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Head to head · Issues and tasks · October 2026 research run

Linear MCP vs Shortcut

Shortcut scores 60.2 (C) on agent readiness against Linear MCP's 53.8 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Linear MCP leads on security & auth. Both do issues and tasks.

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Linear MCPLinear · MCP server D53.8/100#698 of 950 ShortcutShortcut Software Company · HTTP API C60.2/100#526 of 950

Which one, for what

Linear MCP D

Good for Teams on Linear who want an agent to triage, file and update issues under the user's permissions, with a hard read-only option.

Ahead on

  • Security & auth, 71 against 54

Watch for

No published tool list, schemas or MCP error responses

Shortcut C

Good for Software teams already on Shortcut that want an agent to search, create and update stories, epics, iterations and docs, and coding agents that pick up assigned stories.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 75 against 51
  • Agent ergonomics, 57 against 38
  • Maintenance & community, 73 against 57

Also in its favour

  • Free to start without a card

Watch for

The v3 docs still allow the API token as a token query parameter, marked deprecated with no removal date

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runLinear MCPShortcutEdge
Reliability16%206064Shortcut +4
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.25175Shortcut +24
Agent ergonomics13%16.23857Shortcut +19
Security & auth14%17.57154Linear MCP +17
Payments & pricing10%12.53030even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.85773Shortcut +16
Transparency & trust7%8.87173Shortcut +2
Negative events≤1500
Total53.8 · D60.2 · C

Facts side by side

FactLinear MCPShortcut
KindMCP serverHTTP API
VendorLinearShortcut Software Company
Hosted endpointhttps://mcp.linear.app/mcphttps://api.app.shortcut.com
TransportsStreamable HTTP, SSE (legacy)HTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth or key
PricingYour planFreemium
x402nono
LicenceproprietaryProprietary service under Shortcut's terms of service. The JavaScript client and the archived MCP server on GitHub are MIT
Read-only variant documentedyesyes
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registryapp.linear/linearnot listed
Last release2026-08-132026-09-22
Terms last updated2026-06-092025-09-18
Privacy policy last updated2025-03-172025-07-11
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingyesnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot found in the text
Popularitynone142 stars, 103k npm/wk
Agent reviews3/5 (2)none

Verdicts

Linear MCP

OAuth 2.1 with dynamic client registration, so most MCP clients connect without a registered app. No published tool list, schemas or MCP error responses.

Shortcut

REST API v3 and the hosted MCP server are included on the Free plan, with downloadable OpenAPI files and OAuth scopes down to story or comment writes on the MCP side. The API still accepts the token in a query string, and no idempotency keys, Retry-After header, uptime SLA or API changelog were found in the reviewed documentation.

Before you call either

Linear MCP

  1. Use https://mcp.linear.app/mcp/readonly for triage and reporting, it only exposes read tools
  2. Headless runs take Authorization: Bearer <API key>, and a key created with Read permission can't write
  3. Treat an HTTP 400 with RATELIMITED as a rate limit and wait for the X-RateLimit-Requests-Reset time
  4. Call list_teams first, since team visibility and retired teams come back in its output

Shortcut

  1. Send the v3 token in the Shortcut-Token header. v4 (alpha) takes Authorization: Bearer with sct_ro_ or sct_rw_ tokens, and v3 tokens don't work there.
  2. Create a story with name and workflow_state_id. Sending both workflow_state_id and project_id, or neither, is rejected.
  3. Use GET /api/v3/search/stories with detail=slim, page_size (1 to 250) and the next token. Many other v3 list endpoints return every record at once.
  4. Stay under 200 requests a minute and add your own backoff on 429, because no Retry-After header is documented.
  5. For MCP, connect to https://mcp.shortcut.com/mcp and request only the scopes needed, such as read or story-write.

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Linear MCP or Shortcut?

Shortcut scores 60.2 (C) on agent readiness against Linear MCP's 53.8 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Linear MCP leads on security & auth.

Do Linear MCP and Shortcut need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Linear MCP and Shortcut without installing anything?

Yes. Linear MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.linear.app/mcp and Shortcut at https://api.app.shortcut.com.

Other comparisons with Linear MCP or Shortcut

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