linear-cli

name	linear-cli
description	Manage Linear issues from the command line using the linear cli. This skill allows automating linear management.
allowed-tools	Bash(linear:*), Bash(curl:*)

Linear CLI

A CLI to manage Linear issues from the command line, with git and jj integration.

Generated from linear CLI v1.10.0

User Defaults

workspace = "lilpacys-workspace"
team_id = "LIL"
issue_sort = "priority"

Issue List Defaults

linear issue list defaults to state=unstarted and assignee=self. When listing issues, always include all assignees and all states:

linear issue list -A --all-states --sort priority

Required Issue State Flow

When working on a Linear issue, move through states without skipping:

1. After choosing the target issue: linear issue update <ID> -s "Todo"
2. When starting work: linear issue update <ID> -s "In Progress"
3. During work: put stable information in the issue description and progress logs in comments.
4. After implementation and tests: linear issue update <ID> -s "In Review"
5. After user approval: linear issue update <ID> -s "Done"
6. Final report: linear issue comment add <ID> -b "コメント本文"

Do not move an issue directly to Done.

Prerequisites

The linear command must be available on PATH. To check:

linear --version

If not installed, follow the instructions at:
https://github.com/schpet/linear-cli?tab=readme-ov-file#install

Best Practices for Markdown Content

When working with issue descriptions or comment bodies that contain markdown, always prefer using file-based flags instead of passing content as command-line arguments:

• Use --description-file for issue create and issue update commands
• Use --body-file for comment add and comment update commands

Why use file-based 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

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 for comments
linear issue comment add ENG-123 --body-file /tmp/comment.md

Only use inline flags (--description, --body) for simple, single-line content.

Image-Safe Issue Editing

When reading and updating issue descriptions that contain inline images or uploaded files, do not round-trip the output of plain linear issue view back into linear issue update.

• linear issue view downloads uploads.linear.app assets to local temp files by default
• Those downloaded markdown image links point at /tmp or /var/folders/... paths on the current machine
• If you save that rewritten markdown back with linear issue update --description-file, the issue description will contain broken local-file image links

Safe read paths for issue descriptions with images:

• Prefer linear issue view ISSUE-ID --no-download when you want the rendered markdown with remote asset URLs preserved
• Prefer linear api when you need the raw issue.description field exactly as stored

Safe update workflow for image-containing descriptions:

# Read the raw description without rewriting upload URLs
linear issue view PM-122 --no-download

# Or fetch the raw description field exactly as stored
linear api --variable id=PM-122 <<'GRAPHQL'
query($id: String!) {
  issue(id: $id) {
    description
  }
}
GRAPHQL

# Edit the markdown in a temp file, then write it back
linear issue update PM-122 --description-file /tmp/description.md

Recovery if an inline image was broken by a bad round-trip:

1. Find the original local file if it was downloaded by linear issue view
2. Re-upload it with linear issue attach ISSUE-ID /path/to/file.png
3. Rebuild the description markdown so the inline image points at the new uploaded asset URL, then save with --description-file

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 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 config             # Interactively generate .linear.toml configuration
linear schema             # Print the GraphQL schema to stdout
linear api                # Make a raw GraphQL API request

Reference Documentation

• auth - Manage Linear authentication
• issue - Manage Linear issues
• team - Manage Linear teams
• project - Manage Linear projects
• project-update - Manage project status updates
• 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
• config - Interactively generate .linear.toml configuration
• schema - Print the GraphQL schema to stdout
• api - Make a raw GraphQL API request

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.

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 } }"}'