mcp-server-linear

Linear MCP Server

An MCP server for interacting with Linear's API. This server provides a set of tools for managing Linear issues, projects, and teams through Cline.

Setup Guide

1. Get Linear API Token

You can use either a Developer Token or a Personal API Key.

Option 1: Developer Token

1. Go to Linear: Workspace Settings > API > OAuth application > Create or select an application (e.g., "Cline MCP").
2. Under "Developer Token", click "Create & copy token".
3. Select "Application" as the actor and copy the generated token.

Option 2: Personal API Key

1. Go to Linear: Your Personal Settings > API > Personal API Keys.
2. Click "Create key", give it a label (e.g., "Cline MCP"), and copy the generated key.

2. Configure Cline MCP

1. Open your Cline MCP settings file:

   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json
   • Windows: %APPDATA%/Code/User/GlobalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json
   • Linux: ~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json

2. Add the Linear MCP server configuration:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "linear": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": ["mcp-server-linear"],
         "env": {
           "LINEAR_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your_linear_api_token_here"
         },
         "disabled": false,
         "autoApprove": []
       }
     }
   }

That's it! The server will be automatically downloaded and run through npx when needed.

If you use Cline/Roo, you can also simply tell it install the MCP from https://github.com/dvcrn/mcp-server-linear and it'll do the rest.

Available Actions

The server currently supports the following operations:

Issue Management

• ✅ Create issues with full field support (title, description, team, project, parent/child relationships, etc.)
• ✅ Update existing issues (priority, description, etc.)
• ✅ Delete issues (single or bulk deletion)
• ✅ Search issues with filtering and by identifier
• ✅ Associate issues with projects
• ✅ Create parent/child issue relationships
• ✅ Comment management (create, update, delete comments)
• ✅ Comment resolution handling (resolve/unresolve comments)
• ✅ Create customer needs from attachments

Project Management

• ✅ Create projects with associated issues
• ✅ Get project information
• ✅ List all projects with optional filtering
• ✅ Associate issues with projects
• ✅ Project milestone management (create, update, delete)
• ✅ List and filter project milestones

Team Management

• ✅ Get team information (with states and workflow details)
• ✅ Access team states and labels

Authentication

• ✅ Personal Access Token (PAT) authentication
• ✅ Secure token storage

Batch Operations

• ✅ Bulk issue creation
• ✅ Bulk issue deletion

Bulk Updates (In Testing)

• 🚧 Bulk issue updates (parallel processing implemented, needs testing)

Features in Development

The following features are currently being worked on:

Issue Management

• 🚧 Complex search filters
• 🚧 Pagination support for large result sets

Metadata Operations

• 🚧 Label management (create/update/assign)

Project Management

• ✅ Project milestone management
• 🚧 Project template support
• 🚧 Advanced project operations

Authentication

• 🚧 OAuth flow with automatic token refresh

Performance & Security

• 🚧 Rate limiting
• 🚧 Detailed logging
• 🚧 Load testing and optimization

Parent/Child Issue Relationships

The server supports creating and managing hierarchical relationships between issues:

Creating Sub-issues

You can create sub-issues by specifying a parent issue's UUID when creating a new issue:

{
  "title": "Sub-task Implementation",
  "description": "Implement this specific part of the parent task",
  "teamId": "team_uuid",
  "parentId": "parent_issue_uuid"
}

Note: The parentId must be the UUID of the parent issue, not the issue identifier (e.g., use the UUID, not "ENG-123").

Using Multiple Linear Workspaces

You can connect to multiple Linear workspaces by adding the Linear MCP server multiple times with different TOOL_PREFIX values. This allows you to work with separate Linear workspaces within the same Cline environment.

Configuration Example

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "company1-linear": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-linear"],
      "env": {
        "LINEAR_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your_company1_linear_token_here",
        "TOOL_PREFIX": "company1"
      },
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    },
    "company2-linear": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-linear"],
      "env": {
        "LINEAR_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your_company2_linear_token_here",
        "TOOL_PREFIX": "company2"
      },
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    },
    "company3-linear": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-linear"],
      "env": {
        "LINEAR_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your_company3_linear_token_here",
        "TOOL_PREFIX": "company3"
      },
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

How It Works

When you set a TOOL_PREFIX value:

1. All tool names are prefixed with it (e.g., company1_linear_create_issue)
2. Tool descriptions include the prefix (e.g., "For 'company1' Linear workspace: Create a new issue")

This makes it clear which workspace each tool is operating on and prevents conflicts between different Linear instances.

Contributing

If you want to contribute to the development of this MCP server, follow these steps:

1. Clone the repository
2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Copy .env.example to .env:

   cp .env.example .env

4. Add your Linear API token to .env:

   LINEAR_ACCESS_TOKEN=your_personal_access_token
   

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run tests
npm test

# Build and run the server locally
npm run build
npm start

# Or use development mode with auto-reload
npm run dev

Integration Testing

Integration tests verify that authentication and API calls work correctly:

1. Set up authentication in .env (PAT recommended for testing)
2. Run integration tests:

   npm run test:integration

For OAuth testing:

1. Configure OAuth credentials in .env:

   LINEAR_CLIENT_ID=your_oauth_client_id
   LINEAR_CLIENT_SECRET=your_oauth_client_secret
   LINEAR_REDIRECT_URI=http://localhost:3000/callback
   

2. Remove .skip from OAuth tests in src/__tests__/auth.integration.test.ts
3. Run integration tests