Gas Town Rig Setup

Overview

Add a Git repository as a Gas Town rig with Dolt-native beads integration. The process requires seeding .beads/ in the upstream repo first, then adding the rig, initializing Dolt, and configuring remotes.

Why seed .beads/ first? gt rig add behaves differently depending on whether the cloned repo has a tracked .beads/ directory. Seeding ensures the correct code path runs. See “Why Seeding Matters” below for the technical details.

When to Use

• Adding a new repository as a Gas Town rig
• User says “add a rig”, “set up a rig”, “onboard this repo”

When NOT to Use

• Setting up beads in a standalone repo (use beads-setup skill)
• Migrating an existing rig from SQLite to Dolt (see MEMORY.md migration notes)

Prerequisites

Before starting, confirm with the user:

1. Rig name – Short, single-word, no hyphens (hyphens cause SQL quoting issues). E.g., toolkit not gt-toolkit.
2. Beads prefix – 2-3 letter abbreviation. E.g., tk. Must not conflict with existing prefixes in ~/gt/.beads/routes.jsonl.
3. Git remote URL – SSH (git@github.com:Org/repo.git) or HTTPS (https://github.com/Org/repo.git). Both work with gt rig add.

Check existing prefixes:

cat ~/gt/.beads/routes.jsonl

Steps

1. Clone repo into ~/projects/

cd ~/projects && git clone <SSH_URL> <repo-dir-name>

2. Seed minimal .beads/ in the clone

Create four files using an existing rig as template (e.g., ~/projects/onyx/.beads/):

.beads/.gitignore — Copy from template rig verbatim.

.beads/config.yaml:

sync.mode: "dolt-native"

.beads/metadata.json — Set dolt_database to the rig name:

{
  "backend": "dolt",
  "database": "dolt",
  "dolt_database": "<RIG_NAME>",
  "dolt_mode": "server",
  "dolt_server_port": 3307
}

.beads/README.md — Copy from template rig verbatim.

3. Commit and push .beads/

cd ~/projects/<repo-dir>
git add .beads/
git commit -m "feat: add minimal .beads/ for Gastown rig integration"
git push

4. Add the rig

gt rig add <RIG_NAME> <SSH_URL> --prefix <PREFIX>

This creates ~/gt/<RIG_NAME>/ with the full rig structure (mayor/rig, crew/, refinery/, witness/, polecats/).

5. Initialize the Dolt database

gt dolt init-rig <RIG_NAME>

Creates ~/gt/.dolt-data/<RIG_NAME>/.

6. Restart Dolt server

gt dolt stop && gt dolt start

Verify the new database appears:

gt dolt list

STOP if the rig database doesn’t appear. Investigate before proceeding.

7. Configure Dolt remote

mkdir -p ~/dolt-remotes/<RIG_NAME>
cd ~/gt/.dolt-data/<RIG_NAME> && dolt remote add origin file:///home/xexr/dolt-remotes/<RIG_NAME>
cd ~/gt/.dolt-data/<RIG_NAME> && dolt push origin main

8. Verify configuration

Check these files have correct values:

9. Run diagnostics

cd ~/gt/<RIG_NAME>/mayor/rig && bd doctor
gt doctor

Investigate and fix any issues before declaring complete.

Known false positive: bd doctor reports ✖ Database: No dolt database found in server mode. This is cosmetic — it checks for a local .beads/dolt/ directory which doesn’t exist when using the centralized Dolt server at .dolt-data/. Verify actual connectivity with bd list instead; if that returns results, the database is working.

Verification Checklist

[ ] gt rig list — shows new rig
[ ] gt dolt list — shows new database
[ ] bd list — returns results (from within rig's mayor/rig/)
[ ] gt doctor — passes (marketplace-related checks)
[ ] ~/dolt-remotes/<RIG_NAME>/ — has data after push
[ ] cat ~/gt/.dolt-data/<RIG_NAME>/.dolt/repo_state.json — shows origin remote

Common Mistakes

Why Seeding Matters

gt rig add (internal/rig/manager.go:AddRig) takes two different code paths depending on whether the cloned repo has a tracked .beads/ directory. The unseeded path has a database naming bug that breaks Dolt connectivity.

The bug in the unseeded path

When .beads/ is NOT in the repo, the following sequence creates a name mismatch:

1. doltserver.InitRig(townRoot, "toolkit") at manager.go:485 creates a Dolt database named toolkit
2. InitBeads at manager.go:765 runs bd init --prefix tk --server (no existing .beads/ to redirect to)
3. bd init at init.go:457 writes dolt_database: "beads_tk" to metadata.json — this is bd’s own naming convention ("beads_" + prefix)
4. EnsureMetadata at doltserver.go:1570 checks if dolt_database == nil || == "" — it’s "beads_tk", so it does not override
5. Result: metadata.json says dolt_database: "beads_tk" but the actual database is "toolkit". bd cannot connect.

How seeding prevents this

When .beads/ IS in the repo (with the correct dolt_database: "<RIG_NAME>" in metadata.json):

1. After cloning into mayor/rig/, the code detects .beads/ at manager.go:419
2. doltserver.InitRig at manager.go:485 creates database "toolkit" and calls EnsureMetadata — which finds mayor/rig/.beads/metadata.json already has the correct dolt_database: "toolkit" and leaves it alone
3. InitBeads at manager.go:734 sees mayor/rig/.beads exists → creates a redirect file at <rig>/.beads/redirect → mayor/rig/.beads → returns early without running bd init (so the correct dolt_database is never overwritten)
4. Route registration at manager.go:644 sets the route path to <name>/mayor/rig
5. EnsureMetadata at manager.go:503 confirms dolt_mode: "server", dolt_database: "toolkit" — all correct

Result: mayor/rig/.beads/ is the canonical beads location (tracked in git). The rig-level .beads/redirect points all agents there. The database name matches. Config persists across clones.

Summary

Seeding .beads/ with the correct metadata.json is not just a preference — it’s a workaround for a bug where bd init --server writes dolt_database: "beads_<prefix>" which conflicts with the centralized Dolt database named <rigName>. Without seeding, bd connects to a non-existent database.

Quick Reference

# Full sequence for adding rig "myrig" with prefix "mr" from git@github.com:Org/repo.git

# 1. Clone and seed
cd ~/projects && git clone git@github.com:Org/repo.git repo-dir
# Create .beads/ files (see Step 2 above)
cd ~/projects/repo-dir && git add .beads/ && git commit -m "feat: add .beads/" && git push

# 2. Add rig + init dolt
gt rig add myrig git@github.com:Org/repo.git --prefix mr
gt dolt init-rig myrig
gt dolt stop && gt dolt start
gt dolt list  # verify "myrig" appears

# 3. Configure remote
mkdir -p ~/dolt-remotes/myrig
cd ~/gt/.dolt-data/myrig && dolt remote add origin file:///home/xexr/dolt-remotes/myrig
cd ~/gt/.dolt-data/myrig && dolt push origin main

# 4. Verify
cd ~/gt/myrig/mayor/rig && bd doctor
gt doctor