linear-cli

Agent-native Linear CLI. Designed for AI agents managing work — orchestrator-first defaults, token-efficient output, name resolution.

Why

Linear's MCP server returns ~2000 tokens for 6 issues. The existing Deno CLI (schpet/linear-cli) defaults to --assignee me. Neither is designed for agents managing work.

linear-cli uses Linear's official SDK for correctness (behavioral contract: null coercion, lazy fetching, pagination) and adds what agents need: compact output (~50 tokens for same 6 issues), orchestrator-first defaults, name resolution.

Install

# Homebrew
brew install odysseus0/tap/linear-cli

# From source
deno task compile
cp linear /usr/local/bin/

# Or run directly
deno task dev -- <command>

Quick Start

# Authenticate
linear auth login --key lin_api_xxxxx

# List all active issues (all assignees, sorted by updated)
linear issue list

# Agent-friendly compact output
linear issue list --format compact

# Team overview — the orchestrator's primary command
linear team overview

Two Output Modes

Table (default, human):

◌   ID     STATE    ASSIGNEE  TITLE                   UPDATED
--- POL-6  Backlog  -         Test issue from MCP     1 min ago
!!! POL-1  Todo     Alice     Implement auth module   2 hours ago

Compact (agent, --format compact):

ID	STATE	ASSIGNEE	TITLE	UPDATED
POL-6	Backlog	-	Test issue from MCP	1m
POL-1	Todo	Alice	Implement auth module	2h

Stack

Deno / Cliffy / @linear/sdk

License

MIT