Linear Integration Skill

Purpose: Issue management for Linear.app using Linearis CLI with JSON output optimized for LLM agents.

Tool: Linearis CLI - npm package linearis

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Table of Contents

1. Prerequisites
2. Decision Tree
3. Quick Command Reference
4. Pattern Recognition - Auto-Invocation
5. Workflow Examples
6. Error Handling
7. Authentication Strategy
8. JSON Output Handling

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Prerequisites

Verify Installation

# Check CLI installed
linearis --version

Authentication (Priority Order)

IMPORTANT: Always check for project-specific credentials first. Different projects may use different Linear workspaces.

1. Project .env (PREFERRED - project-specific):

   # Check project .env for LINEAR_API_KEY
   grep LINEAR_API_KEY .env
   
   # Run commands with project token
   export LINEAR_API_TOKEN="$(grep LINEAR_API_KEY .env | cut -d= -f2)"
   linearis teams list
   

2. Environment Variable (session override):

   export LINEAR_API_TOKEN="lin_api_xxx"
   

Running Commands with Project Credentials

# Inline token from project .env (recommended)
LINEAR_API_TOKEN=$(grep LINEAR_API_KEY .env | cut -d= -f2) linearis <command>

# Or export for session
export LINEAR_API_TOKEN=$(grep LINEAR_API_KEY .env | cut -d= -f2)
linearis <command>

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Decision Tree

Issue Operations

User wants to...
├── View issue details
│   └── linearis issues read <ISSUE-ID>
├── Create new issue
│   └── linearis issues create "Title" --team <Team> [options]
├── Update existing issue
│   └── linearis issues update <ISSUE-ID> [--state|--assignee|--priority]
├── Search issues
│   └── linearis issues search "query" [--team|--limit]
├── List recent issues
│   └── linearis issues list [--limit N] [--team Name]
└── Delete issue (soft)
    └── linearis issues update <ISSUE-ID> --trashed

Metadata Operations

User wants to...
├── List teams
│   └── linearis teams list
├── List projects
│   └── linearis projects list
├── List cycles/sprints
│   └── linearis cycles list [--team Name] [--active]
├── List labels
│   └── linearis labels list [--team Name]
└── List users
    └── linearis users list [--active]

Comments

Add a comment to an issue
└── linearis comments create <ISSUE-ID> --body "Comment text"

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Quick Command Reference

Issues CRUD

Operation	Command	Example
List	linearis issues list	linearis issues list --limit 10 --team TractionBD
Search	linearis issues search "query"	linearis issues search "auth bug"
Read	linearis issues read <ID>	linearis issues read TBD-456
Create	linearis issues create "Title"	linearis issues create "Fix login" --team TractionBD --priority 1
Update	linearis issues update <ID>	linearis issues update TBD-123 --state "In Review"

Create Issue Options

linearis issues create "Title" \
  --team "TractionBD" \
  --assignee "user-id-or-name" \
  --labels "Bug,Critical" \
  --priority 1 \
  --project "Project Name" \
  --description "Detailed description" \
  --parent-ticket TBD-100

Priority values: 0 (none), 1 (urgent), 2 (high), 3 (medium), 4 (low)

Update Issue Options

linearis issues update TBD-123 \
  --state "In Review" \
  --assignee "new-user" \
  --priority 2 \
  --labels "Bug,P1" \
  --clear-labels \
  --parent-ticket TBD-200 \
  --trashed

Metadata Queries

# Teams
linearis teams list

# Projects
linearis projects list

# Labels (optionally by team)
linearis labels list --team TractionBD

# Users
linearis users list --active

# Cycles/Sprints
linearis cycles list --team TractionBD --active
linearis cycles list --team TractionBD --around-active 3

Comments

linearis comments create TBD-123 --body "This is a comment"

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Pattern Recognition - Auto-Invocation

High Confidence Triggers (invoke immediately)

Issue Operations:
  - "Create a Linear issue for..."
  - "Open a ticket in Linear..."
  - "Log this as a Linear bug..."
  - "Check Linear issue TBD-123"
  - "What's the status of TBD-123?"
  - "Update TBD-123 to..."
  - "Move TBD-123 to In Review"
  - "Assign TBD-123 to..."
  - "Close Linear issue..."
  - "Search Linear for..."
  - "Find issues about..."

