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Shell scripting

Use compact JSON as the default transport between commands. --pretty is useful for inspection but not required for jq.

Fail safely​

#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail

: "${LINEAR_API_KEY:?Set LINEAR_API_KEY through your secret manager}"
issues=$(linear-cli issue list --team ENG --limit 20)
printf '%s' "$issues" | jq -r '.data[] | select(.priority == 1) | .identifier'

The CLI sends structured errors to standard output, so capture the response before deciding how to report it. Preserve the exit status; it has the categories documented in output and errors.

Iterate supported cursors​

Only commands with a documented --cursor can advance a result set. This loop applies to issue list:

cursor=""
while :; do
  args=(issue list --team ENG --limit 50)
  if [ -n "$cursor" ]; then args+=(--cursor "$cursor"); fi
  page=$(linear-cli "${args[@]}")
  printf '%s\n' "$page" | jq -c '.data[]'
  [ "$(printf '%s' "$page" | jq -r '.pagination.hasNextPage')" = true ] || break
  cursor=$(printf '%s' "$page" | jq -r '.pagination.endCursor')
done

Do not use this pattern for issue search, doc search, or label list: they report pagination information but have no --cursor flag.

File inputs​

Use --description-file and --body-file for multiline markdown so shell quoting does not change the content. Use attachment upload --file for binary files; the command owns the presigned upload sequence.