Linear Multi-Environment Setup

Overview

Configure Linear integrations across development, staging, and production environments.

Prerequisites

Separate Linear workspaces or API keys per environment
Secret management solution (Vault, AWS Secrets Manager, GCP Secret Manager)
CI/CD pipeline with environment variables
Environment detection in application

Instructions

Step 1: Environment Configuration Structure

// config/environments.ts
interface LinearEnvironmentConfig {
  apiKey: string;
  webhookSecret: string;
  defaultTeamKey: string;
  features: {
    syncEnabled: boolean;
    webhooksEnabled: boolean;
    debugMode: boolean;
  };
}

interface EnvironmentConfigs {
  development: LinearEnvironmentConfig;
  staging: LinearEnvironmentConfig;
  production: LinearEnvironmentConfig;
}

const configs: EnvironmentConfigs = {
  development: {
    apiKey: process.env.LINEAR_API_KEY_DEV!,
    webhookSecret: process.env.LINEAR_WEBHOOK_SECRET_DEV!,
    defaultTeamKey: "DEV",
    features: {
      syncEnabled: true,
      webhooksEnabled: false, // Use polling in dev
      debugMode: true,
    },
  },
  staging: {
    apiKey: process.env.LINEAR_API_KEY_STAGING!,
    webhookSecret: process.env.LINEAR_WEBHOOK_SECRET_STAGING!,
    defaultTeamKey: "STG",
    features: {
      syncEnabled: true,
      webhooksEnabled: true,
      debugMode: true,
    },
  },
  production: {
    apiKey: process.env.LINEAR_API_KEY_PROD!,
    webhookSecret: process.env.LINEAR_WEBHOOK_SECRET_PROD!,
    defaultTeamKey: "PROD",
    features: {
      syncEnabled: true,
      webhooksEnabled: true,
      debugMode: false,
    },
  },
};

export function getConfig(): LinearEnvironmentConfig {
  const env = process.env.NODE_ENV || "development";
  return configs[env as keyof EnvironmentConfigs];
}

Step 2: Secret Management

HashiCorp Vault:

// config/vault.ts
import Vault from "node-vault";

const vault = Vault({
  endpoint: process.env.VAULT_ADDR,
  token: process.env.VAULT_TOKEN,
});

export async function getLinearSecrets(environment: string) {
  const path = `secret/data/linear/${environment}`;
  const { data } = await vault.read(path);

  return {
    apiKey: data.data.api_key,
    webhookSecret: data.data.webhook_secret,
  };
}

AWS Secrets Manager:

// config/aws-secrets.ts
import { SecretsManagerClient, GetSecretValueCommand } from "@aws-sdk/client-secrets-manager";

const client = new SecretsManagerClient({ region: "us-east-1" });

export async function getLinearSecrets(environment: string) {
  const command = new GetSecretValueCommand({
    SecretId: `linear/${environment}`,
  });

  const response = await client.send(command);
  return JSON.parse(response.SecretString!);
}

GCP Secret Manager:

// config/gcp-secrets.ts
import { SecretManagerServiceClient } from "@google-cloud/secret-manager";

const client = new SecretManagerServiceClient();

export async function getLinearSecrets(environment: string) {
  const projectId = process.env.GCP_PROJECT_ID;
  const secretName = `linear-${environment}`;

  const [version] = await client.accessSecretVersion({
    name: `projects/${projectId}/secrets/${secretName}/versions/latest`,
  });

  return JSON.parse(version.payload!.data!.toString());
}

Step 3: Environment-Aware Client Factory

// lib/client-factory.ts
import { LinearClient } from "@linear/sdk";
import { getConfig } from "../config/environments";

let clientInstance: LinearClient | null = null;

export async function getLinearClient(): Promise<LinearClient> {
  if (clientInstance) return clientInstance;

  const config = getConfig();

  // In production, fetch from secret manager
  let apiKey = config.apiKey;
  if (process.env.NODE_ENV === "production") {
    const secrets = await getLinearSecrets("production");
    apiKey = secrets.apiKey;
  }

  clientInstance = new LinearClient({ apiKey });
  return clientInstance;
}

// For testing - allow client injection
export function setLinearClient(client: LinearClient): void {
  clientInstance = client;
}

export function resetLinearClient(): void {
  clientInstance = null;
}

Step 4: Environment Guards

// lib/environment-guards.ts
import { getConfig } from "../config/environments";

export function requireProduction(): void {
  if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== "production") {
    throw new Error("This operation requires production environment");
  }
}

export function preventProduction(): void {
  if (process.env.NODE_ENV === "production") {
    throw new Error("This operation is not allowed in production");
  }
}

export function isDebugMode(): boolean {
  return getConfig().features.debugMode;
}

