linear-mcp
Multi-workspace Linear MCP server with Personal API Key auth. Drop-in replacement for the official OAuth-only Linear MCP at mcp.linear.app/mcp.
Why this exists. The official Linear MCP is OAuth-only and single-workspace per instance. PAT auth plus persistent token storage plus multi-workspace routing kills three failure modes:
- The OAuth flow is brittle across MCP client session boundaries — auth state expires when a session resumes mid-flow.
- The localhost callback fails in some setups, forcing fragile paste-back flows.
- One MCP instance per workspace doubles config + OAuth dances.
This server replaces both with one entry. One install, N workspaces, never an OAuth dance again.
Install
From PyPI
pipx install adelaidasofia-linear-mcp
From source
git clone https://github.com/adelaidasofia/linear-mcp ~/.claude/linear-mcp
cd ~/.claude/linear-mcp
pip install -e .
Claude Desktop one-click
Download the latest .mcpb from Releases and double-click.
-
Generate one Personal API Key per workspace at https://linear.app/settings/account/security. You must be logged into each workspace separately while generating the key for that workspace.
-
Create ~/.claude/linear-mcp/admin.env (chmod 600):
LINEAR_WORKSPACES=personal,work
LINEAR_PRIMARY_WORKSPACE=personal
LINEAR_PAT_PERSONAL=lin_api_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
LINEAR_PAT_WORK=lin_api_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
LINEAR_LABEL_PERSONAL=Personal
LINEAR_LABEL_WORK=Work
Aliases are arbitrary — name them whatever helps you route (acme,beta, team1,team2, home,client).
chmod 600 ~/.claude/linear-mcp/admin.env
- Register in Claude Code (user scope, so it loads in every project):
claude mcp add -s user linear-mcp python3 -m linear_mcp.server
Or, with pipx install:
claude mcp add -s user linear-mcp linear-mcp
- Restart Claude Code.
healthcheck should return ok: true per workspace.
Substrate-layer enforcement (v0.3)
Three server-side checks that protect issue quality without depending on any markdown rule file or client-side memory. Apply only to WRITE paths; reads stay unconstrained.
| Layer | What it does | Bypass env var |
|---|
[source:] first-line check | save_issue / save_project reject CREATE calls whose description (or project content) does not start with [source: <canonical-key>]. UPDATE calls (id passed) skip the check so legacy backfills remain unblocked. | LINEAR_MCP_SKIP_SOURCE_CHECK=1 |
| Idempotency check | Before any CREATE, the server runs searchIssues / searchProjects for [source: <key>] and refuses to create a duplicate. The error names the existing identifier + UUID so the caller can update in place. | LINEAR_MCP_SKIP_IDEMPOTENCY=1 |
auth_phrase on bulk_save_issues | bulk_save_issues now requires auth_phrase ∈ {"go", "yes do it", "confirmed", "execute", "go cancel", "go update"} (case-insensitive). Mass-modification surface stays explicit. | (no bypass — surface the phrase to the operator) |
Canonical-key examples:
[source: 🍄 Mycelium AI/📝 Meeting Notes/2026-05-22 - sync.md][source: ⚙️ Meta/Decisions/2026-05-23-merger-public-comms.md][source: linear-kickoff:sweep-myc-p1][source: ~/.claude/linear-mcp/BUILD_PROMPT_V03.md]
Fast issue execution
linear-exec is the short path for starting real work from a Linear issue.
It resolves the issue, checks blocking relations, scans same-project siblings
for obvious scope overlap, infers the repo when possible, and can create the
standard claude-dev-worktree branch.
Dry-run a specific issue:
linear-exec execute MYC-150 --workspace mycelium
Start the work after reviewing the preflight:
linear-exec execute MYC-150 --workspace mycelium --repo memory-runtime-pro --go
Find the next unblocked P1 issue in a workspace:
linear-exec sweep mycelium p1
linear-exec sweep mycelium p1 --go --repo memory-runtime-pro
The command refuses to proceed when an upstream blocks relation is still
incomplete unless --force is passed. --no-state-update and --no-worktree
let agents use only the parts of the preflight they need.
