Linear Skill for Claude Code

A comprehensive Claude Code skill for managing Linear issues, projects, and teams. Provides patterns for MCP tools, SDK automation, and GraphQL API access.

Features

• Label Taxonomy System — Domain-based labels for consistent categorization and agent routing
• First-Time Setup Check — Automatic configuration validation with actionable guidance
• High-Level Operations — Simple commands for initiatives, projects, and status updates
• Sub-Issue Management — Create and manage parent-child issue relationships
• Discovery Before Creation — Mandatory checks to prevent duplicate projects/issues
• MCP Tool Integration — Simple operations via Linear MCP server
• SDK Automation — Complex operations with TypeScript scripts
• GraphQL API — Direct API access for advanced queries
• Project Management — Content, descriptions, milestones, resource links
• Status Management — Project status UUIDs for workflow automation
• MCP Reliability Workarounds — Fallback patterns for timeout/failure scenarios
• Bulk Sync — Synchronize code changes with Linear via CLI, agents, or hooks

Quick Start (New Users)

1. Install the Skill

# Option A: Claude Plugin (Recommended)
claude plugin install github:wrsmith108/linear-claude-skill

# Option B: Manual Installation
git clone https://github.com/wrsmith108/linear-claude-skill ~/.claude/skills/linear
cd ~/.claude/skills/linear && npm install

2. Run Setup Check

npx tsx ~/.claude/skills/linear/scripts/setup.ts

This checks your configuration and tells you exactly what's missing.

3. Get Your API Key (If Needed)

1. Open Linear in your browser
2. Go to Settings → Security & access → Personal API keys
3. Click Create key and copy it (starts with lin_api_)
4. Add to your environment:

# Add to shell profile
echo 'export LINEAR_API_KEY="lin_api_your_key_here"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc

4. Verify It Works

npx tsx ~/.claude/skills/linear/scripts/linear-ops.ts whoami

You should see your name and organization.

5. Start Using It

# Create an initiative
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts create-initiative "My Project"

# Create a project
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts create-project "Phase 1" "My Project"

# Create a sub-issue under a parent
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts create-sub-issue ENG-100 "Add tests" "Unit tests for feature"

# Set parent-child relationships for existing issues
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts set-parent ENG-100 ENG-101 ENG-102

# Update issue status
node scripts/linear-helpers.mjs update-status Done 123 124

# See all commands
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts help

Installation

Option A: Claude Plugin (Recommended)

claude plugin add github:wrsmith108/linear-claude-skill

Option B: Manual Installation

# Clone directly to your skills directory
git clone https://github.com/wrsmith108/linear-claude-skill ~/.claude/skills/linear
cd ~/.claude/skills/linear && npm install

Prerequisites

• Linear API Key — Generate at Linear → Settings → Security & access → Personal API keys
• Linear MCP Server (Recommended) — Use the official Linear MCP server for best reliability:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "linear": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://mcp.linear.app/sse"],
      "env": {
        "LINEAR_API_KEY": "your_api_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Important: Always use Linear's official MCP server at mcp.linear.app. Do NOT use deprecated community servers like linear-mcp-server (npm) or jerhadf/linear-mcp-server (GitHub).

Directory Structure

linear-claude-skill/
├── SKILL.md          # Main skill instructions (Claude Code discovers this)
├── api.md            # GraphQL API reference
├── sdk.md            # SDK automation patterns
├── sync.md           # Bulk sync patterns
├── docs/
│   └── labels.md     # Label taxonomy documentation
├── scripts/
│   ├── linear-ops.ts # High-level operations (issues, projects, labels)
│   ├── query.ts      # GraphQL query runner
│   ├── setup.ts      # Configuration checker
│   ├── sync.ts       # Bulk sync CLI tool
│   ├── linear-api.mjs # Direct API wrapper
│   └── lib/          # Shared utilities (taxonomy, labels, verification)
└── hooks/
    └── post-edit.sh  # Auto-sync hook

Key Patterns

Discovery Before Creation (Critical!)

ALWAYS check Linear before creating projects or issues. This prevents duplicates:

# Check for existing projects
linear projects list | grep -i "phase\|feature-name"

# Check for existing issues
linear issues list --filter "title:keyword"

See SKILL.md → "Discovery Before Creation" for the full checklist.

Codebase Verification Before Work (Critical!)

ALWAYS verify codebase state before accepting issue scope at face value.

Issue descriptions may be outdated or speculative. APIs or features may already be implemented!

# Before starting "implement API" issues:
ls src/pages/api/admin/members/     # Check if files exist
grep -r "test.skip" tests/          # Check if tests are just skipped

Key Lesson: Issues describing "missing" features may already be implemented. The real work is often un-skipping tests and fixing assertions, not reimplementing.

See SKILL.md → "Codebase Verification Before Work" for the full checklist.

MCP Reliability (Critical!)

