Linear MCP Server Cursor IDE Setup 2026

Linear is the issue tracker built for engineering teams who care about speed. Connecting it to Cursor via MCP brings your issues, cycles, and projects directly into your AI coding workflow — no tab switching, no copy-pasting issue IDs. Here's the complete setup.

What This Integration Enables

With Linear MCP running in Cursor, you can:

Prerequisites

Step 1: Get Your Linear API Key

1. Log in to Linear and open Settings (bottom-left).
2. Navigate to API → Personal API Keys.
3. Click Create new API key, give it a name like "Cursor MCP", and copy it.

The key looks like lin_api_XXXXXXXXXXXXX. Keep it private — it has full access to your Linear workspace.

Step 2: Get Your Team ID (Optional but Recommended)

For scoped queries, grab your team's identifier:

1. In Linear, go to Settings → Teams.
2. Your team has a Key (e.g., ENG) and an ID.
3. The team ID appears in the URL when viewing team settings.

You can also discover this via the MCP server after setup using list_teams.

Step 3: Install the Linear MCP Server

Linear has an official MCP server:

npm install -g @linear/mcp

Or run it via npx without a global install:

npx @linear/mcp --help

Step 4: Configure Cursor

Edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json (macOS/Linux) or %APPDATA%\Cursor\mcp.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "linear": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@linear/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "LINEAR_API_KEY": "lin_api_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

If you want to scope to a specific team by default, add:

"LINEAR_TEAM_ID": "your_team_id"

Step 5: Restart and Verify

Quit Cursor fully and reopen. Go to Settings → Features → MCP — confirm "linear" appears with a green dot.

Test in Composer:

List my assigned Linear issues that are currently in progress

A successful response means the integration is working.

Real-World Use Cases

Creating an Issue Mid-Coding

You're implementing a feature and realize there's a dependency you need to track:

Create a Linear issue in the Engineering team titled 
"Migrate auth tokens to Redis" with priority Medium, 
label "Backend", and assign it to me

Checking Your Current Cycle

What's in my current Linear cycle? 
Show me which issues I own and their status.

Updating an Issue Status

Update Linear issue ENG-241 status to "In Review"

Adding Context to an Issue

After a difficult debugging session:

Add a comment to Linear issue ENG-198: 
"Root cause identified — the race condition happens when two concurrent 
requests both hit the session creation endpoint before the first commit. 
Fix involves adding a distributed lock on session_id."

Creating Issues from Code TODOs

Paste a block of code with TODO comments into Composer:

Review this code and create Linear issues for each TODO comment. 
Use the Engineering team, label "Tech Debt", priority Low.
[paste code block]

Blocking and Relating Issues

Mark Linear issue ENG-310 as blocked by ENG-287

Troubleshooting

API key returns 401

Issues not found despite correct ID

"Team not found" when creating issues

Server connects but no tools appear

Using Linear's GraphQL API Directly

For power users, the Linear MCP server exposes a graphql_query tool that lets you run arbitrary Linear GraphQL:

Run this Linear GraphQL query:
{
  issues(filter: { assignee: { isMe: { eq: true } }, state: { type: { eq: "started" } } }) {
    nodes {
      identifier
      title
      priority
      updatedAt
    }
  }
}

This gives you full access to Linear's data model beyond what the pre-built tools expose.

Combining with GitHub MCP

Linear and GitHub are natural partners. A typical workflow:

1. Query Linear for the issue you're working on and get full context.
2. Write the code in Cursor with that context in Composer.
3. GitHub MCP creates a branch named after the issue identifier.
4. After your PR is merged, update the Linear issue status to Done.

Get details for Linear issue ENG-341, 
then create a GitHub branch called "eng-341-rate-limiting-fix" 
in the backend repo

All in one Composer session.

Security

More MCP Integrations

Linear pairs well with GitHub, Notion, and Slack in Cursor. See the full MCP server directory to build out your engineering workflow.