Linear CLI

Use the linear-cli agent-native runtime to read and mutate Linear from Claude Code, Codex, or other agents. Use when the runtime needs default JSON output, s...

An agent-native Linear runtime for the current v3 execution model, with stable JSON contracts, startup discovery, dry-run previews, timeout-aware write semantics, source-adjacent intake, and git/jj workflow integration.

Recommended Agent Loop

When using this CLI from an agent runtime, prefer this order:

1. Discover command traits with linear capabilities; use --compat v1 only when an older consumer still expects the trimmed legacy shape
2. Read Linear state with default-JSON core surfaces or --json
3. Preview writes with --dry-run --json when available
4. Apply writes on the default machine-readable surface, then inspect operation, receipt, and error.details
5. Inspect exit codes and error.details instead of parsing styled terminal text

Prompt-driven human/debug flows are secondary and explicit. When a command supports prompts or editor entry, pass --profile human-debug --interactive; otherwise missing required inputs fail fast.

Agent-safe execution semantics are now the default runtime behavior. --text and --profile human-debug are the explicit human/debug escape hatches for maintainers, and --profile agent-safe remains accepted for compatibility with older automation.

When upstream tooling hands the runtime a normalized Slack, ticket, or similar source envelope, prefer --context-file, add --apply-triage if that envelope already contains deterministic team/state/label hints, and choose --autonomy-policy explicitly when the wrapper needs suggest-only or preview-required staging.

Recommended supporting docs:

• ../../docs/agent-first.md
• ../../docs/v2-to-v3-migration-cookbook.md
• ../../docs/json-contracts.md
• ../../docs/stdin-policy.md

Prerequisites

The linear command must be available on PATH. To check:

linear --version

If not installed, follow the instructions at:
https://github.com/kyaukyuai/linear-cli?tab=readme-ov-file#install

Best Practices for Markdown Content

When working with issue descriptions or comment bodies that contain markdown, prefer file-based flags for existing files and stdin for generated pipeline content:

• Use --description-file for issue create and issue update commands when the content already exists on disk
• Use --body-file for comment add and comment update commands when the content already exists on disk
• Pipe stdin for generated markdown, for example cat description.md | linear issue create --title "My Issue" --team ENG

Why avoid large inline flags:

• Ensures proper formatting in the Linear web UI
• Avoids shell escaping issues with newlines and special characters
• Prevents literal \n sequences from appearing in markdown
• Makes it easier to work with multi-line content in scripts and pipelines

Example workflow:

# Write markdown to a temporary file
cat > /tmp/description.md <<'EOF'
## Summary

- First item
- Second item

## Details

This is a detailed description with proper formatting.
EOF

# Create issue using the file
linear issue create --title "My Issue" --description-file /tmp/description.md

# Or pipe generated markdown directly
cat /tmp/description.md | linear issue create --title "My Issue" --team ENG

# Or for comments
linear issue comment add ENG-123 --body-file /tmp/comment.md

Only use inline flags (--description, --body) for simple, single-line content.

Available Commands

linear auth               # Manage Linear authentication
linear issue              # Manage Linear issues
linear team               # Manage Linear teams
linear project            # Manage Linear projects
linear project-update     # Manage project status updates
linear cycle              # Manage Linear team cycles
linear milestone          # Manage Linear project milestones
linear initiative         # Manage Linear initiatives
linear initiative-update  # Manage initiative status updates (timeline posts)
linear label              # Manage Linear issue labels
linear document           # Manage Linear documents
linear notification       # Manage Linear notifications
linear webhook            # Manage Linear webhooks
linear workflow-state     # Manage Linear workflow states
linear user               # Manage Linear users
linear project-label      # Manage Linear project labels
linear config             # Interactively generate .linear.toml configuration
linear schema             # Print the GraphQL schema to stdout
linear api                # Make a raw GraphQL API request
linear capabilities       # Describe the agent-facing command surface
linear resolve            # Resolve references without mutating Linear

Reference Documentation

• auth - Manage Linear authentication
• issue - Manage Linear issues
• team - Manage Linear teams
• project - Manage Linear projects
• project-update - Manage project status updates
• cycle - Manage Linear team cycles
• milestone - Manage Linear project milestones
• initiative - Manage Linear initiatives
• initiative-update - Manage initiative status updates (timeline posts)
• label - Manage Linear issue labels
• document - Manage Linear documents
• notification - Manage Linear notifications
• webhook - Manage Linear webhooks
• workflow-state - Manage Linear workflow states
• user - Manage Linear users
• project-label - Manage Linear project labels
• config - Interactively generate .linear.toml configuration
• schema - Print the GraphQL schema to stdout
• api - Make a raw GraphQL API request
• capabilities - Describe the agent-facing command surface
• resolve - Resolve references without mutating Linear

For curated examples of organization features (initiatives, labels, projects, bulk operations), see organization-features.

Discovering Options

To see available subcommands and flags, run --help on any command:

linear --help
linear issue --help
linear issue list --help
linear issue create --help

Each command has detailed help output describing all available flags and options.

For machine-readable discovery, prefer:

linear capabilities
linear capabilities --compat v1

Using the Linear GraphQL API Directly

Prefer the CLI for all supported operations. The api command should only be used as a fallback for queries not covered by the CLI.

Check the schema for available types and fields

Write the schema to a tempfile, then search it:

linear schema -o "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/linear-schema.graphql"
grep -i "cycle" "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/linear-schema.graphql"
grep -A 30 "^type Issue " "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/linear-schema.graphql"

Make a GraphQL request

Important: GraphQL queries containing non-null type markers (e.g. String followed by an exclamation mark) must be passed via heredoc stdin to avoid escaping issues. Simple queries without those markers can be passed inline.

# Simple query (no type markers, so inline is fine)
linear api '{ viewer { id name email } }'

# Query with variables — use heredoc to avoid escaping issues
linear api --variable teamId=abc123 <<'GRAPHQL'
query($teamId: String!) { team(id: $teamId) { name } }
GRAPHQL

# Search issues by text
linear api --variable term=onboarding <<'GRAPHQL'
query($term: String!) { searchIssues(term: $term, first: 20) { nodes { identifier title state { name } } } }
GRAPHQL

# Numeric and boolean variables
linear api --variable first=5 <<'GRAPHQL'
query($first: Int!) { issues(first: $first) { nodes { title } } }
GRAPHQL

# Complex variables via JSON
linear api --variables-json '{"filter": {"state": {"name": {"eq": "In Progress"}}}}' <<'GRAPHQL'
query($filter: IssueFilter!) { issues(filter: $filter) { nodes { title } } }
GRAPHQL

# Pipe to jq for filtering
linear api '{ issues(first: 5) { nodes { identifier title } } }' | jq '.data.issues.nodes[].title'

Advanced: Using curl directly

For cases where you need full HTTP control, use linear auth token:

curl -s -X POST https://api.linear.app/graphql \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: $(linear auth token)" \
  -d '{"query": "{ viewer { id } }"}'