lncli

A Linear CLI built for AI agents, written in Rust. Defaults to TOON output to minimize token usage, with full CRUD support across Linear's core resources, with responses stripped to the essentials for your AI agent to do its job.

Install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tdwells90/lncli/main/install.sh | sh

Authentication

Provide your Linear API token via (in priority order):

1. --api-token <TOKEN> flag
2. LINEAR_API_TOKEN environment variable
3. ~/.linear_api_token file

Agent setup

Add the following to your CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md to give your AI agent access to Linear:

## Linear

Use the **`lncli`** CLI for all Linear operations (reading issues, updating status, creating issues, adding comments, etc.). Do NOT use Linear MCP tools — use `lncli` instead.

Run `lncli` or `lncli usage` to see all available commands and usage details.

### Field filtering

Limit output to specific fields using `--fields`:

```bash
lncli issues list --fields id,identifier,title,state
[7]{id,identifier,title,state}:
  "abc123...",ENG-123,"Fix auth bug","In Progress"
```

Nested fields use dot notation:

```bash
lncli issues list --fields id,title,assignee.email,team.name
```

Mandatory fields (id, identifier) are always included.

### CLI examples

```bash
# Filter fields and nested data
lncli issues list --fields id,identifier,title,assignee.email

# Read a specific issue
lncli issues read ENG-123

# Create and update
lncli issues create --title "Bug fix" --team <key>
lncli issues update ENG-123 --status "Done"
```

Output format

Output defaults to TOON — a compact, token-efficient format for LLM consumption.

$ lncli teams list
[4]{id,key,name,description}:
  "cdb1eb08-...",ENG,Engineering,null
  "b04263e0-...",MAR,Marketing,null

Pass --format json for standard JSON:

$ lncli --format json teams list
[
  {
    "id": "cdb1eb08-...",
    "key": "ENG",
    "name": "Engineering",
    "description": null
  }
]

Commands

Command	Operations
issues	list, read, search, create, update, delete
comments	create, update, delete
documents	create, update, read, list, delete
embeds	upload, download
labels	list, create, update, delete
teams	list
users	list
projects	list, read, create, update, delete
cycles	list, read, create, update
project-milestones	list, read, create, update, delete

Run lncli <command> --help for full usage details on any command.