Your engineers live in Linear. Everyone else at a small startup, founders included, usually doesn't. The gap shows up as bug reports in email threads, feature asks lost in call notes, and a founder pinging the CTO for status before every investor update.
Connecting Linear lets agents close that gap from the Nautis side. It's an agent connection from the catalog, described in the Integrations guide, so agents call Linear when asked and nothing about your Linear workspace changes until someone approves. If your code lives on GitHub and you'd rather file issues there, the GitHub page covers that connection instead.
Linear or Task Boards: where each piece of work lives
Don't track the same work in two places. Pick a home for each kind of work and let agents move information across, rather than copying it.
| Work | Where it lives | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Bugs, features and sprints | Linear | Engineers already plan and ship there |
| Fundraising, hiring and admin tasks | Nautis Task Boards | The morning briefing scans your tasks |
| Action items from a customer call | Task Boards first | Most are follow-ups, not code |
| A bug a customer reported by email | Linear, filed by an agent with your approval | It needs an engineer, and the detail is already in the thread |
| Launch milestones that mix both | Task Boards, with Linear projects referenced | Founders see one plan, engineers keep their tool |
Connect Linear and turn on agent access
- From your avatar menu, open Integrations and find Linear among the featured tools.
- Click Connect on the card. Linear's own consent screen opens.
- Approve. Nautis confirms with a toast and opens Linear's detail pane.
- Answer the Allow agents to use Linear? dialog. Enable for agents turns on Agent access now. Not now leaves it connected but unused.
- Review Available actions. Linear supplies the list, each action is marked Read or Write, and admins can switch any of them off.
If Linear stops you with an approval screen, your Linear workspace requires it. Linear's third-party application approvals page says this is available on any paid plan. Members request approval with an optional reason, and admins get an email and an in-app notification.
Reading Linear's consent screen
Linear's OAuth documentation lists the scopes an app can ask for. read is always included. write is broad write access to the account. Narrower options include issues:create, which covers creating and updating issues and adding attachments, and comments:create. Linear tells developers never to request admin unless it's absolutely needed.
Linear also lets an app choose who appears as the author. With the user actor, issues show up as created by the person who authorized. With the app actor, they appear as the application. Linear doesn't say which one this connection uses, and neither does the Nautis guide. Check the first issue an agent files and you'll know.
On the Nautis side, Permissions it can request lists the scopes in plain chips. Compare them to Linear's list before you enable agents.
What happens when an agent wants to file an issue
Say you ask the Chief of Staff to file the checkout bug a customer described this morning. The request becomes an approval. It shows which agent asked, the action and a plain summary, and Show details shows exactly what would be sent to Linear.
Approve warns you that the agent will execute this now and it can have real effects, then runs it. Reject declines it. Cancel request withdraws it, and requests nobody decides on expire on their own.
Admins can skip this by setting Connected app actions (Integrations) to Run without asking under Agent Autonomy. Think twice. There's no per-tool version, so it covers Slack, Notion and every other tool enabled for agents too. If you only trust agents with Linear comments, leave the default and switch off the other writes instead.
Workflows for founders who don't live in Linear
- Status before the investor update. Ask what shipped in the current project. That's a read, so it runs without a prompt and doesn't add an entry to AI Activity.
- Customer bug to issue. Open the thread in MailBox, ask an agent to file it in Linear with the customer's steps, and approve the card.
- Updating a project after a decision. A scope cut agreed in a meeting becomes an update to the Linear project. It waits for approval like any write.
- Keeping founders out of engineers' way. Questions go to the agent, which reads Linear, instead of to the CTO in Slack. For a technical founder running engineering alone, the same reads replace a status meeting nobody wanted.
Troubleshooting and limits
When it doesn't work
- Agent says it can't use Linear. Agent access is off, or that action is switched off.
- Issues land in the wrong Linear workspace. Agents act through the account marked Primary. Use Make primary on the right one.
- Connection shows Expired or Error. Click Reconnect.
- The Connect button is greyed out. Only owners and admins can connect.
What it won't do
- It doesn't sync Linear issues into Task Boards, or the other way round.
- It doesn't run from WhatsApp yet.
- Disconnecting deletes nothing in Linear.
FAQ
Will the Nautis Linear integration copy our issues into Nautis?
No. Nautis doesn't sync or mirror connected tools. Agents read Linear on demand, and nothing becomes a Nautis record unless you save it.
Who shows as the creator of issues an agent files?
Linear lets an app create issues as the authorizing user or as the app itself, and neither Linear nor the Nautis guide says which this connection uses. Check the first approved issue in Linear to see.
Can agents delete Linear issues?
Only if Linear exposes a delete action and it's switched on. A delete in a connected app counts as a write, so it asks for approval by default, and it runs on its own if connected-app actions are set to Run without asking. Switch it off under Available actions to block it.
Can an engineer on my team connect Linear?
Not unless they're an organization owner or admin in Nautis. Other members can see the connection, but the Connect buttons and switches are disabled for them.