Linear Issues MCP server ​

The Linear Issues MCP server enables LLMs to run the Linear issue lifecycle through natural conversation. It provides tools to search and retrieve issues, create and edit them, move them through workflow states, assign owners, manage labels and relations, and comment without requiring direct interaction with the Linear interface.

Uses ​

Use the Linear Issues MCP server to perform the following actions:

• Search for issues by keyword, or by team, assignee, state, label, priority, or project.
• Retrieve full details for a specific issue, including its labels, assignee, and relations.
• Create a new issue, or a sub-issue, with a team and title.
• Update issue fields such as title, description, priority, estimate, or due date.
• Move an issue through workflow states, including closing or canceling it.
• Assign or unassign an issue's owner.
• Add labels to an issue without removing its existing labels.
• Comment on an issue and review its comment thread.
• Relate issues to each other, such as blocks, duplicate, or related.
• Archive or delete (trash) an issue.

Example prompts ​

Use the following example prompts to invoke Linear Issues MCP server tools:

• Find all urgent bugs assigned to me on the Platform team.
• Show me the details for WOR-123.
• Create a bug titled "Checkout button unresponsive on mobile" for the Growth team.
• Update the priority on WOR-123 to urgent.
• Move WOR-123 to Done.
• Assign WOR-123 to Jane Smith.
• Add the needs-design label to WOR-123.
• Add a comment to WOR-123 saying the fix is deployed.
• Mark WOR-200 as a duplicate of WOR-123.
• Archive WOR-456.

Linear Issues MCP server tools ​

The Linear Issues MCP server provides the following tools:

Install the Linear Issues MCP server ​

Complete the following steps to install a prebuilt MCP server to your project:

Linear Issues connection setup ​

How to use Linear Issues MCP server tools ​

Refer to the following sections for detailed information on available tools:

search_issues tool ​

The search_issues tool finds issues by keyword or by filters such as team, assignee, state, label, priority, and project. Your LLM uses this tool to locate issues matching your criteria before opening one with get_issue.

Try asking:

• Find all urgent bugs assigned to me on the Platform team.
• Search for issues mentioning "checkout timeout".
• List issues in the Growth team's backlog.

get_issue tool ​

The get_issue tool looks up one issue by its human-readable identifier, such as WOR-123, or UUID. Your LLM uses this tool to retrieve a specific issue, including its description, labels, and assignee, before reporting on it or editing it. It doesn't return the issue's relations, such as blocks or duplicates.

Try asking:

• Show me the details for WOR-123.
• What's the current status and assignee on WOR-456?
• Pull up the full description for this issue.

create_issue tool ​

The create_issue tool logs a new issue, or a sub-issue of an existing one. Your LLM uses this tool to capture new work after you supply at least a team and title, and optionally a description, assignee, priority, labels, state, project, cycle, or parent issue.

Try asking:

• Create a bug titled "Checkout button unresponsive on mobile" for the Growth team.
• Add a task to the Platform team backlog assigned to Sam.
• Create a sub-issue under WOR-100 for the API changes.

update_issue tool ​

The update_issue tool changes one or more fields on an existing issue. Your LLM uses this tool for broader multi-field edits, such as edits to a title, description, priority, estimate, due date, or project/cycle association.

Try asking:

• Update the priority on WOR-123 to urgent.
• Set the due date on WOR-456 to next Friday.
• Move WOR-123 into the Mobile App Relaunch project.

transition_issue tool ​

The transition_issue tool changes an issue's workflow state, including moving it to closed or canceled. Your LLM uses this tool when you ask to close, resolve, cancel, or mark an issue done.

Try asking:

• Move WOR-123 to Done.
• Cancel WOR-456, it's no longer needed.
• Mark this issue as in progress.

assign_issue tool ​

The assign_issue tool sets or clears an issue's assignee, matching a user by name or email. Your LLM uses this tool for a standalone ownership change, including removing the assignee entirely, which is the only way this server clears a field.

Try asking:

• Assign WOR-123 to Jane Smith.
• Reassign this issue to [email protected].
• Unassign WOR-456.

add_labels_to_issue tool ​

The add_labels_to_issue tool attaches one or more labels to an issue while leaving its current labels in place. Your LLM uses this tool to tag an issue with additional labels.

Try asking:

• Add the needs-design label to WOR-123.
• Tag this issue as a regression.
• Add the labels "frontend" and "P1" to WOR-456.

archive_issue tool ​

The archive_issue tool hides an issue from active views. This change is reversible in Linear. Your LLM uses this tool to set aside a completed or stale issue without trashing it. Archiving an already-archived issue succeeds without error, so it's safe to retry.

Try asking:

• Archive WOR-456.
• Hide this completed issue from the active list.
• Archive the issues we closed last sprint.

delete_issue tool ​

The delete_issue tool trashes an issue, which Linear permanently removes after a 30-day grace period. Your LLM uses this tool when you explicitly ask to delete, remove, or trash an exact issue. Your LLM confirms the issue's identifier and title first if they aren't already known and doesn't treat closing, resolving, or canceling an issue as a delete request. Deleting an already-trashed issue succeeds without error, so it's safe to retry.

Try asking:

• Delete WOR-789, it was created by mistake.
• Trash the duplicate issue WOR-200.
• Remove this test issue from my backlog.

create_comment tool ​

The create_comment tool adds a comment, or a threaded reply, to an issue. Your LLM uses this tool to leave a markdown comment on an issue, optionally as a reply to an existing comment. Linear supports only one level of threading, so replying to a reply isn't supported.

Try asking:

• Add a comment to WOR-123 saying the fix is deployed.
• Reply to the last comment on this issue with an update.
• Comment on WOR-456 asking for more details.

list_comments tool ​

The list_comments tool returns an issue's most recent comments. Your LLM uses this tool to read a discussion before adding a new comment. You can specify a maximum thread length to omit older comments. The default length limit is 50 comments.

Try asking:

• What's the latest discussion on WOR-123?
• Show me the comments on this issue.
• List the last 10 comments on WOR-456.

create_issue_relation tool ​

The create_issue_relation tool links two issues with a relation type, such as blocks, duplicate, or related. Your LLM uses this tool to sequence dependent work or flag duplicates after you specify both issues and the relation type.

Try asking:

• Mark WOR-200 as a duplicate of WOR-123.
• WOR-100 blocks WOR-150, link them.
• Relate WOR-50 to WOR-60.

list_workflow_states tool ​

The list_workflow_states tool returns a team's valid workflow state names. Your LLM uses this tool to discover the exact state names available before calling transition_issue or create_issue.

Try asking:

• What workflow states does the Platform team use?
• List the valid states I can move this issue to.
• Show me the states available for the Growth team.

Getting started ​

View and manage your MCP server tools in the Details tab Tools section. Tool management provides the following capabilities:

• Start tools
• Remove tools
• Edit tools
• Add tools
• Edit your LLM-facing MCP server description