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Does Linear have an official MCP server? Yes - Linear hosts and maintains a remote Model Context Protocol (MCP) server at https://mcp.linear.app/mcp, shipped on 1 May 2025 and expanded in February 2026 with initiatives, project milestones, project updates and project labels. It’s centrally hosted by Linear, not a community wrapper, and it now sits alongside Notion and Slack as a first-party connector inside Claude.
This information is correct as of September 2026.
If your marketing or growth team already runs campaign plans, briefs and roadmaps through Linear, this is the connector that lets an AI agent read and update that workspace directly, instead of you copying ticket status into a deck by hand. Here’s how it works, how to set it up, and when a community server still earns its place.
What the Linear MCP server does
Linear’s server follows the same authenticated remote MCP pattern as Notion’s and Slack’s: centrally hosted, authenticated with OAuth, nothing to install or run yourself. It uses Streamable HTTP as its primary transport, with the older SSE endpoint (https://mcp.linear.app/sse) being phased out - if you set this up before early 2026, it’s worth switching your client config to the /mcp endpoint.
Out of the box it exposes tools for finding, creating and updating issues, projects and comments. The February 2026 update extended that past pure issue tracking to initiatives, initiative updates, project milestones, project updates and project labels, aimed squarely at people managing plans and communicating progress rather than writing code. It can also load images and pull in any Linear resource directly from a pasted URL.
Authentication is OAuth 2.1 with dynamic client registration by default, so there’s no client ID or secret to manage: the first connection opens a browser, you approve access, and the client reuses the session from then on. For backend or unattended use, Linear also accepts a bearer token or a Linear API key passed straight in the Authorization header, which skips the interactive flow.
Setting up the Linear MCP server
Choose read-write or read-only
Read-write access is the default at https://mcp.linear.app/mcp. If you only want an agent to read context, not create or edit anything, you have two options: connect to the dedicated https://mcp.linear.app/mcp/readonly endpoint, which only ever exposes read tools, or use the standard endpoint and request just the read OAuth scope, which stops the resulting token reaching any write API regardless of what the client asks for.
Connect from your client
Linear publishes dedicated setup steps for Claude, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf and Zed, but the pattern is consistent everywhere: point the client at the /mcp endpoint and let it drive the OAuth flow.
- Claude: add the Linear connector from Settings → Connectors.
- Claude Code:
claude mcp add --transport http linear-server https://mcp.linear.app/mcp, which opens the OAuth browser flow to finish connecting. - Cursor and Windsurf: add the same
/mcpendpoint as a remote MCP server in your client’s MCP settings. - VS Code: version 1.102 and later has native MCP support. Either install Linear from the curated MCP server list with one click, or add a
.vscode/mcp.jsonfile pointing at the endpoint if you want the config shared with your team.
If you manage more than one Linear workspace, note that an authorised session is bound to a single workspace - reconnecting alone won’t switch it. Each workspace needs its own separate authentication context (for example, a distinct MCP_REMOTE_CONFIG_DIR per workspace if your client uses the mcp-remote bridge).
A quick security note
The server inherits whatever the authorising account can see and do in Linear, so connect it from an account scoped to what the agent actually needs rather than your most privileged admin login. If you only need read access, request the read scope or use the read-only endpoint rather than trusting an agent not to write.
Use cases for marketing and growth teams
Most of what’s written about the Linear MCP server assumes an engineering audience. The same tools solve real problems for marketing and growth teams running campaigns through Linear, or alongside it.
Turning campaign plans into tracked projects
Instead of manually copying a campaign brief into individual Linear issues, an agent connected to Linear can turn a plan document into a structured project: a parent initiative, milestones for each phase, and issues for each build step, all cross-linked and assigned.
Standup and status summarisation
Ask your AI agent to pull current cycle and project status straight from Linear before a standup or stakeholder update, rather than screen-sharing a board. With the February 2026 additions, that summary can now include initiative-level and milestone-level progress, not just individual tickets.
