Update Linear Issue

Name: linear-update
Rating: 92
Author: eveld

Update Linear issues with debugging findings, status changes, and investigation notes.

When to Use

•Adding debugging findings as comments
•Updating issue status after investigation
•Adding labels for categorization
•Changing priority based on severity
•Recording root cause analysis

Pre-flight Checks

Authentication

bash

# Check linearis is available and authenticated
linearis --version 2>/dev/null || {
  echo "linearis CLI not installed"
  exit 1
}

linearis issues list --limit 1 >/dev/null 2>&1 || {
  echo "Not authenticated to Linear"
  exit 1
}

Common Commands

1. Add Comment

bash

# Add single-line comment
linearis comments create ENG-1234 --body "Root cause identified: database connection pool exhausted"

# Add multi-line comment with heredoc
linearis comments create ENG-1234 --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
## Investigation Findings

**Root Cause**: Database connection pool exhausted

**Evidence**:
- GCP logs show "connection refused" errors starting at 10:30 UTC
- Kubernetes events show 1/3 pods in CrashLoopBackOff
- Pod describe shows max_connections reached

**Timeline**:
- 10:28 UTC: Traffic spike to 3x normal
- 10:30 UTC: First connection errors
- 10:32 UTC: Pod restarts begin

**Recommendation**: Increase database connection pool limit from 100 to 250
EOF
)"

2. Update Issue Status

bash

# Change state to "In Progress"
linearis issues update ENG-1234 --state "In Progress"

# Change state to "Done"
linearis issues update ENG-1234 --state "Done"

# Common states: "Backlog", "Todo", "In Progress", "In Review", "Done", "Canceled"

3. Update Priority

bash

# Set priority (1 = Urgent, 2 = High, 3 = Medium, 4 = Low)
linearis issues update ENG-1234 --priority 1

# Lower priority after resolution
linearis issues update ENG-1234 --priority 4

4. Add Labels

bash

# Add labels (comma-separated)
linearis issues update ENG-1234 --labels "bug,production,database"

# Add labels (adding mode - default)
linearis issues update ENG-1234 --labels "investigating" --label-by adding

# Replace all labels (overwriting mode)
linearis issues update ENG-1234 --labels "resolved,production" --label-by overwriting

# Clear all labels
linearis issues update ENG-1234 --clear-labels

5. Update Multiple Fields

bash

# Update status, priority, and add comment in sequence
linearis issues update ENG-1234 \
  --state "In Progress" \
  --priority 2 \
  --labels "investigating,production"

linearis comments create ENG-1234 --body "Started investigation - checking GCP logs and K8s events"

6. Update Title or Description

bash

# Update title
linearis issues update ENG-1234 --title "API Gateway connection pool exhaustion in production"

# Update description
linearis issues update ENG-1234 --description "$(cat <<'EOF'
Production issue: API gateway pods crashing due to database connection pool exhaustion.

Impact: 30% of requests failing
Started: 2025-12-24 10:28 UTC
Environment: production (example-production project)
EOF
)"

Output Management

Log updates for audit trail:

bash

# Log comment creation
linearis comments create ENG-1234 --body "Investigation complete" | tee -a /tmp/linear-updates-$(date +%Y%m%d).log

# Log status updates
echo "[$(date)] Updated ENG-1234 to 'Done'" >> /tmp/linear-updates.log
linearis issues update ENG-1234 --state "Done"

Workflow Pattern

Complete debugging → Linear update workflow:

bash

# 1. Read issue for context
linearis issues read ENG-1234 > /tmp/issue-ENG-1234.json

# 2. Debug (using platform debugging skills)
# ... debugging steps ...

# 3. Add findings to issue
linearis comments create ENG-1234 --body "$(cat <<'EOF'
## Root Cause Analysis

Found database connection pool exhaustion.

See attached logs:
- GCP logs: /tmp/gcp-errors-20251224.json
- K8s events: /tmp/k8s-events-20251224.txt
EOF
)"

# 4. Update status
linearis issues update ENG-1234 \
  --state "In Progress" \
  --labels "root-cause-identified"

# 5. After fix is deployed
linearis comments create ENG-1234 --body "Fix deployed, monitoring for 24h"
linearis issues update ENG-1234 --state "Done"

Tips

•Use heredoc for multi-line comments with formatting
•Include timestamps in comments for timeline clarity
•Reference log files saved to /tmp in comments
•Update status incrementally (Backlog → In Progress → Done)
•Add labels for categorization and filtering
•Priority 1 (Urgent) should be reserved for production incidents
•Use --body with heredoc to preserve markdown formatting in comments
•Save comment text to /tmp first if very long, then reference file