The Linear MCP server has known reliability issues (34% timeout rate due to SSE idle timeouts):

| Operation | MCP Reliability | Recommendation | |-----------|----------------|----------------| | Create issue | ✅ Reliable | Use MCP | | Search issues | ⚠️ Times out | Use GraphQL | | Update status | ⚠️ Unreliable | Use GraphQL | | Add comment | ❌ Broken | Use GraphQL |

See SKILL.md for GraphQL workaround patterns and root cause explanation.

Content vs Description (Critical!)

Linear has TWO text fields — using the wrong one causes blank displays:

| Field | Limit | Shows In | |-------|-------|----------| | description | 255 chars | List views, tooltips | | content | Unlimited | Main detail panel |

Always set BOTH when creating projects.

Project Status UUIDs

Status UUIDs are workspace-specific. Query your workspace:

query { projectStatuses { nodes { id name } } }

Common statuses: Backlog, Planned, In Progress, Completed, Canceled

Sub-Issue Management

Organize issues into parent-child hierarchies for better tracking:

# Create a sub-issue under a parent issue
# Inherits team and project from parent automatically
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts create-sub-issue <parent> <title> [description] [--priority 1-4] [--labels label1,label2]

# Set existing issues as children of a parent
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts set-parent <parent> <child1> <child2> ...

# List all sub-issues of a parent
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts list-sub-issues <parent>

When to use sub-issues:

• Breaking down features into trackable subtasks
• Organizing TDD/E2E test issues under a feature issue
• Sequential phases within a larger initiative

Label Taxonomy

A standardized label system for consistent issue categorization across projects:

# Show full taxonomy (25 labels across 3 categories)
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts labels taxonomy

# Validate label combinations
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts labels validate "feature,security,breaking-change"

# Suggest labels based on issue title
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts labels suggest "Fix XSS vulnerability in login form"

# Show agent recommendations for labels
npx tsx scripts/linear-ops.ts labels agents "security,performance"

Label Categories:

• Type (exactly one required): feature, bug, refactor, chore, spike
• Domain (1-2 recommended): security, backend, frontend, testing, infrastructure, mcp, cli, etc.
• Scope (0-2 optional): blocked, breaking-change, tech-debt, needs-split, good-first-issue

See docs/labels.md for the complete taxonomy guide.

Resource Links

Add clickable links to projects/initiatives:

mutation {
  entityExternalLinkCreate(input: {
    url: "https://github.com/org/repo/docs/phase-1.md",
    label: "Implementation Doc",
    projectId: "<uuid>"
  }) { success }
}

Project Milestones

Track Definition of Done:

mutation {
  projectMilestoneCreate(input: {
    projectId: "<uuid>",
    name: "DoD: Testing",
    description: "Unit tests, E2E tests, 100% coverage"
  }) { success }
}

Project Updates (Status Reports)

Post status updates to a project's Updates tab:

# Using SDK script (recommended)
LINEAR_API_KEY=lin_api_xxx npx tsx scripts/create-project-update.ts "Project Name" "## Update\n\nBody" onTrack

Health options: onTrack, atRisk, offTrack

See SKILL.md for full documentation and GraphQL examples.

Usage Examples

Create Issue (MCP)

Create a high priority issue titled "Fix authentication bug" in the ENG team

Update Project Status (GraphQL)

mutation {
  projectUpdate(id: "<project-uuid>", input: {
    statusId: "<status-uuid>"  # Get from projectStatuses query
  }) { success }
}

Bulk Operations (SDK)

See sdk.md for TypeScript patterns for loops, filtering, and batch updates.

Bulk Sync (NEW)

Synchronize code changes with Linear issues in bulk:

# Update multiple issues to Done
npx ts-node scripts/sync.ts --issues SMI-432,SMI-433,SMI-434 --state Done

# Update project status after phase completion
npx ts-node scripts/sync.ts --project "Phase 11" --state completed

# Verify sync completed
npx ts-node scripts/sync.ts --verify SMI-432,SMI-433 --expected-state Done

Agent-Spawned Sync

Spawn a parallel agent for autonomous sync via Task tool:

Task({
  description: "Sync Phase 11 to Linear",
  prompt: "Update SMI-432,433,434 to Done. Update project to completed.",
  subagent_type: "general-purpose"
})

Hook-Triggered Sync

Auto-suggest sync after code edits. Add to .claude/settings.json:

{
  "hooks": {
    "PostToolUse": [{
      "matcher": "Write|Edit",
      "hooks": [{
        "type": "command",
        "command": "bash ~/.claude/skills/linear/hooks/post-edit.sh"
      }]
    }]
  }
}

See sync.md for complete patterns including AgentDB integration.

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please submit issues and PRs to improve the skill.

License

MIT License — See LICENSE

Credits

Created for the Claude Code community. Patterns developed through real-world project management workflows.