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The CTO agent can sync with your Linear workspace to read incoming issues, triage them, delegate work to AI agents, and update issue statuses as work progresses. This guide walks you through connecting Linear and configuring the CTO for automated workflows.

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1. Connect Linear

1

Open settings

Navigate to Settings > Linear in ADE.
2

Authenticate

Click Connect Linear and authorize ADE with your Linear workspace. ADE requests read/write access to issues, projects, and labels.
3

Select a team

Choose the Linear team whose issues the CTO should monitor. You can change this later or add multiple teams.
Once connected, ADE shows a sync status indicator in the Linear settings panel.

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2. Configure the CTO Agent

Navigate to CTO in the sidebar to access the CTO agent’s settings and chat interface.
1

Set the CTO model

In CTO Settings, select which AI model the CTO uses. A capable model (Claude Sonnet or Opus) is recommended for triage and planning tasks.
2

Configure Linear sync behavior

  • Sync interval — how often the CTO checks for new issues (default: 5 minutes)
  • Issue filters — which issue states, labels, or priorities to include
  • Auto-triage — whether the CTO should automatically triage new issues or wait for your instruction
3

Set worker spawning policy

Control how aggressively the CTO delegates work:
  • Ask first — the CTO proposes a plan and waits for your approval
  • Auto-delegate — the CTO assigns work to agents without asking (within budget)

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Workflow targets

The CTO can route incoming Linear issues to different execution surfaces: The CTO chooses the target based on issue complexity, your delegation policy, and available budget.

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3. Triage Incoming Issues

When new issues arrive in Linear, the CTO can triage them:
  • Read the issue — the CTO reads the title, description, and any comments
  • Assess complexity — estimates effort and identifies which parts of the codebase are involved
  • Propose a plan — suggests whether the issue should be a worker run, PR fix, review gate, or deferred
  • Assign priority — updates the Linear issue with a recommended priority if auto-triage is enabled
In Supervised mode, you review the CTO’s triage in its chat interface before any work begins. In Auto-delegate mode, the CTO proceeds directly to delegation.

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4. Delegate to Worker Agents

When the CTO decides to act on an issue, it:
1

Creates a lane

The CTO spawns a new lane for the issue, named after the Linear issue ID (e.g., linear/ENG-142).
2

Spawns a worker

A worker agent is launched in the new lane with context from the issue, the project pack, and any relevant code references.
3

Monitors progress

The CTO tracks the worker’s progress and reports status back to the Linear issue. Comments are added to the issue as work progresses.
For larger issues, the CTO splits the work into dedicated lanes and worker runs.

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5. Status Syncing

As work progresses, ADE keeps Linear updated:

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Custom status mapping

Configure status mappings in Settings → Integrations → Linear: You can also configure activeStateTypes (which Linear states trigger CTO attention) and terminalStateTypes (which states mean the issue is done) to match your team’s Linear workflow.

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6. Review and Close

When a worker completes:
  • The CTO posts a summary comment on the Linear issue with links to the PR and any artifacts
  • The issue status is updated based on the outcome
  • You can review the work in ADE’s History view or PR panel, then close the issue in Linear

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Tips

  • Start with Ask first mode until you trust the CTO’s triage judgment. Switch to Auto-delegate once routing behavior matches your workflow.
  • Use Linear labels to control routing — for example, label issues ai-eligible and filter the CTO to only triage those.
  • Keep architecture and convention docs current so the CTO can inspect the repo and make better triage decisions.

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Next Steps

CTO Concepts

Understand the CTO’s role and org chart model.

Worker Delegation

Learn how CTO workers pick up delegated tasks and report progress.