Build a Linear cycle dashboard with Claude

This is an end-to-end example: connect a data source over MCP, generate a dashboard from live numbers, and close the review loop on one link. Total time, start to shared link, is under fifteen minutes. The same shape works for any of the other examples — only the connection step changes.

Here's the finished dashboard, published to a canvas — click any tile or number to leave a comment, exactly as your team would:

The three moving parts

1. The Linear MCP server gives Claude read access to your Linear workspace — issues, cycles, projects, comments — through a controlled set of tools. You approve what it can touch.
2. Claude pulls the numbers and writes a single self-contained HTML dashboard. You iterate on it in the artifact panel until it's right.
3. Drafty turns that HTML into a stable link your team reviews. Comments pin to the exact element; Claude ships the fix to the same URL.

The generation step is fast now. The part this example is really about is the third one — getting the dashboard in front of people without losing their feedback to a screenshot circled in Preview.

Step 1 — Connect the Linear MCP server

Linear runs an official remote MCP server at https://mcp.linear.app/mcp. You connect once; it authenticates over OAuth, so no key is pasted into a config file.

In Claude Code:

Then run /mcp inside Claude Code and follow the OAuth prompt to authorize the workspace. When you authorize, approve read access only — this dashboard never needs to create or edit issues.

In Claude Desktop: open Settings → Connectors, add the Linear connector, and authorize with OAuth the same way.

Step 2 — Pull the numbers

Ask Claude in plain language. It uses the MCP server's read tools to fetch real data from your workspace:

Claude calls Linear, returns the figures, and you sanity-check them against your Linear cycle view before going further. This is the moment to catch a wrong assumption — issues counted instead of points, a sub-issue double-counted, a status you didn't expect to be "done" — while it's cheap.

Step 3 — Build the dashboard

Once the numbers look right, ask for the artifact:

Claude renders it live in the artifact panel. Iterate in place — you're not regenerating from scratch:

• "Make the burndown the centerpiece and shrink the velocity bars."
• "Add the ideal-pace line to the burndown so we can see if we're behind."
• "Group the in-flight issues by assignee and show their points."

Step 4 — Publish to Drafty for review

A Claude artifact link is a preview, not a stable URL — iterate the artifact and the link you already sent now shows the old version. Ask Claude to publish it to a Drafty canvas instead, so the link you share always stays current:

Claude pushes the dashboard and hands back a drafty.im/canvas/… link that renders on any device. Send it — your team opens it in a browser, no login and no Claude account needed.

Step 5 — The review loop

This is the part that's not obvious until you've done it once.

A reviewer clicks the specific tile, chart, or number they want changed and leaves a pinned comment — "this burndown looks flat, are we counting issues moved out of the cycle?" The comment is anchored to that element, not floating in a Slack thread. Claude reads the comments through the CLI, reruns the relevant Linear query if needed, and pushes a revised dashboard to the same URL. The reviewer refreshes and sees the change; the thread stays attached to the element.

The mechanic matters because of what it removes. A Slack message about a chart produces "the velocity number looks off." A pinned comment on the actual bar produces "this — last cycle was shortened for the holiday, normalize it." One of those produces a correct revision; the other produces a guess.

Keeping it fresh

An MCP-generated dashboard is a snapshot — it holds the numbers Claude pulled when it built it; it doesn't re-query Linear when someone opens the link. For a sprint review or a standup-ready snapshot, that's fine.

To make it a live canvas that always shows the current cycle's figures, copy this prompt — Claude sets up the refresh for you and schedules it to run on its own:

The link stays stable while the content updates underneath it — see keeping a canvas updated automatically.

What to watch for

• Read-only, always. A cycle dashboard needs read access and nothing more. Approve the OAuth grant accordingly and decline write actions.
• Check the figures before you share. The MCP returns exactly what you ask for — if your "completed scope" query counts issues instead of estimate points, or includes a sub-issue twice, the dashboard will confidently show the wrong burndown. Reconcile against your Linear cycle view once.
• The link is the deliverable, not the artifact. Share the Drafty URL, not the Claude artifact preview — that's the one you can update in place.