Linear MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Linear, written in Go. This server provides tools for interacting with the Linear API through the MCP protocol.

Features

• Create, update, and search Linear issues
• Get issues assigned to a user
• Add comments to issues
• Retrieve team information
• Rate-limited API requests to respect Linear’s API limits

Prerequisites

• Go 1.23 or higher
• Linear API key

Installation

From Releases

Pre-built binaries are available for Linux, macOS, and Windows on the GitHub Releases page.

1. Download the appropriate binary for your platform
2. Make it executable (Linux/macOS):

chmod +x linear-mcp-go-*

3. Run the binary as described in the Usage section

Automated

# Download linux binary for the latest release
RELEASE=$(curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/geropl/linear-mcp-go/releases/latest)
DOWNLOAD_URL=$(echo $RELEASE | jq -r '.assets[] | select(.name | contains("linux")) | .browser_download_url')
curl -L -o ./linear-mcp-go $DOWNLOAD_URL
chmod +x ./linear-mcp-go

# Setup the mcp server (.gitpod.yml, dotfiles repo, etc.)
./linear-mcp-go setup --tool=cline

Usage

Running the Server

1. Set your Linear API key as an environment variable:

export LINEAR_API_KEY=your_linear_api_key

2. Run the server:

# Run in read-only mode (default)
./linear-mcp-go serve

# Run with write access enabled
./linear-mcp-go serve --write-access

The server will start and listen for MCP requests on stdin/stdout.

Setting Up for AI Assistants

The setup command automates the installation and configuration process for various AI assistants:

# Set your Linear API key as an environment variable
export LINEAR_API_KEY=your_linear_api_key

# Set up for Cline (default)
./linear-mcp-go setup

# Set up with write access enabled
./linear-mcp-go setup --write-access

# Set up with auto-approval for read-only tools
./linear-mcp-go setup --auto-approve=allow-read-only

# Set up with specific tools auto-approved
./linear-mcp-go setup --auto-approve=linear_get_issue,linear_search_issues

# Set up with write access and auto-approval for read-only tools
./linear-mcp-go setup --write-access --auto-approve=allow-read-only

# Set up for a different tool (only "cline" supported for now)
./linear-mcp-go setup --tool=cline

This command:

1. Checks if the Linear MCP binary is already installed
2. Copies the current binary to the installation directory if needed
3. Configures the AI assistant to use the Linear MCP server
4. Sets up auto-approval for specified tools if requested

The --auto-approve flag can be used to specify which tools should be auto-approved in the Cline configuration:

• --auto-approve=allow-read-only: Auto-approves all read-only tools (linear_search_issues, linear_get_user_issues, linear_get_issue, linear_get_teams)