Linear CLI

An agent-first Linear CLI with stable JSON contracts, dry-run previews, timeout-aware write semantics, and git/jj workflow integration.

Recommended Agent Loop

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

Discover command traits with linear capabilities --json and opt into --compat v2 only when richer schema metadata is needed
Read Linear state with --json
Preview writes with --dry-run --json when available
Apply writes with --json
Inspect exit codes and error.details instead of parsing styled terminal text

Recommended supporting docs:

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

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

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 --json
linear capabilities --json --compat v2

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 } }"}'