Every tool takes an optional workspace parameter (the alias from LINEAR_WORKSPACES). Omit it to use LINEAR_PRIMARY_WORKSPACE.
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|
list_workspaces | Show configured workspaces and primary |
healthcheck | Verify each PAT + surface remaining rate-limit budget |
Core entities
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|
list_teams / get_team | Teams (with inline workflow states) |
list_users / get_user | Users (me resolves to PAT owner) |
list_projects / get_project / save_project | Projects (v0.3: save_project enforces [source:] on content + idempotency on CREATE) |
list_initiatives / get_initiative / save_initiative | Initiatives |
list_issues / get_issue / save_issue / bulk_save_issues | Issues (id or ONDE-123; bulk uses issueBatchUpdate; v0.3: save_issue enforces [source:] + idempotency on CREATE; bulk_save_issues requires auth_phrase) |
list_cycles | Cycles |
list_milestones / get_milestone / save_milestone | Project milestones |
list_issue_statuses / get_issue_status | Workflow states |
list_issue_labels / create_issue_label | Labels |
list_comments / save_comment | Comments |
list_documents / get_document / save_document | Documents |
save_status_update | Post a project status update |
Webhooks (v0.2)
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|
list_webhooks / get_webhook | Inspect subscriptions |
create_webhook / update_webhook | Manage subscriptions |
delete_webhook | Destructive — draft+confirm |
Notifications / inbox (v0.2)
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|
list_notifications / get_notification | Inbox read |
notifications_unread_count | Top-of-mind counter |
mark_notification_read / mark_all_notifications_read | Triage |
archive_notification | Sweep |
Attachments (v0.2)
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|
list_attachments / get_attachment | Per-issue reads |
attachments_for_url | Reverse lookup: which issues link to this URL? |
link_url_to_issue | Attach any URL to an issue |
delete_attachment | Destructive — draft+confirm |
Issue relations (v0.2)
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|
list_issue_relations | The blocks/duplicate/related graph |
create_issue_relation / delete_issue_relation | Manage the graph |
Agent sessions (v0.2)
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|
list_agent_sessions / get_agent_session | Linear's first-class agent surface |
create_agent_session_on_issue / create_agent_session_on_comment | Spawn |
Search (v0.2 — replaces v0.1's broken search_documentation)
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|
search_issues / search_documents / search_projects | Full-text per entity type |
semantic_search | Workspace-wide semantic across all entities |
MCP prompts (v0.2)
Available as slash commands in MCP clients that surface prompts:
/triage-issue — full triage pass: classify, label, prioritize, assign, link duplicates/project-status — draft a weekly status update from current Linear state/inbox-sweep — sweep today's notifications, propose actions, archive what's handled
Multi-workspace usage
Switch workspaces inline:
list_teams(workspace="work")
save_issue(workspace="personal", title="Ship", team_id="...")
Without workspace, the primary is used.
Auth
Linear PATs use header Authorization: <key> (no Bearer prefix). Each PAT is scoped to one workspace and grants access only to data the owning user can see. There is no shared org token.
Rate limit: 2500 requests/hour per token (verified against live API 2026-05-23). The server passes Linear's Retry-After header through on 429 and surfaces remaining budget via healthcheck.
Safety
Read tools and routine writes (create/update issues, comments, labels, status updates) pass through. Destructive ops (delete_webhook, delete_attachment) use the draft+confirm pattern: the first call stages the change and returns a draft_id + preview of what will happen; the second call (with confirm_draft_id) commits. Drafts expire after 1 hour (override with LINEAR_MCP_DRAFT_TTL_SECONDS).
Every tool call appends one JSONL line to ~/.claude/linear-mcp/audit.log (override with LINEAR_MCP_AUDIT_LOG_PATH, disable with LINEAR_MCP_AUDIT_LOG=false). Tokens are stripped from audit records.
healthcheck surfaces each PAT's remaining rate-limit budget (X-RateLimit-Requests-Remaining + X-Complexity-Remaining) per workspace, so agents can self-throttle without making a separate observability call.
License
MIT.
Built by Adelaida Diaz-Roa. Full install or team version at diazroa.com.