Linear API

Name: Linear API API
Brand: Linear API
Availability: InStock

✓ Official Vendor SpecDeveloper ToolsProject Managementbearer1 EndpointsREST

For Agents

Create and track issues, manage project cycles, assign work across teams, and query workflow states through Linear's GraphQL API. Provides typed access to the full Linear data model via a single endpoint.

Quickstart

Get started with Linear API in minutes using your preferred integration method.

# Add to your MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf)
{
  "jentic": {
    "url": "https://api.jentic.com/mcp",
    "auth": "oauth"
  }
}

# Then ask your agent:
"create a project issue"

# → Jentic returns the GET /events tool with parameter schema, agent executes.

Capabilities

What an agent can do with Linear API API.

Create issues with title, description, assignee, labels, priority, and cycle assignment in a single GraphQL mutation

Query issues across teams with filters on status, priority, assignee, label, and date ranges

Move issues through workflow states and update priority, assignee, and project linkage

Plan and monitor cycles (sprints) with scope tracking and automatic issue rollover

GET STARTED

Start building with Linear API API

Explore with Jentic

View OpenAPI Document

Use Cases

Patterns agents use Linear API API for, with concrete tasks.

★ AI Agent Issue Management

AI agents use the Linear API through Jentic to automate issue lifecycle management — creating issues from bug reports, triaging by priority, assigning to team members, and tracking through workflow states. An agent searches Jentic for 'create a linear issue', receives the GraphQL mutation schema, and executes with title, team, priority, and label parameters. The entire flow from incident detection to issue creation and assignment completes in seconds.

Create a P1 issue in the Platform team titled 'API latency spike detected' with label 'incident', assign it to the on-call engineer, and add it to the current cycle

Sprint Cycle Tracking and Planning

Query active cycles, monitor completion metrics, and plan upcoming cycles by moving backlog issues into scope. Linear's API exposes cycle start/end dates, scope (total issues), completed count, and progress percentage. Agents automate standup reporting by summarizing what moved to Done, what's in progress, and what's blocked across a team's active cycle.

Query the active cycle for the Backend team, calculate the percentage of issues completed vs total scope, list any issues marked as blocked, and generate a cycle health summary

Cross-Team Issue Search and Reporting

Execute filtered queries across multiple teams to generate reports on workload distribution, priority balance, and aging issues. The GraphQL API supports filtering by team, state, label, priority, assignee, and created/updated dates. Agents build leadership dashboards by aggregating issue counts and identifying teams with high P1 backlogs.

Search for all P1 and P2 issues across all teams that have been in 'In Progress' for more than 5 days and generate a summary grouped by team

Development Workflow Integration

Link Linear issues to GitHub pull requests and branches, automatically updating issue status when PRs are merged. The API provides bidirectional sync between code changes and project tracking. Teams use this to maintain traceability from feature requests through implementation to deployment without manual status updates.

Find all issues in the Frontend team linked to merged PRs in the last week that are still in 'In Review' state, and transition them to 'Done'

Key Endpoints

1 endpoints — query and mutate issues, projects, cycles, teams, and workflows through linear's graphql endpoint.

METHOD

PATH

DESCRIPTION

POST

/graphql

Execute GraphQL queries and mutations for all Linear operations

POST

/graphql

Execute GraphQL queries and mutations for all Linear operations

Why though Jentic?

Three things that make agents converge on Jentic-routed access.

Credential isolation

Linear API keys and OAuth tokens are stored encrypted in the Jentic vault (MAXsystem). Agents receive authenticated access to the GraphQL endpoint — raw Bearer tokens never enter the agent's context window.

Intent-based discovery

Agents search by intent (e.g., 'create a linear issue' or 'check sprint progress') and Jentic returns the matching GraphQL mutation or query template with typed field schemas, so the agent executes without writing raw GraphQL queries.

Time to first call

Direct Linear integration: 1-2 days for OAuth setup, GraphQL schema exploration, and query construction. Through Jentic: under 30 minutes — search, load schema template, execute.

Related APIs

Alternatives and complements available in the Jentic catalogue.

Alternative

The Jira Cloud platform REST API

Enterprise project tracking with customizable workflows, fields, and permissions

Choose Jira when the organization uses Atlassian tools, needs highly customizable workflows, or requires advanced permission schemes. Jira has 588 REST endpoints vs Linear's single GraphQL endpoint.

Complementary

GitHub v3 REST API

Source control platform whose PRs and branches link to Linear issues

Use GitHub API when you need to manage pull requests and branches that are linked to Linear issues, or when automating the code review side of the development workflow.

Complementary

GitLab REST API

DevOps platform with merge requests that can sync with Linear issues

Use GitLab when the source code is hosted on GitLab and you need to link merge requests back to Linear issue tracking.

FAQs

Specific to using Linear API API through Jentic.

What authentication does the Linear API use?

The Linear API uses Bearer token authentication. You can use personal API keys generated from Linear settings, or OAuth 2.0 for third-party app integrations with scoped access. Through Jentic, tokens are stored encrypted in the MAXsystem vault — agents receive authenticated access without the raw API key entering their context.

How do I create an issue through the Linear API via Jentic?

Search Jentic for 'create a linear issue', load the GraphQL mutation schema for the issueCreate mutation via POST /graphql, and execute with title, teamId, priority, and optional fields like labelIds and assigneeId. Jentic handles Bearer token injection automatically. The response returns the issue identifier and URL.

What are the rate limits for the Linear API?

Linear applies rate limits of 1500 requests per hour for personal API keys and higher limits for OAuth apps. The API returns HTTP 429 with a Retry-After header when limits are exceeded. GraphQL complexity limits also apply — deeply nested queries count more against the limit. Typical automation use cases stay well within these bounds.

Can I query issues across multiple teams with the Linear API?

Yes. The issues query in the GraphQL API accepts filter parameters for team, state, priority, label, assignee, and date ranges. You can query without a team filter to get issues across all teams you have access to. Results support cursor-based pagination for large result sets.

How does Linear's GraphQL API differ from REST?

Linear uses a single POST /graphql endpoint for all operations instead of separate REST endpoints per resource. You write queries to fetch exactly the fields you need and mutations to create or update data. This means fewer HTTP round-trips but requires constructing GraphQL query strings. Through Jentic, the query structure is templated so agents can execute without writing raw GraphQL.

Is the Linear API free to use?

API access is included with all Linear plans. Linear offers a free plan for small teams with full API access. Paid plans (Standard, Plus, Enterprise) increase storage and feature access. There is no separate API usage fee beyond the plan subscription.