linear cli

cli tool for linear.app that uses git branch names and directory names to open issues and team pages. offers handy commands:

command	description
linear issue	open the issue in linear.app, based on the current git branch
linear issue print	print the issue to stdout
linear issue pr	create a nicely named pull request with gh
linear issue list	list your issues in a table view with sorting and filtering
linear team	view active issues assigned to you in the team

see the full list of commands below.

install

homebrew

brew install schpet/tap/linear

deno via jsr

deno install --allow-env --allow-sys --allow-run --allow-read --allow-net -g -n linear jsr:@schpet/linear-cli

binaries

https://github.com/schpet/linear-cli/releases/latest

local dev

git clone https://github.com/schpet/linear-cli
cd linear-cli
deno task install

setup

this cli needs three things to work:

1. a couple environment variables, see below
2. your current git branch to start with a linear issue id, e.g. eng-123-my-feature, this complements linear's 'copy git branch name' button and its related automations
3. either:
   • the directory of your repo to start with a linear team id
     e.g. if your team's identifier is ENG and your repo is at ~/code/cool-proj you'll need to

     mv ~/code/cool-proj ~/code/eng-cool-proj
     

   • or set LINEAR_TEAM_ID environment variable (useful with tools like direnv)

     LINEAR_TEAM_ID=ENG
     

required environment variables

Environment variables can be set in your shell or in a .env file. The CLI will look for a .env file in:

1. Your current working directory
2. The root of your git repository (if you're in a git repo)

Example .env file:

LINEAR_API_KEY="lin_api_..." # create an api key at https://linear.app/settings/api (requires member access, not available for guest accounts)
LINEAR_WORKSPACE="your-company" # your linear workspace url slug
LINEAR_TEAM_ID="ENG" # optional: set team id instead of using directory name
LINEAR_ISSUE_SORT="priority" # optional: default sort order for issue list (priority|manual)

bash

add to ~/.bashrc:

# secrets! make sure this file isn't shared online
export LINEAR_API_KEY="lin_api_..."
export LINEAR_WORKSPACE="your-company"

zsh

add to ~/.zshrc:

# secrets! make sure this file isn't shared online
export LINEAR_API_KEY="lin_api_..."
export LINEAR_WORKSPACE="your-company"

fish

run in terminal:

# secrets! make sure ~/.config/fish/fish_variables isn't shared online
set -Ux LINEAR_API_KEY "lin_api_..."
set -Ux LINEAR_WORKSPACE "your-company"

commands

issue commands

the current issue is determined by the issue id in the current git branch name. note that linear's github integration will suggest these branch names.

linear issue           # opens current branch's issue in Linear.app
linear issue open      # same as above
linear issue print     # prints issue title and description (with markdown formatting)
linear issue id        # prints the issue id from current branch (e.g., "ENG-123")
linear issue title     # prints just the issue title
linear issue url       # prints the Linear.app URL for the issue
linear issue pr        # creates a GitHub PR with issue details via `gh pr create`
linear issue list      # list your issues in a table view (supports --sort and --state)

team commands

name your repo directories with your project's linear team prefix for these to work. i.e. if your linear team prefix is 'ENG' mv ~/code/cool-project ~/code/eng-cool-project

linear team             # opens team page in Linear.app
linear team open        # same as above
linear team id          # prints the team id (e.g., "ENG")
linear team autolinks   # configures GitHub repository autolinks for Linear issues

other commands

linear --help          # show all commands
linear --version       # show version
linear completions     # generate shell completions