# Beads vs Gastown: Should You Use External Frameworks for AI Agents?

# Beads vs Gastown: Should You Use External Frameworks for AI Agents?

> Analysis of Beads (agent task tracker) and Gastown (agent orchestration). Why building your own agent setup beats using external frameworks.

Source: https://okhlopkov.com/en-beads-gastown-framework-ai-agents/

In our chat , @og_mishgun was hyping up beads (task tracker for agents) and gastown (multi-agent orchestration). Beads: A Minimal Agent Task Tracker Beads seemed native and minimalist: just tracks tasks in .jsonl, structures them, decomposes, helps finish things instead of abandoning halfway. Everything stays in your repo, context isn't lost. Gastown: Orchestration Overkill Gastown was the opposite: tons of files and roles (a mayor and convoy?). Decided I don't need it. Why External Frameworks Are a Trap I'm skeptical about agent frameworks: you need to study them, read their prompts, to use them as designed. It's useful to understand what other people invent (see personal AI ). But instead of "installing" a pile of someone else's files, prompts, and MCPs, I prefer cherry-picking what I actually need. Don't put your mental train on someone else's tracks. First-Party Is the Best Party The industry moves fast: Anthropic announced they were inspired by beads and upgraded their todo into a full task tracker. Now you need to rip beads out again — Anthropic's experts with infinite test tokens will build their own tool better. Bottom line: study other people's tools, but build your agent yourself. You don't need someone else's legacy.