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 ~/​.claude/​skills/​linear/​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 ~/​.claude/​skills/​linear/​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:

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:

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)

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.

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.

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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 ~/​.claude/​skills/​linear/​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

External: Linear MCP Documentation