Linear MCP Server

Linear MCP Server

What is Linear MCP Server about?

This server connects the Linear API with the Model Context Protocol, exposing a set of MCP tools that let large language models interact with Linear issues—creating, updating, searching, retrieving user‑specific issues, and adding comments.

How to use Linear MCP Server?

1. Install the server (auto‑install via Smithery or manually with npm/npx).
2. Provide a Linear API key via the environment variable LINEAR_API_KEY.
3. Add the server configuration to Claude Desktop (or any MCP‑compatible client) using the mcpServers JSON block.
4. Invoke the exposed tools (linear_create_issue, linear_update_issue, linear_search_issues, linear_get_user_issues, linear_add_comment) from prompts or programmatic calls.

Key features of Linear MCP Server

• Create Issue – title, team, optional description, priority, status.
• Update Issue – modify title, description, priority, status by issue ID.
• Search Issues – flexible filters: query text, team, status, assignee, labels, priority, limit.
• User Issues Retrieval – fetch issues assigned to a specific or the authenticated user, with optional archived inclusion.
• Add Comment – post markdown comments, with optional custom username and avatar.
• Resource URLs – direct links like linear-issue:///, linear-team:///, linear-user:///, linear-organization:, linear-viewer: for quick navigation.

Use cases of Linear MCP Server

• Automated bug reporting: LLM generates a bug description and creates a high‑priority Linear issue.
• Status dashboards: Query and summarize in‑progress or high‑priority tasks for a team.
• Personal workload overview: Retrieve all issues assigned to a user to summarize daily workload.
• Comment automation: Add standardized comments or updates to multiple issues based on external data.
• Search‑driven assistance: Users ask natural‑language questions (e.g., “show me all my high‑priority issues”) and the LLM translates them into MCP tool calls.

FAQ from the Linear MCP Server

Q: Is the server still maintained?
A: The repository is deprecated; the official Linear remote MCP server should be used instead.

Q: Which LLM clients are supported?
A: Any client that consumes MCP servers, such as Claude Desktop via Smithery.

Q: How do I set the API key?
A: Define LINEAR_API_KEY in the environment of the server process or in the .env file before building.

Q: Can I run the server locally?
A: Yes—install dependencies, set the API key, then run npm run build (or npm run watch for auto‑rebuild) and start the server with npx -y linear-mcp-server.

Q: What command should I use for installation?
A: The recommended command is npx -y linear-mcp-server which works across platforms without a global install.

Linear MCP Server

IMPORTANT NOTE: This MCP Server is now deprecated and is no longer being maintained. I recommend you use the official Linear remote MCP server here: https://linear.app/changelog/2025-05-01-mcp (https://mcp.linear.app/sse)

A Model Context Protocol server for the Linear API.

This server provides integration with Linear's issue tracking system through MCP, allowing LLMs to interact with Linear issues.

Installation

Automatic Installation

To install the Linear MCP server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx @smithery/cli install linear-mcp-server --client claude

Manual Installation

1. Create or get a Linear API key for your team: https://linear.app/YOUR-TEAM/settings/api

2. Add server config to Claude Desktop:

   • MacOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

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

Components

Tools

1. linear_create_issue: Create a new Linear issues

   • Required inputs:
     • title (string): Issue title
     • teamId (string): Team ID to create issue in
   • Optional inputs:
     • description (string): Issue description (markdown supported)
     • priority (number, 0-4): Priority level (1=urgent, 4=low)
     • status (string): Initial status name

2. linear_update_issue: Update existing issues

   • Required inputs:
     • id (string): Issue ID to update
   • Optional inputs:
     • title (string): New title
     • description (string): New description
     • priority (number, 0-4): New priority
     • status (string): New status name

3. linear_search_issues: Search issues with flexible filtering

   • Optional inputs:
     • query (string): Text to search in title/description
     • teamId (string): Filter by team
     • status (string): Filter by status
     • assigneeId (string): Filter by assignee
     • labels (string[]): Filter by labels
     • priority (number): Filter by priority
     • limit (number, default: 10): Max results

4. linear_get_user_issues: Get issues assigned to a user

   • Optional inputs:
     • userId (string): User ID (omit for authenticated user)
     • includeArchived (boolean): Include archived issues
     • limit (number, default: 50): Max results

5. linear_add_comment: Add comments to issues

   • Required inputs:
     • issueId (string): Issue ID to comment on
     • body (string): Comment text (markdown supported)
   • Optional inputs:
     • createAsUser (string): Custom username
     • displayIconUrl (string): Custom avatar URL

Resources

• linear-issue:///{issueId} - View individual issue details
• linear-team:///{teamId}/issues - View team issues
• linear-user:///{userId}/assigned - View user's assigned issues
• linear-organization: - View organization info
• linear-viewer: - View current user context

Usage examples

Some example prompts you can use with Claude Desktop to interact with Linear:

1. "Show me all my high-priority issues" → execute the search_issues tool and/or linear-user:///{userId}/assigned to find issues assigned to you with priority 1

2. "Based on what I've told you about this bug already, make a bug report for the authentication system" → use create_issue to create a new high-priority issue with appropriate details and status tracking

3. "Find all in progress frontend tasks" → use search_issues to locate frontend-related issues with in progress task

4. "Give me a summary of recent updates on the issues for mobile app development" → use search_issues to identify the relevant issue(s), then linear-issue:///{issueId} fetch the issue details and show recent activity and comments

5. "What's the current workload for the mobile team?" → combine linear-team:///{teamId}/issues and search_issues to analyze issue distribution and priorities across the mobile team

Development

1. Install dependencies:

npm install

1. Configure Linear API key in .env:

LINEAR_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

1. Build the server:

npm run build

For development with auto-rebuild:

npm run watch

License

This MCP server is licensed under the MIT License. This means you are free to use, modify, and distribute the software, subject to the terms and conditions of the MIT License. For more details, please see the LICENSE file in the project repository.