• Long-term project reproducibility
• Human-in-the-loop analysis workflows

• Manage files and their dependencies with content verification
• Create immutable snapshots of computational workflows
• Enable deterministic recreation of results
• Provide audit trails for scientific workflows

• Run your code (you control execution)
• Manage software dependencies (use conda, pip, etc.)
• Provide cloud storage (you choose where to store bead boxes)
• Replace your development environment (use your preferred tools)

We welcome contributions! Here's how to get involved:

1. Try Bead - Download and test it with your workflows
2. Share Feedback - Report bugs or suggest improvements
3. Spread the Word - Help other researchers discover reproducible workflows

"Bead is moving files, but that's it."

Bead is intentionally minimal and focused - it manages files and their relationships, leaving everything else to you and your preferred tools. This makes it:

• Universally applicable across all computational domains
• Non-intrusive to existing workflows
• Future-proof as technologies change
• Simple to understand and debug

Ready to make your research reproducible? Start with our documentation and join the growing community of researchers who never lose track of their computational workflows again! 🎉