linear-claude-skill

Linear Claude Skill - Linear Project Management Integration

Skill Overview

The Linear Claude Skill is an integration skill for managing Linear issues, projects, and teams directly in Claude. It supports project planning and task tracking via MCP tools, the Linear CLI, or helper scripts.

Use Cases

Software Development Project Management

When development teams use Linear for issue tracking, project planning, and status synchronization, they can directly batch update issue statuses in Claude, create subtasks, and manage project progress.

Agile Workflow Integration

It supports Agile practices such as sprint planning, project phase management, and task assignment. Code changes can be automatically synced to Linear to keep project status aligned with the code repository.

Team Collaboration and Bug Tracking

Product managers, developers, and testers can use unified workflow management capabilities to request work, report and fix bugs, and publish features. Tag-based categorization and project associations improve team collaboration efficiency.

Core Features

Multi-Tool Support

Supports the Linear MCP server (recommended), the Linear CLI command-line tool, and TypeScript SDK scripts. You can choose the most suitable method based on your environment to perform actions such as creating issues, updating statuses, and adding comments.

Full Lifecycle Project Management

Provides functionality for creating projects, updating statuses (Backlog / Planned / In-Progress / Completed), linking initiatives, splitting issues into subtasks, etc. Ensures each issue is linked to a project, and each project is linked to an initiative.

Secure API Key Management

Integrates Varlock for sensitive information management. Supports .env.schema annotation validation to prevent API keys from being leaked in the terminal or in Claude context, ensuring the Linear integration remains secure.

Common Questions

What is the Linear Claude Skill?

The Linear Claude Skill is a Claude skill plugin that allows you to directly operate your Linear account within Claude conversations, including creating issues, updating statuses, and managing projects. It supports multiple tool backends (MCP server, Linear CLI, SDK scripts) to adapt to different usage environments.

How do I configure the Linear API Key?

First, create a Personal API Key in Linear settings (starting with lin_api_), then add it to the environment variable LINEAR_API_KEY. It’s recommended to manage the key with Varlock: create a .env.schema file, add the @sensitive annotation, and then validate the configuration with varlock load.

What’s the difference between MCP tools and Linear CLI?

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is the recommended approach. It provides official server support, high reliability, and fits most operations. Linear CLI is a fallback solution: when MCP isn’t available, the same operations can be performed via the command line. Helper scripts are suitable for batch operations or complex multi-step tasks.

How do I batch update Linear issue statuses?

Use the helper script npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts status Done ENG-101 ENG-102 ENG-103 to update multiple issues’ statuses in bulk. For batch operations involving more than 3 items, it’s recommended to use the Linear-specialist sub-agent to run in parallel for better efficiency.

How do I link a Linear project to an initiative?

Use the command npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts link-initiative <project-name> <initiative-name> to link an existing project to an initiative. Each project should be linked to an initiative to ensure it’s visible in the roadmap. When creating a new project, you can directly specify the associated initiative.