Linear MCP server

This MCP server integrates Linear's issue tracking system with Language Learning Models via the Model Context Protocol. It allows AI assistants like Claude to interact directly with your Linear issues, create new tickets, search existing ones, and more, all through natural language conversation.

Installation

Via Smithery (Recommended)

Install the Linear Integration Server for Claude Desktop automatically using Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @gerbal/linear-mcp-server-1 --client claude

Manual Installation

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

2. Add server configuration to Claude Desktop config file:

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

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

Available Tools

Create Issues

Use linear_create_issue to create 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

Update Issues

Use linear_update_issue to modify 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

Search Issues

Use linear_search_issues to find 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

Get User Issues

Use linear_get_user_issues to see 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

Add Comments

Use linear_add_comment to 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

Resource Endpoints

The server provides several resource endpoints to access Linear data:

• 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

Here are some example prompts you can use with Claude Desktop:

• "Show me all my high-priority issues"
• "Based on what I've told you about this bug already, make a bug report for the authentication system"
• "Find all in-progress frontend tasks"
• "Give me a summary of recent updates on the issues for mobile app development"
• "What's the current workload for the mobile team?"

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "linear" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@modelcontextprotocol/server-linear"],"env":{"LINEAR_API_KEY":"your_linear_api_key_here"}}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

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

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

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

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect