Linear sync

All the details on exactly how our Linear sync works

Overview

Index is designed to work in sync with Linear for your engineering delivery. When using both tools, you can start in Index for your high-level customer feedback analysis and project ideation, then move to Linear for your engineering execution. This lets you take advantage of Index's powerful features for automatic customer feedback and feature request detection, advanced planning, and more, without sacrificing context in your engineering tool.

Set up

If you sign in with Linear, the Linear sync is enabled automatically and no further action is required. Otherwise, follow these steps:

Navigate to your workspace settings through the menu in the top left of the app.
Select "Integrations" from the sidebar
Click on "Linear" and follow the authentication steps

Once connected, you'll gain access to a new "Linear" field, and see a Linear button in the top right of the toolbar.

Pull, push, and link work

Your Linear connection allows you to pull Issues, Projects, and Initiatives into Index as a part of your product hierarchy. You can do this using the Linear button in the top right of the toolbar, and it's the best way to get started with Index if you're already using Linear.

Once set up, Index will be automatically collecting your customer feedback, and you'll also be creating ideas for new projects or tasks directly in Index. This is where push comes in handy. At any time, you can "Push" your work to Linear as an Issue, Project, or Initiative.

The following context will carry over to Linear, and stay in sync even if updated in Linear directly ("two-way sync"):

Status
Start and target date
Owner
Priority
Feedback (as a "Customer request" in Linear)

At this time, some information will push to Linear, but will not stay in sync between tools if updated after that. Push-only information includes:

Name
Description

If you have a work item in Index that maps directly to something that already exists in Linear, the Linear push button has a secondary "Link" option that will allow you to connect the objects between systems. Once linked, they will sync as usual.

Best practices

We recommend the following workflow for product teams using both tools:

Collect feedback with Index

Index allows you to collect feedback automatically through listeners that connect to where you're already talking to your customers (like Slack and Intercom).

Turn feedback into detailed feature requests / projects

As you start to see patterns in your feedback, Index will help you group these into feature requests / projects. You can then plan and prioritize this future work using fields and advanced scoring systems like formulas.

Create views to share the plan with stakeholders

Push to Linear

When your engineering team is ready to get to work, you can push directly to Linear, and context will carry over and stay in sync.

Limitations and future enhancements

There are a few limitations with the Linear sync today that we plan to address in the future. If any of these are significantly impacting your workflow, please contact us:

Projects and Initiatives pulled in from Linear do not contain Linear description data
Comments do not sync between Index and Linear
Status updates do not sync between Index and Linear

Frequently asked questions

My Linear integration is connected but not showing my Linear data

In rare instances, the Linear integration may require disconnecting and re-connecting, which can be done via Settings -> Integrations. Please contact us if you continue to experience issues after this.

How can I customize my status values?

Once connected, status values are shared with Linear. This means to edit your status values, you should do so in Linear directly.

If you would like to use separate status values while still syncing with Linear, please contact us and we'll be happy to assist.

How can I disable the Linear sync?

You can disable Linear sync by disconnecting it in Settings -> Integrations -> Linear.