Sprint/Cycle Operations:
  - "What's in the current sprint?"
  - "Show active cycle for..."
  - "List team's cycles"

Metadata:
  - "List Linear teams"
  - "Show all projects in Linear"
  - "What labels are available?"
  - "Who can I assign this to?"

Issue ID Detection

# Linear issue ID pattern
[A-Z]{2,10}-\d+

# Examples: TBD-123, DEV-456, BACKEND-789

Context Signals

Strong indicators:
  - .env contains LINEAR_API_KEY
  - Recent messages mention "Linear"
  - Issue IDs in ABC-123 format present
  - User mentions "sprint", "cycle", "backlog"

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Workflow Examples

Create Issue from Bug Report

User: "Create a Linear issue for the login timeout bug"

Steps:
  1. Parse request: title=login timeout bug
  2. Execute: linearis issues create "Login timeout bug" --team TractionBD --labels "Bug"
  3. Return: Issue ID and details from JSON response

Check Issue Status

User: "What's the status of TBD-123?"

Steps:
  1. Parse issue ID: TBD-123
  2. Execute: linearis issues read TBD-123
  3. Return: Issue title, state, assignee, priority from JSON

Update Issue State

User: "Move TBD-123 to In Review and assign to John"

Steps:
  1. Get user list: linearis users list --active
  2. Find John's ID from JSON
  3. Update: linearis issues update TBD-123 --state "In Review" --assignee john-id
  4. Confirm: linearis issues read TBD-123

Sprint Planning

User: "What issues are in the current sprint?"

Steps:
  1. Get active cycle: linearis cycles list --team TractionBD --active
  2. Parse cycle from JSON
  3. List issues: linearis issues list --team TractionBD --limit 50
  4. Filter by cycle in results

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Error Handling

Error	Cause	Resolution
command not found: linearis	CLI not installed	npm install -g linearis
No API token found	Missing authentication	Add LINEAR_API_KEY to project .env, then export as LINEAR_API_TOKEN
Unauthorized	Invalid/expired token	Token may be for wrong workspace; check project .env
Issue not found	Invalid issue ID or wrong workspace	Verify ID format and that you're using the correct project token
Team not found	Invalid team name or wrong workspace	Run linearis teams list - may need different project token
Rate limited	Too many requests	Wait 60s, retry with backoff

Authentication Troubleshooting

Wrong workspace issues:
  Problem: Commands return unexpected teams/issues
  Cause: Using global token instead of project-specific token
  Fix: Check project .env and use that token

  # Verify which workspace you're connected to
  LINEAR_API_TOKEN=$(grep LINEAR_API_KEY .env | cut -d= -f2) linearis teams list

Graceful Fallback

If Linearis unavailable:
  1. Log the error for visibility
  2. Provide web URL: https://linear.app/[workspace]/issue/ABC-123
  3. Suggest manual action with instructions

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Authentication Strategy

Priority Order:
  1. Project .env (LINEAR_API_KEY) - project-specific workspaces
  2. LINEAR_API_TOKEN env var - session override

Before Running Commands:
  1. Check if project has .env with LINEAR_API_KEY
  2. Export token for session
  3. If no project .env, prompt user to add LINEAR_API_KEY

Example:
  export LINEAR_API_TOKEN="$(grep LINEAR_API_KEY .env | cut -d= -f2)"
  linearis teams list

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JSON Output Handling

Linearis outputs JSON. Parse and extract relevant fields:

# Get issue title
linearis issues read TBD-123 | jq -r '.title'

# Get issue state
linearis issues read TBD-123 | jq -r '.state.name'

# List issue identifiers and titles
linearis issues list --limit 10 | jq -r '.[] | "\(.identifier): \(.title)"'