Linear

Linear

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

⚠️ Tool Availability (READ FIRST)

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

1. MCP Tools (mcp__linear-server__* or mcp__linear__*, depending on the configured server name) - 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.

🔐 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. Note: the official MCP server authenticates via OAuth and does not read LINEAR_API_KEY — the key is only used by this skill's SDK/GraphQL scripts (scripts/query.ts, scripts/linear-ops.ts)

4. Use varlock load to validate before operations

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.

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 (pass --team in multi-team workspaces — the default is the workspace's first team):

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

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

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:

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"

Tool Selection

Three tiers, in order. Reach for the lowest tier that fits:

The bundled scripts (scripts/linear-ops.ts, scripts/sync.ts, etc.) are Tier-2 SDK scripts — use them, or write your own, for anything beyond a single interactive action. scripts/query.ts is the Tier-3 CLI for ad-hoc raw GraphQL.

MCP Server Configuration

Use the official Linear MCP server at mcp.linear.app over native HTTP transport:

claude mcp add --transport http --scope user linear-server https://mcp.linear.app/mcp

Or in .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "linear-server": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.linear.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

The server authenticates via OAuth — run /mcp, pick the server, and log in through the browser. LINEAR_API_KEY is not used by the MCP connection; it is only needed for this skill's SDK/GraphQL scripts.

WARNING: The old /sse endpoint and the npx mcp-remote https://mcp.linear.app/sse shim are deprecated — OAuth against /sse now fails with "Protected resource https://mcp.linear.app/mcp does not match expected ...". Do NOT use deprecated community servers either. See troubleshooting.md for details.

MCP Reliability (Official Server)

Quick Status Update

# Via MCP - use human-readable state names (the official server consolidates
# create/update into save_* tools; there is no update_issue)
save_issue with id="issue-uuid", state="Done"

# Via SDK script (bulk operations) - takes a state name then issue identifiers
# (bare numbers like 123 work too; the prefix is stripped automatically)
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts status Done ENG-123 ENG-124

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: create-issue resolves the team from the target project, so it picks the right team automatically. If you still need manual control over the team, use a short SDK call instead of the helper — look up the project's team, then create the issue with an explicit teamId:

// npx tsx in a small script, or inline. @linear/sdk is fully typed.
import { LinearClient } from '@linear/sdk'
const client = new LinearClient({ apiKey: process.env.LINEAR_API_KEY })

// Get the project's team
const projects = await client.projects({ filter: { name: { containsIgnoreCase: 'PROJECT NAME' } } })
const project = projects.nodes[0]
const teamId = (await project.teams()).nodes[0].id

// Create with explicit teamId
await client.createIssue({ teamId, projectId: project.id, title: 'Issue title' })

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

Critical Requirements

Issues → Projects → Initiatives

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

See projects.md for complete project creation checklist.

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

The right tool for anything programmatic, bulk, or repeatable — use MCP for interactive single operations, and SDK scripts (npx tsx + @linear/sdk) for everything scripted. For loops, mapping, conditionals, or bulk updates, write TypeScript 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 — and not a separate toolchain. Raw GraphQL is reached through the SDK's client.client.rawRequest escape hatch, not a parallel set of tools. The bundled scripts/query.ts is exactly that: a thin CLI wrapper around rawRequest. Use it only for the rare query the typed SDK doesn't already cover.

See api.md for complete documentation including:

• Authentication and setup
• The rawRequest escape hatch and example queries/mutations
• Timeout handling patterns
• Shell quoting 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 (--team takes a team key or name)
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts create-project "Phase X: Name" "My Initiative" --team ENG

# 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)

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

Reference

External: Linear MCP Documentation