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Get Started - LinearB Trial Setup Guide

LinearB Trial Setup. This document will walk you through the process of getting your LinearB trial started.

heather.hazell
Updated by heather.hazell

Welcome to your LinearB trial! This guide helps you complete your initial setup so your team can begin receiving insights quickly.

What You’ll Need

1. A LinearB User Account

You can sign in using any of the supported identity providers:

  • Google
  • GitHub
  • Slack
  • Bitbucket
  • GitLab
  • Azure DevOps
2. Git Provider Access

You need either:

  • Admin access to connect LinearB to your Git provider, or
  • A personal access token (GitHub, GitLab, or Azure DevOps) with permissions to the repos you'd like to connect

Supported Git providers:

  • GitHub Cloud & GitHub Enterprise Server
  • GitLab Cloud & GitLab Self-Managed
  • Bitbucket Cloud & Bitbucket Server/Data Center
  • Azure DevOps Repos

If you don’t have the required access, share this guide with an admin. Once setup is complete, they can add you as a user with the required scope.{link to ent-setup-guide/#user managment}

3. PM Tool Access (Optional)

You can start your trial without a project management tool. If you want to connect Jira, Azure Boards, or Shortcut:

  • You must have admin permission in your PM tool.
  • You can connect it at any time during the trial.

Start Your Trial

1. Begin registration
  1. Open your trial confirmation email, or start here:
    https://app.linearb.io/register?license=trial
  2. Choose your preferred identity provider and sign in.
2. Create your LinearB Organization
  1. Enter an organization name (typically your company name).
  2. Click Continue.

Connect Your Git Provider

Connecting Git is the most important step — LinearB begins analyzing your repositories immediately.

Select your Git provider

Choose cloud or on-prem depending on your environment.

See full Git connection instructions in the Git Integrations Hub:
Git Integrations Hub

Select repositories

You may connect up to 50 repositories during your trial. To get the best insights:

  • Choose repos with recent development activity.
  • Include repos tied to your Jira / Azure Boards / Shortcut boards (if applicable).
  • checked box next to repo tells LinearB to follow this repo, unchecked box means LinearB will ignore that repo

Click Continue to start the analysis.

Analysis in Progress

Your repositories begin analyzing immediately. While that completes, continue your setup by connecting your project management tool, enabling alerts, and configuring release detection. These steps ensure you see accurate Cycle Time, DORA metrics, and real workflow signals during your trial.

Recommended Next Steps
• Connect Jira, Azure Boards, or Shortcut
• Enable Slack or MS Teams alerts (WorkerB)
• Configure Release Detection

Connecting your PM tool unlocks planning accuracy, investment insights, work type identification, and richer project reporting.

Connect Jira, Azure Boards, or Shortcut

What this does: Connecting your project management tool lets LinearB show work type breakdowns, planning accuracy, CFR/MTTR metrics, and map PRs to issues during your trial.

Supported tools: Jira Cloud, Jira Data Center, Azure Boards, Shortcut

Requirements:

  • You must be an Admin in your PM tool
  • You may need to install an app (Jira Cloud) or create a token (Azure Boards / Shortcut)

How to connect:

  1. Go to Settings → Project Management
  2. Select Jira, Azure Boards, or Shortcut
  3. Follow the quick setup steps below
Jira (Cloud & Data Center)

What you’ll need: Jira Admin access

Jira Cloud (OAuth)

Steps:

  1. Enter your Jira Cloud URL (e.g., https://company.atlassian.net) in LinearB.
  2. Approve the OAuth connection when prompted.
  3. Select which Jira projects LinearB should sync.

Steps:

  1. In LinearB, enter your Jira base URL.
  2. Create an Application Link in Jira to:
    https://app.linearb.io
  3. Paste the LinearB keys into Jira’s Application Link fields.
  4. Authorize the connection and select projects to sync.
Azure Boards

What you'll need: An Azure DevOps Personal Access Token (PAT)

PAT must include:

  • Work Items — Read
  • Analytics — Read
  • Projects & Teams — Read

Steps:

  1. Create a PAT with the permissions above
  2. Paste it into LinearB when prompted
  3. Select which Azure projects to sync
Shortcut

What you'll need: A Shortcut API token

Steps:

  1. Create a Shortcut API token
  2. Paste it into LinearB
  3. Select workflows to sync

Enable WorkerB (Slack or MS Teams)

WorkerB sends PR updates, review requests, CI status changes, and team notifications directly into Slack or Microsoft Teams. This helps reduce pickup time and keeps work moving without needing to open LinearB.

Choose Your Communication Platform

Select the platform your team uses. Setup steps differ for Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Slack

Slack – Prerequisites

  • LinearB User: Admin
  • Slack User: Admin
  • Public Slack channels supported immediately
  • Private channels require assistance — provide Slack channel name, channel ID, and the LinearB team name

Slack – Setup Steps

  1. In LinearB, go to Settings → Company Settings → Slack.
  2. Authorize LinearB when redirected to Slack and click Allow.
  3. You should receive a confirmation message in Slack.

