Jira to Linear

Open Jira's project browser. For each project, answer three questions:

Is it active? Any issue updated in the last 30 days?
Is anyone working in it? Check assignees in open issues.
Do we actually need the history? Archived projects can stay archived in Jira - don't migrate them.

Most Jira instances I've audited have 60%+ dead projects. Don't pay the migration tax on graveyard data.

Sign up at linear.app. Create one workspace. Inside, create Teams that match how work actually gets organized - usually one team per product area or engineering pod, not one per Jira project.

Each team gets a 3-letter prefix for issue IDs (e.g. ENG-123). Pick these deliberately - they'll live forever in your commit history.

Linear uses six workflow states: Backlog → Todo → In Progress → In Review → Done → Cancelled. You can add custom statuses inside each type, but resist the urge.

Before importing, map every Jira status to one of these. Your 12-step Scrum workflow with "Ready for QA", "QA in Progress", "Ready for UAT" all collapses to In Review. That's not a loss - it's the point.

In Linear, go to Settings → Workspace → Import/Export → Jira. Authorize the connection with Jira. Pick the projects to import.

The importer brings across:

✓ Issues (summary, description, status, assignee)
✓ Comments (with original timestamps and authors)
✓ Attachments
✓ Labels
✓ Priority
✓ Parent-child links (Epics to Stories)
✕ Custom fields (most don't map - plan ahead)
✕ Automation rules (must be rebuilt)
✕ Scripts / ScriptRunner (no equivalent)

Run it on one small project first. Fix issues. Then run the rest.

Jira Epics become Linear Projects. The importer handles this automatically, but double-check: a Linear Project is a container with a deadline and progress bar, which is usually what you wanted from a Jira Epic anyway.

Sub-tasks become Linear Sub-issues - same mental model, just faster. If you were using issue links (blocks/is-blocked-by), those import as Linear relations.

Linear doesn't do Sprints - it does Cycles. A Cycle is a fixed-length iteration (1, 2, or 4 weeks) that automatically rolls forward. You don't "plan" a cycle in a ceremony; you drag issues into it.

In each team's settings, enable Cycles and pick a length. Most product teams run 1-week cycles. Unfinished issues auto-carry over to the next cycle unless you un-schedule them.

Linear's integrations are usually better than Jira's equivalents. Set up:

GitHub/GitLab - branch names auto-link to issues. PRs update issue status on merge. This alone is worth the switch.
Slack - issue updates in channels, slash commands to create issues inline.
Figma - paste Figma URLs into issues for live previews.
Sentry - errors auto-create Linear issues.

Run a 1-2 week parallel period where new work happens in Linear but Jira stays open for reference. Set a hard cutover date - otherwise people will drift back to Jira for months.

On cutover day: make Jira projects read-only, redirect internal links, pin Linear in Slack, delete the Jira bookmarks from team browsers (literally - screen-share and do it).