Create issues

The most common action you'll take in Linear is creating issues.

Overview

The most basic concept in Linear is the issue. It's the building block of the app and most concepts in Linear are either associated with issues or group issues together.

Issues are always tied to a specific team. Issues have an issue ID (team and unique number) and are required to have a title and status – all other properties and relations are optional. This makes it fast to create issues and cuts down on unnecessary work (see Write Issues Not User Stories).

Basics

Create issues

The fastest way to create an issue is with the keyboard shortcut C which will open up a modal in your view. Use Option/Alt C to create an issue from a template and V to create an issue in full screen mode. You can also use the New Issue button at the top of the lefthand sidebar.

If you have text highlighted when you go to create an issue, this will prefill in the issue title.

Linear.new

Type the URL https://linear.new into your browser to create new issues. It'll redirect you to the new issue creation page as long as you're logged into your Linear account.

Saved drafts

If you're writing a draft and navigate away to another part of the app, we'll hide the issue modal and save the draft. The next time you press C or the New Issue button, the editor will re-open with the saved draft. You can only save one draft at a time. Drafts are saved locally, so you won't be able to access a draft on your browser instance if it was created in the desktop app or mobile PWA. This also means you should not logout, restart, or reset Linear with open drafts, as they'll be cleared.

Modal shortcuts

Most of the same shortcuts that you use on issues in lists and boards can be used while the new issue modal is open. Hover over the field to see a tooltip with the shortcut.

There are a few things to note:

• Shortcuts cannot be used while the title or description text fields are active. Tab to unfocus, then apply shortcuts. The shortcut will highlight the field (e.g. A for assignee), Enter will launch the dropdown, then use the up / down arrows or type to search to highlight your choice and press Enter again to select it.
• Change teams is slightly different - you'll use Ctrl Shift T to change the team when editing an issue in the modal view. Otherwise, use Cmd Shift M to move an issue to a new team after it's been created.
• Some actions such as Add link or Create relation cannot be taken until the issue has been saved. If that's the case, the shortcut will not trigger an action.
• Some actions including Set due date and Set parent can be taken. These are listed under the three dot (more) menu and can be triggered by keyboard shortcuts. If you aren't sure, just try using the shortcut.

Save options

The modal has three options for saving to make it more efficient to create issues. Cmd/Ctrl Enter will save the issue and keep you in the current view. Cmd/Ctrl Option/Alt Enter will save and then open the issue you just created so you can take further actions (e.g. copy branch name). Cmd/Ctrl Shift Enter will save the issue and then launch a new draft with the same issue properties as the previous one (toggling on the Create more button will do the same thing in combination with Cmd Enter).

Full screen mode

Issues can also be created in full screen mode using V. Use your mouse or keyboard shortcuts to update issue fields. Tab and Shift Tab will move the cursor focus away from the markdown editor and through the issue fields.

• Status: Issues are set to your first workflow state by default (usually Backlog)
• Priority: Assign Low, Medium, High, Urgent, or No priority
• Assigned: Unassigned by default. You can auto-assign issues you create to yourself in settings under your preferences.
• Estimate: We recommend setting estimates if you use the Cycles feature (and recommend you do). Teams choose from these scales: T-Shirt, Fibonnaci, Linear, or Exponential.
• Labels: Add one or many. You can create new labels from the issue editor, too.
• Cycles: Quickly add issues to the current cycle, following two cycles, or select No cycle
• Project: Issues can be added to a single project
• Some values can only be assigned via keyboard shortcuts or when viewing (not editing) an issue. Click on the icons or more menu (three dots) when viewing an issue to set the due date, move teams, remove, add or change the parent issue, add sub-issues, add issue relations, duplicate, subscriber or unsubscribe from or archive the issue and copy the git branch name, issue ID, or issue link.

Video

Create new issues

• C creates a new issue while you're in any view.
• Option C creates a new issue from existing templates.
• V opens a draft new issue in full screen mode.
• Alt/Option C will let you select an issue template.

You can also use the New issue button or command line to create a new issue.

Watch this tutorial to learn how to:

• Create issues with C and add properties [0:00]
• Open issues in fullscreen issue view [0:40]
• Create multiple issues in a row with same properties [0:51]
• Create new issue in fullscreen with V [1:40]
• Add sub-issues to an issue after saving it [2:05]
• Apply templates to issues [2:34]

FAQ

Can you create issues and use keyboard shortcuts in Safari?

If Safari is stealing your window focus when hitting tab to use shortcuts during issue creation, you can enable this Safari advanced preference:

Safari > Preferences > Advanced > Toggle "Press tab to highlight each item on a webpage".