Linear

Linear

Tools and workflows for managing issues, projects, and teams in Linear.

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⚠️ Tool Availability (READ FIRST)

This skill supports multiple tool backends. Use whichever is available:

1. MCP Tools (mcp__linear) - Use if available in your tool set
2. Linear CLI (linear command) - Always available via Bash
3. Helper Scripts - For complex operations

If MCP tools are NOT available, use the Linear CLI via Bash:

# View an issue
linear issues view ENG-123

# Create an issue
linear issues create --title "Issue title" --description "Description"

# Update issue status (get state IDs first)
linear issues update ENG-123 -s "STATE_ID"

# Add a comment
linear issues comment add ENG-123 -m "Comment text"

# List issues
linear issues list

Do NOT report "MCP tools not available" as a blocker - use CLI instead.

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? Security: Varlock Integration

CRITICAL: Never expose API keys in terminal output or Claude's context.

Safe Commands (Always Use)

# Validate LINEAR_API_KEY is set (masked output)
varlock load 2>&1 | grep LINEAR

# Run commands with secrets injected
varlock run -- npx tsx scripts/query.ts "query { viewer { name } }"

# Check schema (safe - no values)
cat .env.schema | grep LINEAR

Unsafe Commands (NEVER Use)

# ❌ NEVER - exposes key to Claude's context
linear config show
echo $LINEAR_API_KEY
printenv | grep LINEAR
cat .env

Setup for New Projects

1. Create .env.schema with @sensitive annotation:

   # @type=string(startsWith=lin_api_) @required @sensitive
   LINEAR_API_KEY=
   

2. Add LINEAR_API_KEY to .env (never commit this file)

3. Configure MCP to use environment variable:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "linear": {
         "env": { "LINEAR_API_KEY": "${LINEAR_API_KEY}" }
       }
     }
   }
   

4. Use varlock load to validate before operations

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Quick Start (First-Time Users)

1. Check Your Setup

Run the setup check to verify your configuration:

npx tsx scripts/setup.ts

This will check:

• LINEAR_API_KEY is set and valid
• @linear/sdk is installed
• Linear CLI availability (optional)
• MCP configuration (optional)

2. Get API Key (If Needed)

If setup reports a missing API key:

1. Open Linear in your browser
2. Go to Settings (gear icon) -> Security & access -> Personal API keys
3. Click Create key and copy the key (starts with lin_api_)
4. Add to your environment:

# Option A: Add to shell profile (~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc)
export LINEAR_API_KEY="lin_api_your_key_here"

# Option B: Add to Claude Code environment
echo 'LINEAR_API_KEY=lin_api_your_key_here' >> ~/.claude/.env

# Then reload your shell or restart Claude Code

3. Test Connection

Verify everything works:

npx tsx scripts/query.ts "query { viewer { name } }"

You should see your name from Linear.

4. Common Operations

# Create issue in a project
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts create-issue "Project" "Title" "Description"

# Update issue status
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts status Done ENG-123 ENG-124

# Create sub-issue
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts create-sub-issue ENG-100 "Sub-task" "Details"

# Update project status
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts project-status "Phase 1" completed

# Show all commands
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts help

See Project Management Commands for full reference.

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Project Planning Workflow

Create Issues in the Correct Project from the Start

Best Practice: When planning a new phase or initiative, create the project and its issues together in a single planning session. Avoid creating issues in a catch-all project and moving them later.

Recommended Workflow

1. Create the project first:

   npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts create-project "Phase X: Feature Name" "My Initiative"
   

2. Set project state to Planned:

   npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts project-status "Phase X: Feature Name" planned
   

3. Create issues directly in the project:

   npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts create-issue "Phase X: Feature Name" "Parent task" "Description"
   npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts create-sub-issue ENG-XXX "Sub-task 1" "Description"
   npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts create-sub-issue ENG-XXX "Sub-task 2" "Description"
   

4. Update project state when work begins:

   npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts project-status "Phase X: Feature Name" in-progress
   

Why This Matters

• Traceability: Issues are linked to their project from creation
• Metrics: Project progress tracking is accurate from day one
• Workflow: No time wasted moving issues between projects
• Organization: Linear views and filters work correctly

Anti-Pattern to Avoid

❌ Creating issues in a "holding" project and moving them later:

