How to Add Comments to Issues in Linear

Your team is moving fast. A developer marks an issue “In Progress” and moves on. A designer has a question. A product manager has context that changes everything. Without a clean, centralised way to share that information right inside the issue, things fall through the cracks.

That’s exactly what comments in Linear are built to solve.

Linear is used by over 150,000 teams worldwide, and its commenting system is one of the most underutilised features on the platform. Teams that communicate directly inside issues — rather than in separate Slack threads or email chains — close the loop faster, reduce context switching, and keep their entire workflow visible in one place. Research from McKinsey found that companies investing in collaboration technologies see a 20–25% increase in worker productivity. Comments in Linear are a direct path to that kind of gain.

This guide walks you through everything: how to post a comment, reply to threads, mention teammates, attach files, use reactions, resolve discussions, and work smarter with keyboard shortcuts and AI-generated summaries.

Why Commenting Inside Issues Actually Matters

Most teams already communicate. The problem is where that communication lives.

The average knowledge worker switches applications 1,200 times per day and takes roughly 23 minutes to fully regain focus after each significant interruption. When conversations about an issue happen in Slack, in email, in a side call, that context never makes it back to the issue. The next person who picks it up starts from scratch.

Commenting directly in Linear fixes that. Every update, question, decision, and piece of feedback lives exactly where the work is. There’s no archaeology. No “can you resend that thread?” No re-explaining what was already decided.

Teams using integrated workflows like this report 21–23% faster issue resolution. That’s not a marginal improvement. It’s the difference between shipping on time and scrambling.

How to Add a Comment to an Issue

This is the core action. It takes about ten seconds once you know where to look.

Open the issue you want to comment on. Scroll to the bottom of the issue detail panel. You’ll see a text box with the placeholder text “Leave a comment…”

Click inside that box and start typing.

When you’re ready to post, either click the Comment button or use the keyboard shortcut ⌘ Enter (Mac) or Ctrl + Enter (Windows/Linux). Unlike the issue description, which saves automatically as you type, comments are not posted until you explicitly submit them.

Once posted, your comment appears immediately in the issue thread. Every team member subscribed to that issue receives a notification.

How to Reply to a Comment (Threaded Replies)

Not every comment needs a full new entry. When you’re responding to a specific point, a threaded reply keeps the conversation organised.

Hover over the comment you want to reply to. A small action bar will appear to the top right of the comment. Click the reply icon, or press R on your keyboard when the comment is in focus. A reply editor opens directly beneath that comment, keeping the thread contained and readable.

All users with access to the issue can post comments and threaded replies, so the conversation stays open across your whole team.

How to Edit or Delete a Comment You Posted

Made a typo? Changed your mind? You can fix it.

Hover over your comment to reveal the … (three-dot) menu at the top right corner. Click it and select Edit. The comment text becomes editable inline. Make your changes and click Save.

From the same menu, you can also Delete the comment entirely. Only the comment author can delete their own comment. Deleting is permanent, so use it intentionally.

How to Mention Someone in a Comment (@mentions)

Tagging the right person is how you turn a passive comment into an active handoff.

While typing your comment, type @ followed by a teammate’s name. A dropdown list of workspace members appears. Select the person you want to mention. They’ll receive a notification pointing them directly to the comment, regardless of whether they were previously subscribed to that issue.

Use @mentions when you need a specific person’s input, when you’re handing off ownership of a decision, or when someone needs to be looped in on context before the issue progresses.

How to Attach Files to a Comment

Sometimes a comment alone isn’t enough. A screenshot, a design file, a spreadsheet — these add context that words can’t fully carry.

To attach a file to a comment, use one of three methods:

Click the paperclip icon in the comment toolbar before submitting. Alternatively, use the shortcut ⌘ Shift A (Mac) or Ctrl Shift A (Windows). Or simply drag and drop the file directly into the comment box.

Linear supports standard file types and uploads them directly to the comment thread, keeping everything together without requiring external file-sharing links.

How to React to Comments with Emoji

Not every moment needs words. Sometimes a quick acknowledgement is all that’s needed to keep momentum going.

Hover over any comment or the issue description itself. An emoji picker icon will appear. Click it to open the emoji selector and choose your reaction. Reactions appear inline beneath the comment, visible to everyone on the team.

