Linear integration
Meetings in. Linear issues out.
Backlog.cloud sits in the call, or reads the transcript or recording you give it, and turns the conversation into stories, bugs and tasks. After review, they arrive in your Linear team as properly formatted issues: markdown descriptions, Gherkin acceptance criteria, labels created on the fly, epics handled the Linear way.
Native markdown
Descriptions that read like your team wrote them
Linear renders issue descriptions as markdown, and Backlog.cloud writes markdown, so the fit is direct. Section headings, bold labels, scope lists and dependencies land formatted, not as a blob of escaped characters.
Acceptance criteria appear as numbered Gherkin scenarios under their own heading, where an engineer picking up the issue expects them. A Traceability section names who raised the item in the meeting, and the reviewer saw the verbatim source quote before approving the push.
Long content is handled too: titles are capped on a word boundary at Linear's documented limit, and bodies are capped so an unusually large item never fails the push with a validation error.
Show the new total before a plan upgrade is confirmed
As a customer upgrading my plan, I want to see the recalculated total including tax before I confirm, so that I know exactly what I will be charged.
Acceptance Criteria
- 1. Given an annual customer upgrading mid-cycle, when they reach the confirmation step, then the prorated total with recalculated VAT is displayed.
- 2. Given a displayed total, when the customer confirms, then the charged amount matches the displayed amount exactly.
Traceability
Raised by Sofia (Design) in sprint planning, prompted by repeated customer queries about upgrade charges.
Field mapping
What lands where in Linear
One issue per artefact, created against your team over Linear's GraphQL API. Stories, bugs, tasks, spikes, requirements and action items become issues. Epics get their own treatment below.
| Backlog.cloud output | Linear destination | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Generated title | Issue title | Capped at 254 characters on a word boundary. Linear documents a 255 limit. |
| Structured body | Issue description | Markdown, which Linear renders natively. Headings, bold labels and lists arrive formatted. |
| Acceptance criteria | Description section | Numbered Gherkin scenarios under an Acceptance Criteria heading. |
| Labels | Issue labels | A type label plus domain tags. Missing labels are created on the team automatically. |
| Priority | Kept on the item at review | Shown and edited in the review queue. Linear's priority field stays under your team's triage conventions. |
| Team and project | Team key, optional default project | Configured per Backlog.cloud project. An optional default workflow state too. |
| Traceability | Description section | Names who raised the item and where, so the issue can answer for itself. |
The Linear-shaped details
Epics become Projects, labels create themselves
Epics map to what Linear actually has
Linear's epic-shaped object is the Project, so an extracted epic becomes a Linear Project on your team: name from the epic title, a one-line summary, and the full hypothesis, MVP scope and success metrics as the project content. If you would rather keep everything as issues, set a default Linear project in the mapping and epics land there as issues alongside the rest.
Labels without setup
Every issue carries a type label and the item's domain tags. Backlog.cloud matches them against the team's existing labels case-insensitively and creates any that are missing, so the first push works without pre-provisioning a label scheme. An optional prefix keeps pushed work filterable in one query.
Review, then push
A queue you control, an auth model you can audit
Review before anything moves
Extracted items wait in a review queue, each anchored to the verbatim quote it came from. Approve what is right, fix what is close, discard what is noise, then push up to 200 items as one job. The push runs serially with live progress, paced to stay inside Linear's API budget, and items already pushed are skipped rather than duplicated. Each issue's identifier and link are recorded back on the item.
OAuth 2.0, per user
You authorise Backlog.cloud with your own Linear account. Tokens are stored encrypted and refreshed before they expire, and a revoked token stops the job with a clear connection error instead of a string of silent failures. Team key, default state, default project and label prefix are managed by organisation admins.
Linear is one of six destinations: Backlog.cloud pushes to Jira, Azure DevOps, Linear, GitHub Issues, Notion and ClickUp, all covered on the integrations overview.
FAQ
Linear integration, answered
- How do issues get created in Linear?
- Through Linear's GraphQL API. Each approved item becomes one issue create call against the team you configured, carrying the title, a markdown description, resolved label ids and, if you set them, a default workflow state and a default project. The response gives Backlog.cloud the issue identifier, like ENG-142, and a direct link.
- Which team and project do issues land in?
- Each Backlog.cloud project maps to one Linear team by its key, set by an organisation admin. You can optionally pick a default Linear project so every pushed issue attaches to it, and a default workflow state such as Backlog or Triage.
- What happens to epics in Linear?
- Linear does not have epics, it has Projects, so by default an epic becomes a Linear Project with the epic body as the project content. If you have set a default Linear project on the mapping, epics land as issues inside it instead, which suits teams that run all backlog work through one ongoing project.
- How do acceptance criteria look inside a Linear issue?
- Like they were written there. Descriptions are markdown, which Linear renders natively, so the story body reads cleanly and the acceptance criteria appear as a list of numbered Given, When, Then scenarios under their own heading. No escaped markup, no formatting cleanup.
- Do labels have to exist in Linear first?
- No. Backlog.cloud checks the team's existing labels, matches case-insensitively, and creates any missing ones before attaching them. You can also set a label prefix so everything pushed is instantly filterable, for example "bc-story" and "bc-billing".
- Is anything pushed without review?
- Not by default. Items wait in a review queue carrying the verbatim quote each one was extracted from. You edit, discard or approve, then push up to 200 items as one serial job with live progress and duplicate protection. A per-project auto-push setting exists for teams that want it after trust is established.
- What does the integration not do?
- RAID entries, decision logs and meeting minutes do not push to Linear because an issue is the wrong shape for them. They stay in Backlog.cloud, push to Notion, or export directly. Process models download as BPMN 2.0 XML and Discovery Packs export as .docx.
Keep going
Related workflows and resources
Jira integration
The same pipeline with ADF descriptions and issue type mapping.
Azure DevOps integration
Work item types, area paths and System field mapping.
Meeting to backlog
The wider workflow: one conversation, twelve artefact types.
Bug reports
Observed behaviour, reproduction steps and impact, extracted properly.
AI backlog generator
How the extraction itself works across all twelve artefact types.
Sprint planning meetings
What Backlog.cloud listens for in sprint planning specifically.
Point your next meeting at Linear
Create a free account, run a meeting or transcript through it, and push the reviewed issues to your Linear team. 3 free generations, no card.