// Decorator for production-only functions
export function productionOnly(
  target: any,
  propertyKey: string,
  descriptor: PropertyDescriptor
) {
  const originalMethod = descriptor.value;

  descriptor.value = function (...args: any[]) {
    requireProduction();
    return originalMethod.apply(this, args);
  };

  return descriptor;
}

// Safe issue deletion (prevents accidental production deletes)
export async function safeDeleteIssue(
  client: LinearClient,
  issueId: string
): Promise<void> {
  const env = process.env.NODE_ENV;

  if (env === "production") {
    // In production, archive instead of delete
    await client.archiveIssue(issueId);
    console.log(`Archived issue ${issueId} (production safe mode)`);
  } else {
    // In dev/staging, actually delete
    await client.deleteIssue(issueId);
    console.log(`Deleted issue ${issueId}`);
  }
}

Step 5: Environment-Specific Webhook Configuration

// config/webhooks.ts
interface WebhookConfig {
  url: string;
  events: string[];
  enabled: boolean;
}

const webhookConfigs: Record<string, WebhookConfig> = {
  development: {
    url: "http://localhost:3000/api/webhooks/linear",
    events: ["Issue", "IssueComment"], // Minimal events for dev
    enabled: false, // Use polling instead
  },
  staging: {
    url: "https://staging.yourapp.com/api/webhooks/linear",
    events: ["Issue", "IssueComment", "Project", "Cycle"],
    enabled: true,
  },
  production: {
    url: "https://yourapp.com/api/webhooks/linear",
    events: ["Issue", "IssueComment", "Project", "Cycle", "Label"],
    enabled: true,
  },
};

export function getWebhookConfig(): WebhookConfig {
  const env = process.env.NODE_ENV || "development";
  return webhookConfigs[env];
}

Step 6: CI/CD Environment Configuration

# .github/workflows/deploy.yml
name: Deploy

on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main      # Deploy to staging
      - release/* # Deploy to production

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    environment: ${{ github.ref == 'refs/heads/main' && 'staging' || 'production' }}

    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Configure environment
        run: |
          if [ "${{ github.ref }}" == "refs/heads/main" ]; then
            echo "DEPLOY_ENV=staging" >> $GITHUB_ENV
          else
            echo "DEPLOY_ENV=production" >> $GITHUB_ENV
          fi

      - name: Deploy
        run: npm run deploy
        env:
          NODE_ENV: ${{ env.DEPLOY_ENV }}
          LINEAR_API_KEY: ${{ secrets.LINEAR_API_KEY }}
          LINEAR_WEBHOOK_SECRET: ${{ secrets.LINEAR_WEBHOOK_SECRET }}

Environment Validation

// scripts/validate-environment.ts
async function validateEnvironment(): Promise<void> {
  const config = getConfig();
  const env = process.env.NODE_ENV;

  console.log(`Validating ${env} environment...`);

  // Check API key works
  const client = await getLinearClient();
  const viewer = await client.viewer;
  console.log(`  API Key: Valid (${viewer.email})`);

  // Check team access
  const teams = await client.teams();
  const hasDefaultTeam = teams.nodes.some(t => t.key === config.defaultTeamKey);
  console.log(`  Default Team (${config.defaultTeamKey}): ${hasDefaultTeam ? "Found" : "NOT FOUND"}`);

  // Check webhook secret is set
  console.log(`  Webhook Secret: ${config.webhookSecret ? "Set" : "NOT SET"}`);

  console.log("Environment validation complete!");
}

validateEnvironment().catch(console.error);

Error Handling

Error	Cause	Solution
`Wrong environment`	API key mismatch	Verify secrets for correct env
`Secret not found`	Missing secret	Add secret to secret manager
`Team not found`	Wrong workspace	Check defaultTeamKey setting
`Permission denied`	Insufficient scope	Regenerate API key

Resources

Next Steps

Set up observability with linear-observability.

linear-multi-env-setup