This is particularly useful for async teams — a thumbs up or a checkmark tells the comment author their message landed without requiring a full reply and another notification.

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How to Resolve Comment Threads

As work progresses, threads reach a natural conclusion. Resolving them keeps the issue clean and makes it easy to see what’s still open.

To resolve a thread, hover over it and click the Resolve button. The thread collapses. If a thread is resolved without a closing comment, Linear automatically generates a short summary of the discussion. That summary appears on the collapsed thread — giving enough context to understand what happened without needing to re-read the entire exchange.

You can reopen a resolved thread at any time if new information surfaces or the conversation needs to continue.

Resolved and deleted comments can also be viewed by selecting the checkmark icon at the top right of the issue page.

How to Create a Sub-Issue from a Comment

This is one of Linear’s most powerful and least-known comment features.

Sometimes a comment identifies a new piece of work that deserves its own issue. You don’t need to copy-paste anything. Hover over the comment and click the … menu, then select “New sub-issue from comment.” Alternatively, highlight the comment text and press ⌘ Shift O (Mac).

Linear turns the comment content into a new sub-issue, automatically linked to the parent. The original thread stays intact so nothing is lost.

Keyboard Shortcuts That Speed Up Commenting

Linear is built for speed. It targets interactions that complete within 50ms. The keyboard shortcuts are a big part of that.

Here are the most useful commenting shortcuts:

• ⌘ Enter / Ctrl + Enter — Post a comment
• R — Reply to the focused comment
• ⌘ Shift A / Ctrl Shift A — Attach a file to a comment
• ⌘ Option M — Add an inline comment on a document or issue description
• ⌘ Shift O — Convert selected comment text into a sub-issue
• Shift R — Renamed from the previous reply shortcut (now used for “Rename issue”)

Learning these shortcuts cuts friction from every interaction. For teams posting dozens of comments a day across multiple issues, that adds up fast.

AI-Generated Comment Summaries

When an issue gets busy — back-and-forth threads, status updates, questions, decisions — catching up becomes its own task.

Linear addresses this with AI-generated comment summaries. When an issue contains at least 19 comments, Linear automatically generates a structured summary. Each bullet point in that summary links directly back to its source comment so you can verify context or read the full exchange if needed.

Summaries regenerate incrementally as the discussion evolves, so they stay current. They appear above the comment thread, giving a clear structured view without requiring anyone to scroll through everything from the start.

This feature is enabled per team in Settings > Team > General.

Unsent Comments and Drafts

Started a comment and got pulled into a meeting? Linear saves it automatically.

Unsent comments are visible on the issue and accessible from Drafts in your sidebar. You can pick up exactly where you left off without losing what you were working on.

This matters for async workflows. Write a detailed update, step away, review it later, and post when you’re confident it’s complete. There’s no pressure to publish immediately just to avoid losing the text.

Inline Comments on Descriptions and Documents

Comments aren’t limited to the thread at the bottom of an issue. You can comment on specific text within the issue description or any Linear document.

Select any text within the description or document. A comment button appears inline — click it or use ⌘ Option M. The comment anchors directly to the selected passage.

This is especially useful during review stages, when collaborating on a brief, or when you need to flag a specific clause or requirement without disrupting the whole thread.

Best Practices for Commenting in Linear

Knowing how to comment is one thing. Knowing when and how to do it well is what keeps your workflow clean.

Keep comments actionable. Every comment should have a clear purpose — a question, a decision, a status update, a handoff. Avoid open-ended commentary that doesn’t drive the issue forward.

Use @mentions deliberately. Mention someone when you specifically need their input or action. Over-mentioning creates noise and reduces the signal value of every tag.

Resolve threads promptly. When a discussion concludes, resolve it. An issue cluttered with unresolved threads from two sprints ago slows everyone down.

Convert actionable comments into sub-issues. If a comment identifies work that needs tracking, make it a sub-issue immediately. Don’t leave work items buried in threads.

Use reactions for low-stakes acknowledgement. Not every comment needs a reply. A reaction communicates “seen and understood” without adding notification noise.

Research shows that 209 hours per year are wasted in duplicated work, and 352 hours are spent “talking about work” rather than doing it. Structured, purposeful commenting inside Linear is one of the most direct ways to reclaim that time.