Purpose

Control Linear from OpenClaw. Create issues, triage backlogs, update priorities, and run sprint reviews — all from your AI assistant, without switching tabs.

Works via Linear's GraphQL API using curl. No CLI or SDK required.

When to Use

• Checking sprint progress mid-cycle
• Creating issues from meeting notes or conversation
• Triaging and reprioritizing a backlog
• Looking up an issue's status before a standup
• Bulk-updating labels, assignees, or priorities
• Generating a status report across projects or teams

When NOT to Use

• Complex Figma/design reviews (use browser tooling)
• GitHub PR integration (use the github skill instead)
• Syncing Linear with Jira or other trackers (script with Linear's API directly)

Setup

1. Open Linear → Settings → API → Personal API keys
2. Create a key (read + write scope)
3. Add to your OpenClaw config:

LINEAR_API_KEY=lin_api_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Verify the key works:

curl -s -X POST https://api.linear.app/graphql \
  -H "Authorization: $LINEAR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "{ viewer { name } }"}' | jq .

You should see your name returned.

Commands

List your open issues

curl -s -X POST https://api.linear.app/graphql \
  -H "Authorization: $LINEAR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "{ viewer { assignedIssues(filter: { state: { type: { nin: [\"completed\", \"cancelled\"] } } }) { nodes { id title priority state { name } team { name } } } } }"
  }' | jq '.data.viewer.assignedIssues.nodes'

Get issues for a team

TEAM_KEY="ENG"  # your team's key

curl -s -X POST https://api.linear.app/graphql \
  -H "Authorization: $LINEAR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{
    \"query\": \"{ team(key: \\\"$TEAM_KEY\\\") { issues(filter: { state: { type: { eq: \\\"started\\\" } } }) { nodes { id identifier title assignee { name } priority } } } }\"
  }" | jq '.data.team.issues.nodes'

Create an issue

curl -s -X POST https://api.linear.app/graphql \
  -H "Authorization: $LINEAR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "query": "mutation IssueCreate($input: IssueCreateInput!) { issueCreate(input: $input) { success issue { id identifier title } } }",
    "variables": {
      "input": {
        "teamId": "TEAM_ID_HERE",
        "title": "Issue title from OpenClaw",
        "description": "Created via OpenClaw linear skill.",
        "priority": 2
      }
    }
  }' | jq '.data.issueCreate'

Priority levels: 0 = No priority, 1 = Urgent, 2 = High, 3 = Medium, 4 = Low.

Update an issue

ISSUE_ID="ISSUE_ID_HERE"

curl -s -X POST https://api.linear.app/graphql \
  -H "Authorization: $LINEAR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{
    \"query\": \"mutation { issueUpdate(id: \\\"$ISSUE_ID\\\", input: { priority: 1, stateId: \\\"STATE_ID\\\" }) { success issue { id title priority state { name } } } }\"
  }" | jq '.data.issueUpdate'

Search issues by keyword

QUERY="authentication bug"

curl -s -X POST https://api.linear.app/graphql \
  -H "Authorization: $LINEAR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{
    \"query\": \"{ issueSearch(query: \\\"$QUERY\\\") { nodes { id identifier title state { name } assignee { name } priority } } }\"
  }" | jq '.data.issueSearch.nodes'

Get current cycle (sprint) for a team

TEAM_KEY="ENG"

curl -s -X POST https://api.linear.app/graphql \
  -H "Authorization: $LINEAR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{
    \"query\": \"{ team(key: \\\"$TEAM_KEY\\\") { activeCycle { id name startsAt endsAt issues { nodes { id title state { name } estimate } } } } }\"
  }" | jq '.data.team.activeCycle'

Add a comment to an issue

ISSUE_ID="ISSUE_ID_HERE"
COMMENT="LGTM — deploying to staging now."

curl -s -X POST https://api.linear.app/graphql \
  -H "Authorization: $LINEAR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "{
    \"query\": \"mutation { commentCreate(input: { issueId: \\\"$ISSUE_ID\\\", body: \\\"$COMMENT\\\" }) { success comment { id body } } }\"
  }" | jq '.data.commentCreate'

Examples

Morning standup prep: "What are my open Linear issues with priority Urgent or High?" → Run the "list your open issues" query, filter by priority ≤ 2.

After a meeting: "Create a Linear issue in the ENG team: 'Fix auth token refresh race condition', High priority" → Look up ENG team ID, then run the create mutation with the title and priority=2.

Sprint review: "Show me all completed issues in the current ENG cycle" → Get activeCycle, filter state.type == "completed". Summarize with titles and estimates.

Triage: "Move all issues assigned to @alice in ENG to 'In Progress'" → Fetch issues, get state ID for "In Progress", run issueUpdate for each.

Notes

• Rate limits: Linear API allows 1,500 requests/hour. Cache results for bulk reads.
• IDs vs keys: Teams can be queried by key (e.g. "ENG"). Issues, states, and cycles require UUIDs. Get UUIDs from list queries.
• GraphQL introspection: Run { __schema { types { name } } } to explore the full API schema.
• Webhooks: For real-time issue updates, configure a webhook in Linear → Settings → API → Webhooks. Pair with the webhook-listener skill.
• Pagination: Large teams should use first: N, after: cursor pagination. Default page size is 50.