In Linear, open your workspace or team Projects page and click the + button. Enter the project name and status, which are the only required fields, then add a lead, icon, overview and labels if you like, and save. You then add existing issues with Shift P, or press C inside the project to create new ones.
What counts as a project
A project is a group of issues with a clear outcome or a planned completion date, such as a new feature launch or a website rebuild. It isn't a team or a backlog; it's a piece of work that will finish. Projects can be shared across several teams, and each has its own progress graph and notification options.
Every project gets an ID in the format P-TEAM-123: P for project, TEAM for the team identifier, and the number for the order it was created in. That makes projects easy to reference in a message or a document.
Creating it, step by step
1. Open a Projects page
Each team has its own Projects page, and there's also one at workspace level. You can create a project from either.
2. Click the + button
This opens a prompt for the project's properties.
3. Fill in the name and status
These are the only two required fields. Everything else can wait, so you can set up a project in seconds when an idea comes up in a meeting.
4. Add a lead, icon, overview and labels
Linear recommends assigning a project lead, picking an icon and filling out the overview. You can apply project labels at the same time. A named lead and a short overview save a lot of 'who's running this?' questions later.
5. Save, then attach the work
A project only tracks work once issues are in it. Select existing issues and press Shift P to add them, or to move them from another project. Inside the project view, press C to create a new issue straight into it.
6. Keep the spec next to the work
Open the Resources section and choose Create Document to write a brief or spec, or add external links to designs and client files.
Seeing projects as a list, board or timeline
Each team's Projects page can show projects as a list, a board or a timeline. The timeline is handy for seeing how several launches overlap; the board suits a quick status check. If you're planning several quarters ahead, these product roadmap templates are a useful starting point before you build it out.
One issue, one project
Linear Docs are clear that an issue can only belong to one project at a time. If a piece of work spans two projects, say a shared login screen needed by a website and an app, the documented workaround is to create sub-issues and assign each one to a different project. Plan for this when you split up work, rather than discovering it when you try to add an issue twice.
Keeping a project healthy once it's running
Use the project's notification options so the lead hears about changes without everyone else being pinged. The progress graph shows whether issues are closing at the pace you planned, which is a quicker check than reading every issue. If the graph flattens, it's usually a sign that the scope has grown or that issues are stuck waiting on someone, and a short conversation with the lead sorts it faster than another status meeting.
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Deleting and recovering
A deleted project isn't gone straight away. It sits in the team's archive under Recently deleted projects for 30 days before it's removed for good, so you've got a month to change your mind.
How Notion and Asana handle projects
Notion's formulas help includes a project management example that tracks the progress of projects with formulas. Asana documents its own project setup in a project basics guide. If you're comparing tools for a product team, these prompts for product managers work in any of them, and this guide to developer productivity tools covers what to pair with your tracker.
My advice for your first project
Give it a name that describes the outcome, set the status, and assign one lead. Write a three-line overview, then pull in the issues with Shift P. Use sub-issues for anything shared with another project, and add the brief as a document so nobody has to hunt for it.
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Frequently asked questions
What is required to create a Linear project?
Only a project name and status.
How do I add issues to a project?
Select issues and press Shift P, or press C from the project view to create a new one.
Can a project span teams?
Yes. Projects can be shared across several teams.
Can an issue be in two projects?
No. Use sub-issues assigned to different projects instead.
Can I recover a deleted project?
Yes, for 30 days, in the team archive under Recently deleted projects.
