{"slug": "replacing-linear-mcp-with-linear-cli", "title": "Replacing Linear MCP with linear-CLI", "summary": "A developer switched from Linear's official MCP server to the unofficial linear-cli tool and estimates the change saves between 5k and 25k tokens per session, according to a comparison run by Claude across 71 tickets. The median update-issue operation consumed 3,061 characters through MCP versus 211 through the CLI (14.5×), while reading an issue without comments took 3,721 characters via MCP versus 2,311 via CLI (1.6×) and reading with comments took 4,531 versus 2,615 (1.7×). The author attributes the gap to MCP's get_issue returning 31 fields, including always-null SLA timestamps such as slaStartedAt and slaHighRiskAt, and to MCP's update_issue response being nearly as large as its read payload, with neither MCP tool accepting a parameter to shrink the response.", "body_md": "# [Replacing Linear MCP with linear-cli](https://github.com/schpet/linear-cli)[#](https://thebiglog.com/links/linear-cli-instead-of-linear-mcp)\n\n/github.com\n\n[Linear](https://linear.app) is one of my favorite software finds of the last few years. I’m not as big of a fan when it comes to their token-hungry MCP server though. I recently switched to [this (unofficial) CLI](https://github.com/schpet/linear-cli) and my rough estimate is that it saves me between 5k to 25k tokens a session.\n\nI asked Claude to sample the differences and it came back with medians based on 71 tickets. Note the unit here is characters:\n\n| Operation | MCP | CLI | MCP ÷ CLI | \n|---|---|---|---|\n| Update issue | 3,061 | 211 | 14.5× | \n| Read (no comments) | 3,721 | 2,311 | 1.6× | \n| Read (with comments) | 4,531 | 2,615 | 1.7× | \n\nThe explanation for both differences is simple and comes down to sane defaults and flexibility, both of which the MCP lacks: `get_issue` returns *thirty-one* fields. Those include the issue’s body and status, but also fields like `slaStartedAt`, `slaMediumRiskAt`, `slaHighRiskAt`, `slaBreachesAt`. The last few are always `null` in my workspace. The CLI doesn’t return them by default.\n\nFor updates, the CLI returns a simple success message while the MCP’s `update_issue` response is almost as big as the read payload. Neither MCP tools accepts a parameter that makes its response smaller.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/replacing-linear-mcp-with-linear-cli", "canonical_source": "https://thebiglog.com/links/linear-cli-instead-of-linear-mcp", "published_at": "2026-09-21 11:03:13+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-09-21 11:25:19.292567+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-agents", "agent-protocols", "developer-tools", "ai-tools"], "entities": ["Linear", "linear-cli", "Claude", "schpet"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/replacing-linear-mcp-with-linear-cli", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/replacing-linear-mcp-with-linear-cli.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/replacing-linear-mcp-with-linear-cli.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/replacing-linear-mcp-with-linear-cli.jsonld"}}