Use Tembo to Enrich New Linear Issues

Every engineering team has the same problem: someone creates a ticket, and whoever picks it up spends the first hour hunting for context. Which files are involved? Was there a design doc? Any related Sentry errors? Previous discussions?

We got tired of that context-gathering dance, so we built an automation that does it automatically. Every time a new Linear issue is created, Tembo reviews it and drops a comment with anything helpful it can find using your connected integrations and your codebase.

Setting Up the Linear Integration

Connecting Tembo to Linear takes about two minutes:

1. Head to Integrations in Tembo and click Install on Linear
2. Authorize

That's it.

You can now assign issues directly to Tembo, which will analyze them, write code, and open PRs. But the real magic is what you can build on top of this connection with automations.

The Automation: "Enrich Linear Issue"

Here's the automation we run internally. When any new issue lands in Linear, Tembo acts like a helpful teammate who already did the research:

Comments

The comments aren't templated walls of text. They're conversational, like a teammate giving you a heads up:

Hey, looks like the auth token refresh logic lives in src/lib/auth/refresh.ts. There's a related RFC in Notion from last month about retry behavior that might be relevant: [Link]. Also seeing a spike of TokenExpiredError in Sentry over the past week (~340 occurrences) that could be connected.

Or sometimes it's just simple:

The endpoint you're looking for is in api/routes/users.ts:142. Pretty straightforward change.

The key is it only comments when it has something genuinely useful to say. No forced commentary, no checkbox-style "I checked Notion and found nothing."

Instructions

Here's the core of what we tell the agent:

When a new Linear issue is created, review its contents and post a comment
with any relevant insights. You do not need to comment on every aspect -
only share information that would genuinely be helpful.

You have access to search:
- Notion: docs, design docs, RFCs, meeting notes
- Sentry: error logs, stack traces, production issues
- Codebase: existing implementations, patterns, relevant code

Write your comment in a natural, conversational tone. Be direct and specific.
Reference specific Notion docs, Sentry errors, or file paths. Keep it short -
a few sentences is usually enough. Include code examples when relevant.

The full prompt covers what to look for (related docs, error context, affected files, dependencies, risks) but emphasizes brevity and usefulness over comprehensiveness.

Why This Works

The automation saves 10-15 minutes of context-gathering on almost every ticket. But the bigger win is consistency. Junior engineers get the same contextual boost as senior folks who've been around longer. Nobody has to ask "where does this code live?" in Slack.

It also catches things humans miss. That Sentry error spike? Someone might not think to check. The RFC from two months ago? Already forgotten. The automation surfaces all of it automatically.

Getting Started

If you want to try this yourself:

1. Connect Linear to Tembo via the integrations page
2. Add your integrations (Notion, Sentry, codebase - whatever you use) or any MCP servers you want to use
3. Clone the "Enrich Linear Issue" automation and edit the instructions to your liking

Start with just codebase search if you want to keep it simple. You can always add more data sources later.

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Questions? Check out our docs or reach out to the team.