Linear Issue Management

Use This Skill When

• Creating or updating Linear issues programmatically
• Managing projects and team workflows in Linear
• Reading issue status and project information
• Bulk-updating issues or labels
• Assigning work and tracking progress
• Organizing sprints and cycles

When NOT to Use

• Real-time planning via Linear UI (faster there)
• Complex workflow logic beyond CRUD
• Issues involving authentication setup

Context: Issue Management Maturity

Undeveloped: Manual UI clicking, slow issue creation.

Target: Programmatic issue creation/update, read project status, manage cycles.

Optimized: Automated workflows, bulk operations, integrated with CI/CD and external systems.

Core Principle

Programmatic issue management scales. Direct API access enables batch operations, automation, and integration that's impossible via UI alone.

Instructions

Step 1: Set Up Linear MCP

If not already configured:

codex mcp add linear --url https://mcp.linear.app/mcp
codex --enable rmcp_client
codex mcp login linear  # OAuth login
# Restart codex after login

Step 2: Clarify Goal and Scope

Determine what you're working with:

• Team: Which team owns this work?
• Project: Which project are issues in?
• Labels: Standard labels in this workspace?
• Cycles: Current sprint/cycle?

Step 3: Execute Issue Operations

List issues:

composio execute LIST_ISSUES -d '{
  "team_key": "ENG",
  "status": "todo",
  "limit": 20
}'

Create issue:

composio execute CREATE_ISSUE -d '{
  "team_id": "team-123",
  "title": "Fix login bug",
  "description": "Users report 500 error on login page",
  "priority": 1,
  "estimate": 3
}'

Update issue:

composio execute UPDATE_ISSUE -d '{
  "issue_id": "ENG-123",
  "status": "in_progress",
  "assignee_id": "user-456"
}'

Step 4: Organize Work

Use labels and projects to organize:

• Assign to cycles (sprints)
• Add labels (bug, feature, tech-debt)
• Link related issues
• Set priorities

Step 5: Summary and Next Actions

After operations, confirm:

• Issues created/updated
• Team visibility into work
• Cycle assignments

Output

Deliver issue operations summary and any created/updated issues with tracking links.