Linear: delegate an issue to an agent
Delegate a Linear issue to Isolation and a session launches on the routed workspace. The agent reports in the issue, moves its status and attaches the PR.
To delegate a Linear issue to an AI agent, delegate it to Isolation the way you would delegate it to a colleague, or mention it in a comment. Isolation's app user in Linear appears as @Isolation; behind it is whichever agent the route names, Isla unless you chose another. The delegation launches a session, the agent works in the sandbox, and everything it has to say lands in the issue. Nothing in the flow needs the website open.
Install and link
An owner or admin installs the Linear app for the organization from the Apps page, or with /app-install linear from any connected app, which answers with the link to open. Linear asks an admin to approve it. The app is installed as its own user, with the app:mentionable and app:assignable scopes, which is what makes it delegatable.
Then each member says who they are. The first time you delegate or mention without a link, the agent session shows Linear's authenticate prompt (the auth signal), which opens a page on Isolation where you are already signed in, and that is the whole linking. /app-connect linear gives the same link. Installing and connecting are two separate acts, described on organizations install, members connect.
Routes: what an issue launches
A delegation names an app, not a workspace. A route, set by an owner or admin on the Linear card of the Apps page, is a standing rule from a Linear team or project to what an issue there gets:
| Route field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| team or project | which issues the rule covers |
| workspace, environment | what to launch |
| agent | who answers; Isla unless you say otherwise |
| member | the default launcher, when the delegating person is not linked |
| launch on | delegate, mention, or a label |
| server | optional; otherwise the workspace's usual server |
Delegating an issue is the same act as typing /launch in it. It runs as the person who delegated, with their role and balance, and the route only fills in the arguments nobody typed. Launches are rate-limited per route, so a delegation storm cannot spend the organization's balance.
What happens in the issue
Within ten seconds of the delegation, the agent session in Linear shows a first activity, "Starting a session", so it is never marked unresponsive. The session is named after the issue key and its git branch is the one Linear suggests for the issue. The issue is the channel: comments are the messages, Linear's agent session is the thread, and the agent keeps its memory of that issue across sessions.
From there the agent does what an agent view does in the browser, rendered as Linear activities: a thought while it reasons, an action for each tool call, an elicitation when it needs an answer from you, a response at the end, an error if it fails. It can post a plan checklist. When it pushes, it attaches the pull request, the web preview and the Isolation session as external links on the issue, and it moves the status, to In Progress when it starts and again when the pull request is up, through its item_update tool. Pressing Stop in Linear is /stop: the session ends and the agent goes quiet.
The agent is not force-fed the issue. It sees a message with a source and pulls what it needs: chat_context gives the issue's title, state and URL, chat_history the comments. Your team's guidance text in Linear is appended to the turn as context, never to the agent's prompt.
Commands in comments
A comment that mentions @Isolation and opens with a slash is a command, answered by Isolation itself in milliseconds, with no sandbox involved. Anything else in a mention is a message to the interlocutor.
@Isolation /views
@Isolation /share
@Isolation /agent Reviewer
@Isolation /ask Isla add a test for the empty cart case
@Isolation /status
@Isolation /stop/agent <name> switches which of the session's agents the issue talks to. Several agents with nobody picked produce a select signal with one option per agent, and choosing costs nothing. /ask is the one command that costs anything. The full grammar, including in, on and as for /launch, is on the commands reference. How several agents share one session is on several agents in one session.
After the session
The issue outlives the session. Finish the session and the agent stops answering there. Mention the issue again while the delegation stands and the route launches a new session, with the conversation for that issue continued. The pull request was pushed with your own Git credential, so it is yours to review and merge; see Git, SSH and custom credentials.
Questions
Do I have to open Isolation to start the session?
No. Delegating the issue is the launch. The route on the Apps page says which workspace, environment and agent an issue of that team gets.
Who pays for a session that Linear started?
The person who delegated, with their role and balance, exactly as if they had typed /launch. An unlinked person is told to link first and nothing launches.
What happens if the issue is mentioned again after the session ended?
While the delegation stands, the route launches a fresh session and the agent continues the same conversation for that issue.