Campaign timeline generation
Because the server can create and update project milestones and project updates, an agent can maintain a live campaign timeline in Linear as work progresses, and post a project update summarising what shipped and what’s next, without anyone manually rewriting a status doc.
Linear MCP server options compared
Linear’s own official server is the obvious starting point, but two community projects still turn up in searches for “Linear MCP server.” Here’s how they compare:
| Linear’s official server | jerhadf/linear-mcp-server | tacticlaunch/mcp-linear | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Status | Actively developed, GA | Deprecated - README recommends the official server | Actively maintained, community project |
| Hosting | Remote, hosted by Linear at mcp.linear.app | Self-hosted (local, via npx) | Self-hosted (local or self-deployed) |
| Auth | OAuth 2.1 (dynamic client registration), or bearer token / API key | Linear API key | Linear API key or OAuth token |
| Tool set | Issues, projects, comments, initiatives, milestones, project updates, labels | Basic issue interaction only | Broader API coverage: cycles, milestones, roadmaps, customers, webhooks, OAuth app management |
| Multi-workspace | One workspace per authenticated session | Not actively maintained | Supported, since you self-host with your own API key per workspace |
| Best for | Most teams - no infrastructure, actively developed | Nobody - use the official server instead | Teams needing multi-workspace support or fuller GraphQL coverage |
For most marketing and growth teams, the official hosted server is the right default: nothing to deploy, and Linear is actively investing in it. Reach for tacticlaunch/mcp-linear only if you specifically need multi-workspace support in one session or deeper API coverage the official server doesn’t yet expose. This same official-vs-community trade-off shows up across the MCP ecosystem, including Notion’s hosted server vs its community alternative and GitHub’s MCP server - see the full MCP servers list for more.
If you’re choosing Linear itself rather than just its MCP server, see our breakdown of Linear alternatives for how it stacks up against other project management tools for marketing teams.
About Growth Method
A Linear MCP server is built for reading and writing issues, projects and initiatives, useful when your campaign plans, build steps and launch timelines already live in Linear. Growth Method is the agentic marketing platform for B2B teams: plan, launch, and analyse campaigns with pre-built AI agents that work from your live marketing data, for people and agents alike. Connect Linear alongside your analytics, ads and CMS tools, and your campaign agents can turn a Growth Method plan into tracked Linear issues, pull status back into the campaign record, and keep both in sync instead of maintaining two separate sources of truth.
Get started to connect your stack and run your next campaign from the data, not a static board.
Frequently asked questions
Does Linear have an official MCP server?
Yes. Linear hosts and maintains a remote MCP server at https://mcp.linear.app/mcp, launched 1 May 2025 and expanded in February 2026 with initiatives, project milestones, project updates and project labels. It’s a first-party connector, not a community project, and it’s built into Claude’s connectors list.
Is the Linear MCP server free to use?
Yes, there’s no separate charge. You’re authorising an MCP client against your existing Linear workspace under your own account permissions, so whatever you can see and edit in Linear is what the server can access. Workspace admins can further restrict access with allowlists and workspace-level MCP permissions.
What’s the difference between the read-write and read-only endpoints?
The default endpoint, https://mcp.linear.app/mcp, gives read-write access to issues, projects and comments. For read-only access, either connect to https://mcp.linear.app/mcp/readonly, which only ever exposes read tools, or use the standard endpoint but request just the read OAuth scope, which prevents the resulting token reaching any write API.
Are community Linear MCP servers still worth using?
Rarely as a default. Linear’s own jerhadf/linear-mcp-server is deprecated and its README now points teams to the official server. The actively maintained community option, tacticlaunch/mcp-linear, adds broader API coverage (cycles, milestones, roadmaps, webhooks) and multi-workspace support the official server doesn’t offer in a single session, which is the main reason teams still reach for it.
Can the Linear MCP server run unattended, without a human approving OAuth?
The interactive OAuth 2.1 flow needs a human in the browser the first time a client connects. For backend agents or scheduled jobs with no one present to sign in, Linear also accepts a bearer token or a restricted, read-only Linear API key passed directly in the Authorization header, which skips the interactive flow entirely.