Connect Additional Teams (Slack)

  1. Ensure a team exists in LinearB.
  2. Go to Settings → Company Settings → Slack.
  3. Click Connect Slack for each team and set Status: ON.
Microsoft Teams

MS Teams – Prerequisites

  • LinearB User: Admin
  • Teams User: Admin
  • WorkerB must be installed in Microsoft Teams

MS Teams – Setup Steps

  1. In LinearB, go to Settings → Company Settings → MS Teams.
  2. Follow the authorization steps to connect your tenant and channels.

Connect Additional Teams (MS Teams)

  1. Create or confirm the team exists in LinearB.
  2. Go to Settings → Company Settings → MS Teams.
  3. Click Connect for the team and toggle Status: ON.

Note: If your organization uses an on-prem Git provider, WorkerB setup must be completed manually. Please contact support.

Configure WorkerB Team Notifications

Team Notifications push updates into a shared Slack or Teams channel so the team can see progress, risks, and activity related to goals and PR movement.

Team Notifications Overview
  • Stale PR alerts
  • Long pickup time alerts
  • PRs ready for review
  • Goal progress notifications
  • Deploy notifications (if Release Detection is configured)

How to Configure

  1. Go to Settings → Team Settings → Goals.
  2. Click Edit to tune your thresholds.
  3. Select which notifications should be sent to the Slack/Teams channel.
  4. Save changes.

Enable WorkerB Personal Notifications (Developers)

Developers receive direct messages from WorkerB with updates about their PRs, reviews, approvals, CI status changes, and more.

Microsoft Teams – Personal Notifications

Setup Steps

  1. Open the WorkerB bot in Teams.
  2. Type LinkUser.
  3. Click Link my account in the popup.
  4. Log in using your Git provider credentials.

Customize Notifications

  1. Open WorkerB in Teams.
  2. Type Pref to open preferences.
  3. Enable or disable notifications, then save.

Available Commands

  • LinkUser – Link Teams ↔ LinearB
  • Pref – Notification preferences
  • Prs – Open PRs you authored
  • Prs long – Long-living PRs
  • Prs done – Completed PRs
  • Updates – Latest PR updates
  • Reviews – PRs assigned for review
  • Invite – Invite teammates
  • Unlink – Disconnect account
Slack – Personal Notifications

Setup Steps

  1. Type /lb connect in Slack.
  2. Click Let's do it! if prompted to authenticate.
  3. Log in using your Git provider credentials.

Customize Notifications

  1. Type /lb pref to open your notification panel.
  2. Update preferences and save.

Available Commands

  • /lb connect – Link Slack ↔ LinearB
  • /lb updates – See PR updates
  • /lb reviews – PRs assigned to you
  • /lb prs – Your open PRs
  • /lb prs long – Long-living PRs
  • /lb prs done – Completed PRs
  • /lb help – List all commands
  • /lb pref – Preferences
  • /lb unlink – Unlink account
  • /lb invite – Invite teammates

Configure Release Detection

Release Detection tells LinearB when your code is actually deployed. This enables accurate Deploy Time, CFR (Change Failure Rate), and MTTR metrics. During your trial, choose the method that matches how your team delivers to production.

Supported Methods (Choose the One That Matches Your Release Process)

Method A — Release by Tag (default)

  • Best choice if your team tags releases (e.g., v1.2.3).
  • A release is detected when a Git push includes a tag on a commit.
  • Every commit reachable from the tagged commit is considered released.
  • You can filter tag names using regex (e.g., ^v for versioned tags).

Method B — Release by PR to a Dedicated Branch

Note: This method registers Deploy Time as 0, because release is defined at the moment of merge into the branch.

  • Use if your team merges PRs to a release branch such as main or master.
  • Every merged PR into that branch is treated as a deploy.
  • Release branches are defined using regex.
  • Default regex: ^(main|master|production|prod)$

Method C — Release by Direct Merge to a Branch

  • Use if your team merges directly into a release branch without using PRs.
  • LinearB detects the merge commit and marks associated branches as deployed.
  • Branch matching is configured with regex.
  • Default regex: ^(main|master|production|prod)$

Method D — Release by Deployment API

  • Best for teams using CI/CD pipelines to track real deployment events.
  • Your pipeline sends deploy events directly to LinearB.
  • Supports multi-stage environments (e.g., staging → prod).
  • LinearB matches deployments to merged branches using Git ancestry.

Note: For full API reference, see the Deployment API documentation. {LINK!}

How to Configure Release Detection

  1. Go to Settings → Advanced → Release Detection.
  2. Select your release trigger method:
    • Tag-based
    • PR to branch
    • Direct merge to branch
    • Deployment API
  3. Adjust regex filters or settings as needed.
  4. Save your configuration.

Advanced workflow options:

gitStream Automation (Optional)

gitStream automates PR workflows, enforces policies, and supports AI-assisted review. Enabling it during your trial gives you a clear view of how automation and AI can reduce review time and improve quality.

Learn more in the GitStream Enablement Hub:
GitStream Enablement Hub

Your Trial Is Ready

🎉 You now have a fully configured LinearB trial environment.

  • Metrics will begin populating as Git activity continues.
  • You can explore Cycle Time, PR activity, and team investment patterns.
  • Invite teammates — trials support unlimited users at no extra cost.

Need Help?

If you need technical assistance during your trial, please contact LinearB Support

Related resources:

How did we do?

Get Started - LinearB Essentials Setup Guide

LinearB Metrics Glossary

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