Linear

Interact with Linear's GraphQL API to manage issues.

When to Use

• User asks about Linear issues, tickets, or project management

• Need to triage, prioritize, or update issue status

• Want to search or comment on issues

• Managing a backlog or sprint

Setup

Requires LINEAR_API_KEY environment variable. Get one from Linear Settings > API > Personal API keys.

Quick Operations

List issues by status

npx tsx scripts/linear.ts list --state "Triage" npx tsx scripts/linear.ts list --state "In Progress" npx tsx scripts/linear.ts list --state "Backlog"

List issues assigned to someone

npx tsx scripts/linear.ts list --assignee "cameron"

Get issue details

npx tsx scripts/linear.ts get <issue-id>

Update issue priority (0=none, 1=urgent, 2=high, 3=medium, 4=low)

npx tsx scripts/linear.ts update <issue-id> --priority 2

Update issue state

npx tsx scripts/linear.ts update <issue-id> --state "In Progress"

Add comment

npx tsx scripts/linear.ts comment <issue-id> "Your comment here"

Search issues

npx tsx scripts/linear.ts search "search query"

Triage Workflow

• List triage issues: list --state "Triage"

• Review each issue, decide priority

• Update priority and move to appropriate state

• Add comments for context if needed

Output Format

All commands output JSON for easy parsing. Use jq for filtering if needed.

Battle-Tested Insights

GraphQL Query Patterns

• Linear uses GraphQL with nested filtering. State filters need the exact format: state: { name: { eq: "State Name" } }

• Assignee filters are case-insensitive with containsIgnoreCase

• When updating state, you need to fetch the state ID first - state names alone won't work in mutations

Common Pitfalls

• Issue IDs vs Identifiers: The API accepts both UUID-style IDs and human-readable identifiers (e.g., "ENG-123"), but some endpoints prefer one over the other

• Priority is numeric (0-4), not a string

• Rate limits are generous but exist - batch operations if doing bulk updates