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Summary

  • When issues have blocking dependencies, bd list now shows them inline
  • Format: (blocked by: X, Y) and (blocks: A, B)
  • Makes dependencies unmissable when reviewing epic subtasks

Problem Addressed

Agents reviewing epics with subtasks routinely point out "tasks have no dependencies" as feedback, then admit they didn't check dependencies when asked. The root cause: bd list shows no dependency information - agents have to remember to run bd show on each issue.

Solution

Display blocking dependency info directly in the list output:

○ bd-123 [P1] [task] - Design API (blocks: bd-124, bd-125)
○ bd-124 [P1] [task] - Implement (blocked by: bd-123, blocks: bd-125)
○ bd-125 [P1] [task] - Test (blocked by: bd-123, bd-124)

Implementation Details

  • Only shows blocking dependencies (blocks, parent-child, conditional-blocks, waits-for)
  • Does not show soft relationships (related, discovered-from)
  • Works in both daemon and direct mode
  • Works in both compact and agent output formats
  • Added buildBlockingMaps() helper and tests

Test plan

  • Added unit tests for formatIssueCompact with dependencies
  • Added unit tests for formatAgentIssue with dependencies
  • Added unit tests for buildBlockingMaps()
  • Verified existing list tests still pass
  • Updated QUICKSTART.md and CLI_REFERENCE.md documentation

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

When issues have blocking dependencies, bd list now shows them inline:
- "(blocked by: X, Y)" when the issue depends on other issues
- "(blocks: A, B)" when other issues depend on this issue

This makes dependencies unmissable when reviewing epic subtasks, addressing
a recurring agent problem where reviewers miss dependencies because they
don't run bd show on each issue.

Example output:
  ○ bd-123 [P1] [task] - Design API (blocks: bd-124, bd-125)
  ○ bd-124 [P1] [task] - Implement (blocked by: bd-123, blocks: bd-125)
  ○ bd-125 [P1] [task] - Test (blocked by: bd-123, bd-124)

Only blocking dependencies (blocks, parent-child, conditional-blocks,
waits-for) are shown, not soft relationships like related or discovered-from.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
@jdelfino jdelfino changed the title Show blocking dependencies inline in bd list output feat(list): show blocking dependencies inline in output Jan 27, 2026
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