# Don't do this
create-issue "Phase 6A" "New feature"  # Wrong project
# Later: manually move to Phase X      # Extra work

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Project Management Commands

project-status

Update a project's state in Linear. Accepts user-friendly terminology that maps to Linear's API.

npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts project-status <project-name> <state>

Valid States:

Input	Description	API Value
backlog	Not yet started	backlog
planned	Scheduled for future	planned
in-progress	Currently active	started
paused	Temporarily on hold	paused
completed	Successfully finished	completed
canceled	Will not be done	canceled

Examples:

# Start working on a project
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts project-status "Phase 8: MCP Decision Engine" in-progress

# Mark project complete
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts project-status "Phase 8" completed

# Partial name matching works
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts project-status "Phase 8" paused

link-initiative

Link an existing project to an initiative.

npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts link-initiative <project-name> <initiative-name>

Examples:

# Link a project to an initiative
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts link-initiative "Phase 8: MCP Decision Engine" "Q1 Goals"

# Partial matching works
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts link-initiative "Phase 8" "Q1 Goals"

unlink-initiative

Remove a project from an initiative.

npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts unlink-initiative <project-name> <initiative-name>

Examples:

# Remove incorrect link
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts unlink-initiative "Phase 8" "Linear Skill"

# Clean up test links
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts unlink-initiative "Test Project" "Q1 Goals"

Error Handling:

• Returns error if project is not linked to the specified initiative
• Returns error if project or initiative not found

Complete Project Lifecycle Example

# 1. Create project linked to initiative
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts create-project "Phase 11: New Feature" "Q1 Goals"

# 2. Set state to planned
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts project-status "Phase 11" planned

# 3. Create issues in the project
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts create-issue "Phase 11" "Parent task" "Description"
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts create-sub-issue ENG-XXX "Sub-task 1" "Details"

# 4. Start work - update to in-progress
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts project-status "Phase 11" in-progress

# 5. Mark issues done
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts status Done ENG-XXX ENG-YYY

# 6. Complete project
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts project-status "Phase 11" completed

# 7. (Optional) Link to additional initiative
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts link-initiative "Phase 11" "Q2 Goals"

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Tool Selection

Choose the right tool for the task:

Tool	When to Use
MCP (Official Server)	Most operations - PREFERRED
Helper Scripts	Bulk operations, when MCP unavailable
SDK scripts	Complex operations (loops, conditionals)
GraphQL API	Operations not supported by MCP/SDK

MCP Server Configuration

Use the official Linear MCP server at mcp.linear.app:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "linear": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://mcp.linear.app/sse"],
      "env": { "LINEAR_API_KEY": "your_api_key" }
    }
  }
}

WARNING: Do NOT use deprecated community servers. See troubleshooting.md for details.

MCP Reliability (Official Server)

Operation	Reliability	Notes
Create issue	✅ High	Full support
Update status	✅ High	Use state: "Done" directly
List/Search issues	✅ High	Supports filters, queries
Add comment	✅ High	Works with issue IDs

Quick Status Update

# Via MCP - use human-readable state names
update_issue with id="issue-uuid", state="Done"

# Via helper script (bulk operations)
node scripts/linear-helpers.mjs update-status Done 123 124 125

Helper Script Reference

For detailed helper script usage, see troubleshooting.md.

Parallel Agent Execution

For bulk operations or background execution, use the Linear-specialist subagent:

Task({
  description: "Update Linear issues",
  prompt: "Mark ENG-101, ENG-102, ENG-103 as Done",
  subagent_type: "Linear-specialist"
})

When to use Linear-specialist (parallel):

• Bulk status updates (3+ issues)
• Project status changes
• Creating multiple issues
• Sync operations after code changes

When to use direct execution:

• Single issue queries
• Viewing issue details
• Quick status checks
• Operations needing immediate results

See sync.md for parallel execution patterns.

Image Uploads

Step 1: Extract the image from conversation context

Images shared inline in Claude Code are not saved to disk automatically — they live as base64 in the session JSONL. Use the extraction script:

# Find the current session JSONL
ls -t ~/.claude/projects/<project-path>/*.jsonl | head -1

# Extract all inline images (saves to /tmp by default)
npx tsx scripts/extract-image.ts <path-to-session.jsonl>

# Or specify a custom output directory
npx tsx scripts/extract-image.ts <path-to-session.jsonl> ~/Desktop

This saves images to /tmp/shared-image-0.png, /tmp/shared-image-1.png, etc.

