linear

This MCP server provides a bridge to the Linear GraphQL API, enabling Claude to manage and interact with Linear data through the MCP protocol. It exposes tools for project management (projects, view/update projects), initiative management (initiatives), issue management (issues, search), and issue relationships (create/view/delete relations), including prioritization capabilities. You can use it to create, view, and relate Linear entities directly from Claude prompts, enabling holistic workflow orchestration and dependency tracking across initiatives, projects, and issues. The server handles authentication via the LINEAR_API_KEY environment variable and exposes a structured set of commands that Claude can invoke to perform common Linear operations.

Available tool categories include:

• Project Management: create-project, view-project, update-project
• Initiative Management: create-initiative, view-initiative, update-initiative
• Issue Management: create-issue, view-issue, update-issue, search-issues
• Issue Relations: create-issue-relation, view-issue-relations, delete-issue-relation

To use these tools, authenticate with your Linear API key in the environment and invoke the desired command from Claude. The server translates these calls into Linear GraphQL requests, returning results that Claude can display or use to drive further workflows (e.g., auto-creating related issues, linking items, or updating statuses).

Prerequisites:

• Node.js installed (must point Claude to the specific Node path as shown in the config).
• Access to the Linear API and a valid API key.
• Claude Desktop configured to load MCP servers.

Installation steps:

1. Ensure you have the required Node binary available and note its absolute path (as used in the example).
2. Create or update your Claude MCP config file with the linear server entry:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "linear": {
      "command": "/Users/USERNAME/.nvm/versions/node/v22.13.0/bin/node",
      "args": [
        "--experimental-strip-types",
        "/absolute/path/to/repo/index.ts"
      ],
      "env": {
        "LINEAR_API_KEY": "your_linear_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

3) Replace the absolute paths with the actual paths on your machine:
   - Node binary path
   - Path to the repository index.ts
4) Ensure the LINEAR_API_KEY environment variable is set to a valid Linear API key (either in the config or your environment).
5) Restart Claude Desktop to load the new MCP server configuration.
6) In Claude, select the Linear MCP server and begin issuing commands like create-project, create-issue, or create-issue-relation.

Tips and caveats:

• Claude may have issues with nvm-based Node installations; use the absolute path to the Node binary as shown.
• Keep your LINEAR_API_KEY secure and rotate it as needed; do not expose it in logs or shared configs.
• The MCP server supports a variety of Linear objects and relationships; use create-issue-relation to model dependencies and blocks relationships between issues.
• If you encounter authentication errors, verify that the API key is valid and has the required permissions for the targeted Linear workspace.
• For large queries, consider using search-issues to filter results and reduce payloads.