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

• esbuild Pre-compilation — 18x faster CLI startup (~50ms vs ~1s) with transparent tsx fallback
• 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
• Bulk Sync — Synchronize code changes with Linear via CLI, agents, or hooks
• Image Uploads — Upload images to Linear's S3 storage and attach to issues
• Smoke Tests — Automated verification of build output and CLI behavior

Quick Start (New Users)

1. Install the Skill

git clone https://github.com/wrsmith108/linear-claude-skill ~/.claude/skills/linear
cd ~/.claude/skills/linear && npm install

2. Run Setup Check

npm run setup

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

npm run ops -- whoami

You should see your name and organization.

5. Build for Faster Startup (Optional)

npm run build

Pre-compiles TypeScript to JavaScript for ~18x faster CLI cold starts. Without building, commands still work via tsx (slower but functional).

6. Start Using It

# Create an initiative
npm run ops -- create-initiative "My Project"

# Create a project
npm run ops -- create-project "Phase 1" "My Project"

# Create a sub-issue under a parent
npm run ops -- create-sub-issue ENG-100 "Add tests" "Unit tests for feature"

# Set parent-child relationships for existing issues
npm run ops -- set-parent ENG-100 ENG-101 ENG-102

# Update issue status
npm run ops -- status Done ENG-123 ENG-124

# See all commands
npm run ops -- help

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/
│   ├── build.mjs         # esbuild pre-compilation script
│   ├── linear-ops.ts     # High-level operations (issues, projects, labels)
│   ├── query.ts          # GraphQL query runner
│   ├── setup.ts          # Configuration checker
│   ├── sync.ts           # Bulk sync CLI tool
│   ├── upload-image.ts   # Upload images to Linear S3
│   ├── extract-image.ts  # Extract images from session JSONL
│   ├── linear-api.mjs    # Direct API wrapper
│   ├── __tests__/        # Smoke tests (Node built-in test runner)
│   └── lib/              # Shared utilities (taxonomy, labels, verification)
├── dist/                 # Pre-compiled JS output (gitignored, in npm package)
└── 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.

Content vs Description (Critical!)

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

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
npm run ops -- create-sub-issue <parent> <title> [description] [--priority 1-4] [--labels label1,label2]

# Set existing issues as children of a parent
npm run ops -- set-parent <parent> <child1> <child2> ...

# List all sub-issues of a parent
npm run ops -- 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)
npm run ops -- labels taxonomy

# Validate label combinations
npm run ops -- labels validate "feature,security,breaking-change"

# Suggest labels based on issue title
npm run ops -- labels suggest "Fix XSS vulnerability in login form"

# Show agent recommendations for labels
npm run ops -- 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:

npm run ops -- create-project-update "Project Name" "## Update\n\nBody" --health 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 tsx scripts/sync.ts --issues ENG-432,ENG-433,ENG-434 --state Done

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

# Verify sync completed
npx tsx scripts/sync.ts --verify ENG-432,ENG-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 ENG-432,433,434 to Done. Update project to completed.",
  subagent_type: "Linear-specialist"
})

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.

Changelog

2.5.0 (2026-03-17)

• Consolidated requireClient() to delegate to getLinearClient() — single client singleton
• Added smoke tests for build output, CLI behavior, and lazy client initialization
• Documented __BUNDLED__ build-time define pattern
• Extended esbuild fallback pattern to upload-image and extract-image scripts
• Bumped SKILL.md version to match package.json

2.4.0 (2026-03-04)

• Added esbuild pre-compilation for 18x faster CLI startup (~50ms vs ~1s)
• Lazy getLinearClient() — SDK initialization deferred to first API call
• Transparent fallback: node dist/X.js || npx tsx scripts/X.ts
• Removed import.meta.url CLI guards from lib files
• npm run as canonical invocation form in all documentation
• CI workflow with build verification and smoke tests

2.3.0 (2026-02-27)

• Added scripts/upload-image.ts and scripts/extract-image.ts for image management

See CHANGELOG.md for full version history.

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.