January 5, 2026
Bash vs Buttons
Show HN: I replaced Beads with a faster, simpler Markdown-based task tracker
HN erupts: 'Just use GitHub' vs 'Keep it simple' over a plain-text task tool
TLDR: “ticket” swaps complex tracking for simple text files that work with Git and AI assistants. Commenters love the simplicity and bash vibe, but a loud camp says to stick with GitHub Issues or tools like git-bug, sparking a classic local-vs-platform debate.
Hacker News lit up after a dev dropped ticket—a tiny, bash-based task tracker that replaces Beads with plain Markdown files and Git. Translation: tasks are simple text files with labels at the top, easy for AI helpers to read, and there’s no database or mysterious background process. The crowd split. Minimalists cheered: nmfisher bailed on Beads at the infamous “landing the plane” moment and wants flat, human-readable files. Bash nostalgists swooned, with bbor exclaiming, “Oh my lord it’s written in bash,” and joking this will win over seniors who love tools that run anywhere.
Then came the pushback. khimaros asked, why not git-bug—another Git-stored issue tool? arjie flexed a hacker shortcut: “For solo projects I just use git notes,” warning it breaks for teams. And jannniii lobbed the big platform grenade: why not just use GitHub Issues? The thread devolved into philosophy: keep it local and simple vs outsource everything to big platforms. Bonus meme: “landing the plane” became shorthand for overcomplication. Fans love that Claude (an AI coding assistant) can pick up tickets naturally. Skeptics say it’s reinventing the wheel. Either way, the text-file revolution is back—and it’s loud. Plus, it ships with a Beads migration for easy switching.
Key Points
- •“ticket” (tk) is a git-backed, bash-based issue tracker designed to replace Beads.
- •Tickets are stored as Markdown files with YAML frontmatter in .tickets/, enabling easy AI querying and IDE navigation via ticket IDs.
- •tk removes the need for SQLite and background daemons, and includes a migrate-beads command for smooth transition.
- •Installation options include Homebrew, Arch Linux AUR, and building from source; requirements are bash, coreutils, with jq for queries and optional ripgrep.
- •The CLI supports creation, status updates, dependency tracking, linking, listing ready/blocked/closed tickets, JSON queries, partial ID matching, and is MIT-licensed.