Linear MCP: Manage Linear Issues from Claude Code

Linear MCP is Linear’s official hosted Model Context Protocol server. It exposes tools for finding, creating and updating Linear objects such as issues, projects and comments, so Claude can work your backlog from the same session where it writes code. Linear says more functionality is on the way.

Who it is for

Engineering teams that plan in Linear and want Claude Code to pick up an issue, implement it, and report back without leaving the terminal.

Install in Claude Code

From Linear’s docs:

claude mcp add --transport http linear-server https://mcp.linear.app/mcp

Then start a Claude Code session and run /mcp once to complete authentication. Authentication uses OAuth 2.1 with dynamic client registration; a bearer token or Linear API key also works for automated setups.

Prefer least privilege? Point Claude at https://mcp.linear.app/mcp/readonly instead. Linear is also available in Anthropic’s official marketplace as linear@claude-plugins-official (see the plugins guide).

Use cases

• Issue to PR: “Read LIN-482, implement it, and comment on the issue with the PR link.”
• Triage: summarize new bugs and suggest labels or priorities.
• Planning: create a project and break a spec into issues.
• Standups: list what changed in your team’s cycle since yesterday.

Pros

• Official, hosted and zero-install.
• Read-only endpoint for safe exploration.
• Works with any MCP client that supports remote HTTP servers.

Cons and caveats

• Write tools can change real issues; review what Claude proposes, or start with read-only.
• Tool coverage is still growing, so niche admin tasks may need the Linear UI or API.
• The /mcp sign-in step is interactive, which matters for headless runs; use an API key there.

Links

• Docs: linear.app/docs/mcp
• Related: GitHub MCP server, Atlassian MCP, Sentry MCP