MCP Linear

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation for the Linear GraphQL API that enables AI assistants to interact with Linear project management systems.

Features

MCP Linear bridges the gap between AI assistant and Linear (project management tool) by implementing the MCP protocol. This allows to:

• Retrieve issues, projects, teams, and other data from Linear
• Create and update issues
• Change issue status
• Assign issues to team members
• Add comments
• Create projects and teams

Example prompts

Once connected, you can use prompts like:

• "Show me all my Linear issues"
• "Create a new issue titled 'Fix login bug' in the Frontend team"
• "Change the status of issue FE-123 to 'In Progress'"
• "Assign issue BE-456 to John Smith"
• "Add a comment to issue UI-789: 'This needs to be fixed by Friday'"

Installation

Getting Your Linear API Token

To use MCP Linear, you'll need a Linear API token. Here's how to get one:

1. Log in to your Linear account at linear.app
2. Click on organization avatar (in the top-left corner)
3. Select Settings
4. Navigate to Security & access in the left sidebar
5. Under Personal API Keys click New API Key
6. Give your key a name (e.g., MCP Linear Integration)
7. Copy the generated API token and store it securely - you won't be able to see it again!

Installing via Smithery (Recommended)

• To install MCP Linear for Cursor:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @tacticlaunch/mcp-linear --client cursor

• To install MCP Linear for Claude Desktop:

npx -y @smithery/cli install @tacticlaunch/mcp-linear --client claude

Manual Configuration

Add the following to your MCP settings file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "linear": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@tacticlaunch/mcp-linear"],
      "env": {
        "LINEAR_API_TOKEN": "<YOUR_TOKEN>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Client-Specific Configuration Locations

• Cursor: ~/.cursor/mcp.json
• Claude Desktop: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Claude VSCode Extension: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json
• GoMCP: ~/.config/gomcp/config.yaml

Manual run

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18+)
• NPM or Yarn
• Linear API token

# Install globally
npm install -g @tacticlaunch/mcp-linear

# Or clone and install locally
git clone https://github.com/tacticlaunch/mcp-linear.git
cd mcp-linear
npm install
npm link  # Makes the package available globally

Running the Server

Run the server with your Linear API token:

mcp-linear --token YOUR_LINEAR_API_TOKEN

Or set the token in your environment and run without arguments:

export LINEAR_API_TOKEN=YOUR_LINEAR_API_TOKEN
mcp-linear

File-based OAuth Token

Place your token in a file for automatic pickup:

mkdir -p ~/.config/linear
echo "your-token-here" > ~/.config/linear/.oauth_token

This is useful when an external process (e.g., an OAuth refresh daemon) rotates the token periodically. The server re-reads the file on each API request, so a rotated token is picked up automatically without restarting. Token resolution priority:

1. ~/.config/linear/.oauth_token file
2. --token CLI argument
3. LINEAR_API_TOKEN environment variable
4. LINEAR_API_KEY environment variable

Available Tools

See TOOLS.md for a complete list of available tools and planned features.

Development

See DEVELOPMENT.md for more information on how to develop locally.

Publishing

1. Regular release

npm version <patch|minor|major> --no-git-tag-version
npm run build
npm publish --access public

2. Start a pre-release (rc, alpha, beta)

npm version <version>-rc.0 --no-git-tag-version   # e.g. 1.2.0-rc.0
npm run build
npm publish --access public --tag rc               # e.g. --tag rc

To increment an existing pre-release:

npm version prerelease --preid=rc --no-git-tag-version   # e.g. 1.2.0-rc.0 → 1.2.0-rc.1
npm run build
npm publish --access public --tag rc

Important: Always use --tag when publishing a pre-release. Without it, npm sets the pre-release as latest and all npm install users will get it.

3. Promote a pre-release to stable

npm version <version> --no-git-tag-version            # e.g. 1.2.0-rc.0 → 1.2.0
npm run build
npm publish --access public

Links

tacticlaunch/cursor-memory-bank - If you are a developer seeking to enhance your workflow with Cursor, consider giving it a try.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.