Workflows

Automate Linear issue creation, updates, and sub-issues based on incident events in Rootly using workflow actions with team, label, and assignee controls.

Once Linear is connected, you configure workflows that automatically create and update Linear issues as incidents move through their lifecycle. This page covers the three main workflow actions — creating issues, updating them, and creating sub-issues for action items — as well as setting up Triage Responsibility to keep your Linear queue synced with whoever is on call.

Create a Linear Issue Workflow

This is the core workflow: whenever an incident is declared in Rootly, a corresponding Linear issue is created automatically with incident data populated into the fields you configure.

1. Open Workflows and create a new workflow

   Go to Rootly → Workflows → Create Workflow.

   

   
2. Choose a workflow type

   Select the event type that should trigger this workflow — for example, Incident, Retrospective, or Pulse.

   
3. Configure triggers

   Triggers define when this workflow fires. Choose the event that should kick off Linear issue creation.

   

   Trigger	When It Fires
   Incident Created	A new incident opens
   Incident Updated	Severity, status, or other fields change
   Incident Commander Assigned	Someone takes ownership of the incident
   Manual Trigger	Run on demand from the Rootly UI

4. Add conditions (optional)

   Conditions let you filter which incidents trigger the workflow — for example, only SEV-1 incidents, only specific teams, or only production environments.

   
5. Add a Linear action

   Click Add Action, search for Linear, and select Create Linear Issue.

   

   

   
6. Configure the action fields

   Fill in the fields to control how the Linear issue is created:

   Team · required

   The Linear team where the issue will be created.

   State · string

   The initial workflow state for the issue — for example, Todo or In Progress.

   Project · string

   Optional. Associate the issue with a specific Linear project.

   Labels · array

   Add labels to the issue for filtering and triage.

   Title · string

   The issue title. Supports Liquid — use {{ incident.title }} to default to the incident title.

   Description · string

   The issue body. Supports Liquid — use {{ incident.summary }} to populate with the incident summary.

   Priority · string

   The issue priority. Select Auto to automatically map incident severity to a corresponding Linear priority, or choose Urgent, High, Medium, or Low manually.

   Assignee · string

   Email address of the Linear user to assign the issue to.

7. Save the workflow

   Click Add, give your workflow a name, and click Create Workflow.

Update a Linear Issue

Use the Update Linear Issue action to keep the Linear issue in sync as the incident progresses — for example, moving it to Done when the incident resolves, or updating priority when severity changes.

Create a separate workflow for updates. Do not add the Update action to your Create workflow — they need to trigger on different events.

Configure the action with:

Linear Issue ID · string

Use {{ incident.linear_issue_id }} to reference the issue that was created when the incident was declared.

Common use cases:

• Move to Done when the incident is resolved
• Update priority when severity escalates
• Change assignee as ownership transfers

Create Linear Sub-Issues

To track action items as Linear sub-issues, create a separate workflow triggered by Action Item Created and use the Create Linear Sub-Issue action.

Parent Issue · string

Use {{ incident.linear_issue_id }} to nest the sub-issue under the parent incident issue.

Title · string

Use {{ action_item.summary }} to populate the sub-issue title from the action item.

This keeps all follow-up work organized under the parent incident issue in Linear.

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Triage Responsibility

Connect Linear’s Triage Responsibility feature to your Rootly on-call schedules so new Linear issues are automatically assigned to whoever is currently on call. This keeps your triage queue aligned with your incident response rotation.

1. Create a schedule in Rootly

   Go to Schedules and click Create Schedule.

   

   
2. Enable Linear sync on the schedule

   In the Integrations tab, toggle on Sync with Linear.

   

   
3. Configure and save the schedule

   Give the schedule a name, add members, and click Save.

   

   
4. Open your team settings in Linear

   In Linear, navigate to Settings → Teams and select the team you want to configure.

   

   

   
5. Set Triage Responsibility to your Rootly schedule

   Under Workflow → Triage, find Triage responsibility and select Use schedule. Choose the Rootly schedule you just created.

   

   

   

New Linear issues in triage will now be automatically assigned to whoever is on call in Rootly — no manual triage queue management needed.