How to set up Slack notifications in Linear on Mac: desktop app steps for 2026

What you need before you start

You need three things: a Mac with the Linear desktop app, a Slack account that can sign in to your workspace, and a Linear workspace where someone can connect Slack. If you are the admin, you can do the whole setup yourself. If you are not, one step belongs to a Linear admin. On Enterprise, that is the owner. Everything after that is personal, so you can set your own alerts without waiting on anyone.

• The Linear desktop app for macOS, from linear.app/download
• Admin rights in Linear, or the owner role on Enterprise, for the one-time connection
• A Slack account with access to the workspace your team uses with Linear
• Access to System Settings on your Mac, for notification badges

Connect Slack to your Linear workspace

Start in Settings > Integrations > Slack. The same page lives at linear.app/settings/integrations/slack. Click Connect, then approve the workspace when Slack asks. You do this once for the whole workspace, not once per person. Teammates can connect their own personal alerts after that.

Check the workspace name on the Slack approval screen before you approve. If your company has more than one Slack workspace, approve the one your team uses. Multiple Slack workspaces are listed as an Enterprise feature, so check your plan first.

Set up personal Slack notifications

Personal notifications are alerts about your own work. They arrive as direct messages from the Linear app in Slack, so they sit with your other DMs. After you enable them, Linear appears under Apps in the Slack sidebar. Linear launched personal Slack notifications on September 24, 2020, according to its changelog.

Linear's docs disagree on the menu label. The Slack page says Settings > Personal > Notifications. The notifications page says Settings > Account > Notifications. Both lead to your own alert settings. Read the label in your app and use that one, because the docs do not say which label each version shows.

Choose channels and alert types

Linear's notification channels are Desktop, Mobile, Email, and Slack. Each channel has a dot beside it. A green dot means the channel is enabled. A gray dot means it is disabled. Turn on Slack, then switch each notification type on or off under that channel. Each type is a separate choice, so you can keep the alerts you act on and drop the rest.

Here is a worked example. Say you run triage for one team. You want alerts for issues that need a decision, but not for every status change. Turn Slack on, keep the decision alerts on, and switch the status changes off. Leave Desktop on too, so the same alert shows on your Mac while you work in other apps.

Set up team notifications in a Slack channel

Team notifications post to a channel, not to your DMs. Open the team's Slack notifications settings menu, authenticate to Slack, and then choose the channel. Team alerts cover issue creation, comments, status changes, and project updates. Everyone in the channel sees the same post, which suits triage better than a private DM.

Choose the channel with care. A busy general channel buries alerts. A small channel for one team is easier to scan. If the channel is private, type /invite @Linear in that channel first. Private channels need that invite before team alerts can post.

Project and view alerts in Slack

For a project or initiative, open its page and click the bell icon in the top right. Authenticate to Slack, then choose a channel. Use this when one project matters more than the whole team feed, such as a launch you are following closely.

Admins can also create a Slack channel for each new project. Under Slack settings, they turn on Project channels > Create channel for new projects. Linear then creates a public channel for each new project, invites all project members, and adds a bookmark to the project. Project updates post there by default. Renaming the project also renames the channel. Linear announced this on May 21, 2026.

If your workspace connected to Slack before this feature arrived, an owner or admin must reauthorize it first. Ask one before you expect project channels to appear.

For a custom view, open the view's three-dot menu and choose Configure custom view Slack notifications. Turn on the toggle, authorize Linear, and pick a channel. Then choose the events you want: an issue being added, completed or canceled, or both. Views suit a filtered backlog, where a team channel would be too broad.

Since August 20, 2026, Linear also lets you subscribe to events in project views. Those events arrive in Inbox or in Slack. If a view feels quiet, check which events you picked before you decide Slack is broken.

Make real-time alerts work on your Mac

Desktop alerts on macOS come from the Linear desktop app. Linear's notifications docs say it does not currently support new browser push subscriptions, so a browser tab cannot stand in for the app. Get the app from linear.app/download. The download page lists Linear Desktop for macOS and Windows, plus an Open Web app option.

Then set the macOS side. Open System Settings, go to Notifications, and find Linear in the app list. Turn on notifications for Linear. Turn on the red badge icon option, which shows a count on the Linear Dock icon. Apple's guide to notification settings does not spell out every label, so match the names on your screen.

Subscribe to one issue with a shortcut

Sometimes you want updates on one issue, not a whole team channel. Open the issue, then press Shift S to subscribe. Press Command Shift S to unsubscribe. Open the issue first, because the shortcut works on the issue you have open. Linear's docs list Cmd or Ctrl for these shortcuts. On a Mac, that means Command.

Use the unsubscribe shortcut on busy threads. Subscribe again when the thread needs your input. A quick toggle like this keeps your feed short without turning off whole channels.

Avoid notification overload

Too many alerts cost attention. A survey of 1,200 U.S. employees and employers, covered on July 12, 2024, found that roughly one-third said apps like Microsoft Teams and Slack, along with email notifications, disrupted their focus. Fieldwork dates were not given, so treat the number as a rough signal.

Here is a simple rule. Put team-wide traffic in one channel, and keep personal DMs for alerts that need your action. Switch off status changes if they are noisy. In September 2026, Linear fixed priority-only Slack notifications that ignored custom sender filters. On November 5, 2026, long review comments began arriving as a short excerpt with a link to the full comment.

Pricing and plan limits for Slack

Slack alerts and Slack intake are different features. Intake creates issues from Slack messages. Linear's pricing page says Slack intake is not included on Free or Basic, and is included on Business and Enterprise. Basic costs $10 per user per month billed yearly. Business costs $16 per user per month billed yearly.

The pricing page lists multiple Slack workspaces and per-channel configurations only on Enterprise. If you need more than one workspace, check that plan first. The page does not say the same limits apply to personal or team alerts, so read it before you buy. Plans change, so verify the numbers on the day you decide.

Fix blank link previews and broken unfurls

Linear links sometimes show no preview in Slack. In Slack, go to Preferences > Messages & Media > In-line media and links. Turn on Show text previews of linked websites. This is a Slack setting, so you change it in Slack, not in Linear.

Broken unfurls have a separate cause. If Asks was installed in Slack before the Slack integration, unfurls can break. Disconnect both Asks and Slack in Linear, then disconnect Asks from the Slack Marketplace. Confirm that Linear Asks is gone under Tools & settings > Manage apps in Slack. Reconnect Slack in Linear, and then reconnect Asks.

Limits to know before you roll this out

• Only Linear users can create issues from Slack.
• Slack guests cannot install or approve apps, so a full member has to do it.
• Synced threads do not work in DMs.
• Private channels need /invite @Linear before team alerts can post.

Plan around these before you announce the setup. Tell guests early, so they do not wait for a setting they cannot change.

If you want the issues behind your alerts in one list, read How to go to inbox in Linear on Mac. It covers the G then I shortcut and the sidebar route.