Asks with Slack

Linear Asks lets teams turn Slack conversations into asks in Linear without leaving the thread where the request started.

Overview⁠

Linear Asks gives organizations a powerful tool to manage common workplace requests. Once enabled, anyone can create an Ask to send their request to the relevant Linear team—even if they don’t have a Linear account—via Slack or email.

Use Slack Asks when teams want to:

• Capture requests directly from Slack conversations
• Keep discussion connected to the original Slack thread
• Let people submit requests without needing a Linear account
• Intake bug reports, internal requests, questions, and operational needs from the channels where they already happen

When an ask is submitted to a Linear team, it lands in that team’s Triage for review, prioritization, and assignment.

Purpose and use cases⁠

Linear Asks is purpose-built to support internal requests that are typically scattered across tools or lost in chat threads. It’s ideal for:

• Engineering teams receiving bug reports from non-technical staff
• IT and support teams fielding hardware, access, or setup questions
• Operations and HR gathering requests from across the company
• Product and design teams collecting feedback or feature requests

By providing familiar and low-friction channels, Asks allows teams to quickly make requests without context switching.

Linear Asks vs Advanced Linear Asks⁠

Slack Asks is available on both Business and Enterprise plans, with additional Slack-specific functionality available through Advanced Linear Asks on Enterprise.

Configure Slack Asks⁠

Install Asks⁠

1. Go to Settings → Features → Asks.
2. Click the + icon under Slack intake to connect the Asks integration.
3. Authenticate into a Slack workspace.

Connect teams and invite the app⁠

After connecting Slack, connect Linear teams to Private Asks or to specific public channels.

1. Click the three dots next to Private Asks or All public Slack channels.
2. Hover over Add teams to channel.
3. Select the team to add to a private Ask or public Slack channel.
4. Repeat this for each channel that should support asks.
5. In Slack, invite the app to each channel with /invite @Linear Asks.

Use Private Asks for requests that should stay private between the requester and the team managing the issue.

Private Asks includes asks created in DMs or in the Asks app home in Slack. Templates added to Private Asks are also available when creating asks in DMs.

Per-channel configuration⁠

Use per-channel configuration when you need different behavior for a specific channel, including support for private channels.

1. Click Add channel.
2. Select the correct Slack workspace.
3. Select the specific channel.
4. Click Allow.
5. In Slack, invite the app with /invite @Linear Asks.

Add templates to channels⁠

• Select available templates under each team.
• Workspace-level templates are not available for use with Asks.
• Templates added to Private Asks are available when creating asks in DMs.

Enable auto-creation⁠

You can configure Slack Asks to create asks automatically in supported contexts.

• Auto-creation is not supported in DMs.
• To set a default template, hover over the template you want to use and click Set as default.
• The default template applies to auto-created asks in that context.
• For auto-created asks, the template description is replaced by the user’s message.
• If you only want to set a default team, consider using Create Asks without a template.

Auto-creation behavior⁠

On 🎫 emoji

By default, users can turn a Slack message into an ask by reacting to it with the 🎫 emoji.

Additional behavior:

• This can be turned off in Asks settings.
• Starting a Slack message with 🎫 also triggers ask creation.
• Bot-posted messages can create an ask if the first character is 🎫.
• If multiple Linear teams are associated with the channel or channel type, the 🎫 emoji creates an issue using the team template marked as default.

On every new message

For channels intended solely for intake, you can enable auto-creation whenever a new message is posted.

This is useful for channels like #it-asks or #bugs, where every message should enter Triage.

Important constraints:

• Available only on Enterprise as part of Advanced Linear Asks
• Requires a single-channel configuration
• Not available in private channels
• To exempt a message from auto-creation, begin it with 📢 or 📣

On mention

If enabled, users can create an ask by mentioning @Linear Asks in the message.

On bot-posted messages

Bot-posted messages can create an ask automatically if the bot’s message begins with 🎫.

Use this when auto-create asks on 🎫 reaction or on new message is enabled.

On Business plans, this still works for bot messages posted in public channels.

Creating asks from Slack⁠

People can create asks from connected Slack contexts in several ways:

• From the overflow menu on an existing Slack message
• With the /asks slash command
• In a DM with Linear Asks by creating a Private Ask
• By applying the 🎫 emoji to a message
• By mentioning @Linear Asks in a message, if enabled
• Automatically on every new message in configured public channels

Once created, Linear Asks posts a threaded reply with a link to the ask and connected issue.

Synced thread behavior⁠

Slack Asks creates a synced comment thread between Slack and the Linear issue.

That means:

• Replies in the Slack thread are posted to the issue’s synced thread in Linear
• Replies in the synced Linear thread are posted back to the Slack thread
• Comments and files can be shared across both applications

This keeps the requester and the team working from the same conversation without moving the discussion elsewhere.

People who submit asks can:

• See the issue status and assignee from Slack
• Reply in the synced thread
• Receive notifications in the thread when the ask is completed, canceled, or reopened

Users with a Linear account can also use Slack quick actions to update the ask, including changing its status or assigning it to themselves.

Managing asks from Slack⁠

In the Linear Asks app home in Slack, requesters can:

• View active and closed asks
• Open the original thread for an ask
• See the real-time status and assignee
• Mark an ask as urgent
• Close their own ask by changing its status

They can also use the Messages tab to view asks and their threads, including private asks.

If an ask is urgent, the requester can override its default priority by selecting Mark as urgent from the ask unfurl menu. This also applies a siren emoji for better visibility in Slack.

Requesters are notified in the original thread when the issue leaves Triage, and again when it is completed, canceled, or reopened. When an ask is completed, the original ask message in Slack also gets a ✅ reaction.

In shared channels, users from the external organization will not see the Asks app home.

Permissions and visibility⁠

Managing Asks configuration⁠

You can choose whether asks channels, teams, and templates are managed by:

• Admins only (or Owners & Admins on Enterprise workspaces)
• All users

Customer field visibility⁠

If customer requests are enabled, Slack Asks can surface a customer field.

This is useful when someone in Slack wants to associate a message with a specific customer. With customer requests enabled, this can happen automatically when the Slack message came from the actual customer, but not when the request is being raised internally.

Because this field exposes customer data, admins can restrict visibility to:

• Linear users only in Slack
• All members of the Slack workspace
• Slack members and guests

Advanced Slack functionality⁠

Advanced Linear Asks adds deeper Slack intake controls for Enterprise workspaces, including private channel support, per-channel configuration, auto-create on every new message, and support for multiple Slack workspaces.

These capabilities are most useful when you need different routing or behavior per channel, want intake to happen automatically in dedicated request channels, or need Asks to operate across more than one Slack workspace.

FAQ⁠