Linear

You can connect Linear to your workflows through an MCP server that lets you create, update, and query Linear issues using natural language prompts. This server enables your LLMs to interact with Linear’s issue tracking, making it easy to manage work items from conversational interfaces.

How to use

Use the Linear MCP server from your MCP client to perform common issue-tracking actions within Linear. You can create new issues, update existing ones, search for issues with flexible filters, fetch issues assigned to a user, and add comments to issues. You also have handy link formats to view details, team dashboards, and user contexts to navigate Linear faster.

Key actions you can perform include creating issues with a title and team, updating issue fields like description, priority, and status, searching across titles and descriptions with various filters, listing issues assigned to a user, and adding comments to conversations on issues. These tools are exposed as MCP endpoints that your client can invoke via the MCP connection.

How to install

Prerequisites: you need Node.js and npm installed on your machine.

Step 1: Install dependencies for the MCP server package.

npm install

Step 2: Set your Linear API key in the environment used by the MCP server. This key authenticates requests to Linear.

LINEAR_API_KEY=your_linear_api_key_here

Step 3: Build the server so it is ready to run in development or production.

npm run build

Step 4: For development with auto-rebuild, start the watcher to automatically rebuild on changes.

npm run watch

Step 5: Add the MCP server configuration to your client’s config. On macOS, place this snippet in the specified path.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "linear": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-linear"
      ],
      "env": {
        "LINEAR_API_KEY": "your_linear_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Additional configuration and notes

The server exposes a set of tools to manage Linear issues. You can access individual issues, team issues, and user context through specialized URLs when your client presents them to users.

Troubleshooting and tips

If you run into authentication errors, double-check that LINEAR_API_KEY is correct and that the key has the necessary permissions for the operations you’re performing.

Ensure the MCP client is using the same environment variables and that the server is started with the proper configuration so the tools are available to your conversations.

Available tools

linear_create_issue

Create a new Linear issue with a title and team. Optional details include description, priority (0-4), and initial status.

linear_update_issue

Update fields of an existing Linear issue, such as title, description, priority, and status.

linear_search_issues

Search issues with flexible filtering including query text, team, status, assignee, labels, and priority, with a configurable limit.

linear_get_user_issues

Retrieve issues assigned to a user, with optional userId, archive inclusion, and limit.

linear_add_comment

Add a markdown-supported comment to a specific issue, with optional creator and avatar details.