Always verify the extracted image with the Read tool before uploading.

Step 2: Create the issue

# Standard approach
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts create-issue "Project Name" "Issue title" "Description"

Note: If you need to target a specific team and create-issue picks the wrong one, use GraphQL with explicit teamId:

# Get the project's team
npx tsx scripts/query.ts 'query { projects(filter: { name: { containsIgnoreCase: "PROJECT NAME" } }) { nodes { id name teams { nodes { id name key } } } } }'

# Create with explicit teamId
npx tsx scripts/query.ts 'mutation { issueCreate(input: { teamId: "TEAM_UUID", projectId: "PROJECT_UUID", title: "Issue title", description: "Description" }) { success issue { id identifier url } } }'

Step 3: Upload the image and attach to the issue

npx tsx scripts/upload-image.ts /tmp/shared-image-0.png ENG-123 "Optional comment text"

The script will:

1. Upload the file to Linear's S3 storage
2. Post a comment on the issue with the image embedded as markdown

Supported formats: PNG, JPG/JPEG, GIF, WebP, SVG, PDF

Known pitfalls

Problem	Cause	Fix
create-issue picks wrong team	Multiple teams in workspace	Use GraphQL with explicit teamId (see Step 2)
upload-image.ts "Issue not found"	Issue was deleted before attaching	Ensure issue exists first
Image not found on disk	Shared inline, not as file	Extract from session JSONL (Step 1)

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Critical Requirements

Issues → Projects → Initiatives

Every issue MUST be attached to a project. Every project MUST be linked to an initiative.

Entity	Must Link To	If Missing
Issue	Project	Not visible in project board
Project	Initiative	Not visible in roadmap

See projects.md for complete project creation checklist.

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Conventions

Issue Status

• Assigned to me: Set state: "Todo"
• Unassigned: Set state: "Backlog"

Labels

Uses domain-based label taxonomy. See docs/labels.md.

Key rules:

• ONE Type label: feature, bug, refactor, chore, spike
• 1-2 Domain labels: security, backend, frontend, etc.
• Scope labels when applicable: blocked, breaking-change, tech-debt

# Validate labels
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts labels validate "feature,security"

# Suggest labels for issue
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts labels suggest "Fix XSS vulnerability"

SDK Automation Scripts

Use only when MCP tools are insufficient. For complex operations involving loops, mapping, or bulk updates, write TypeScript scripts using @linear/sdk. See sdk.md for:

• Complete script patterns and templates
• Common automation examples (bulk updates, filtering, reporting)
• Tool selection criteria

Scripts provide full type hints and are easier to debug than raw GraphQL for multi-step operations.

GraphQL API

Fallback only. Use when operations aren't supported by MCP or SDK.

See api.md for complete documentation including:

• Authentication and setup
• Example queries and mutations
• Timeout handling patterns
• MCP timeout workarounds
• Shell script compatibility

Quick ad-hoc query:

npx tsx scripts/query.ts "query { viewer { name } }"

Projects & Initiatives

For advanced project and initiative management patterns, see projects.md.

Quick reference - common project commands:

# Create project linked to initiative
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts create-project "Phase X: Name" "My Initiative"

# Update project status
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts project-status "Phase X" in-progress
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts project-status "Phase X" completed

# Link/unlink projects to initiatives
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts link-initiative "Phase X" "My Initiative"
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts unlink-initiative "Phase X" "Old Initiative"

Key topics in projects.md:

• Project creation checklist (mandatory steps)
• Content vs Description fields
• Discovery before creation
• Codebase verification before work
• Sub-issue management
• Project status updates
• Project updates (status reports)

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Sync Patterns (Bulk Operations)

For bulk synchronization of code changes to Linear, see sync.md.

Quick sync commands:

# Bulk update issues to Done
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts status Done ENG-101 ENG-102 ENG-103

# Update project status
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts project-status "My Project" completed

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Reference

Document	Purpose
api.md	GraphQL API reference, timeout handling
sdk.md	SDK automation patterns
sync.md	Bulk sync patterns
projects.md	Project & initiative management
troubleshooting.md	Common issues, MCP debugging
docs/labels.md	Label taxonomy

External: Linear MCP Documentation