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Overview

The bd mol seed command verifies that formulas are accessible and can be cooked (instantiated). This is useful for verifying system health before patrols or agents attempt to spawn work.

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Usage

# Verify all patrol formulas
bd mol seed --patrol

# Verify specific formula
bd mol seed <formula-name>

# Verify with variable substitution
bd mol seed mol-review --var name=test

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Arguments

  • [formula-name] - Optional formula name to verify. Required unless using --patrol flag.

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Options

  • --patrol - Verify all patrol formulas (mol-deacon-patrol, mol-witness-patrol, mol-refinery-patrol)
  • --var key=value - Variable substitution for condition filtering (can be specified multiple times)
  • --json - Output results in JSON format

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Formula Search Paths

Formulas are searched in the following order:
  1. .beads/formulas/ (project level)
  2. ~/.beads/formulas/ (user level)
  3. $GT_ROOT/.beads/formulas/ (orchestrator level, if GT_ROOT is set)

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What Gets Verified

The seed command checks that:
  1. Formula exists in the search path
  2. Formula syntax is valid
  3. Formula can be resolved (including extends/inheritance)
  4. Formula can be cooked to a subgraph structure

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Examples

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Verify Patrol Formulas

Before starting automated patrols, verify all patrol formulas are accessible: 
bd mol seed --patrol
Output: 
✓ All patrol formulas accessible

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Verify Specific Formula

Check if a custom formula can be used: 
bd mol seed mol-feature-workflow
Output: 
✓ Formula "mol-feature-workflow" accessible

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Verify with Variables

Test formula with specific variable values for condition filtering: 
bd mol seed mol-deploy --var environment=production --var region=us-west

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JSON Output

With --json flag: 
{
  "status": "ok",
  "formula": "mol-feature-workflow"
}
For patrol verification: 
{
  "status": "ok",
  "formulas": [
    "mol-deacon-patrol",
    "mol-witness-patrol",
    "mol-refinery-patrol"
  ]
}

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Use Cases

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Pre-Flight Checks

Use in CI/CD pipelines or agent startup scripts to verify formulas are available: 
#!/bin/bash
if bd mol seed --patrol --json | jq -e '.status == "ok"' > /dev/null; then
  echo "Formulas ready, starting patrol"
  bd patrol start
else
  echo "Formula verification failed"
  exit 1
fi

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Development Workflow

When developing new formulas, verify they can be loaded before attempting to use them: 
# After editing .beads/formulas/mol-custom.formula.json
bd mol seed mol-custom

# If successful, try instantiating
bd mol pour mol-custom --var feature=auth

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Debugging Formula Issues

If a formula fails to instantiate, use seed to isolate whether the issue is:
  • Formula not found (check search paths)
  • Invalid syntax (JSON parsing error)
  • Resolution failure (extends chain broken)
  • Cooking failure (invalid step structure)

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Exit Codes

  • 0 - Formula(s) successfully verified
  • 1 - Formula not found, invalid syntax, or verification failed

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