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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.

Steven Silverstone
Updated by Steven Silverstone

Start here to set up your LinearB trial, connect your tools, and validate your data. Follow this guide to quickly configure your workspace and begin exploring metrics and insights.

What You’ll Need

Before you begin, make sure you have the following:

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 one of the following:

  • Admin access to connect LinearB to your Git provider, or
  • A personal access token for GitHub, GitLab, or Azure DevOps with permission to the repositories you want to connect

Supported Git providers:

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

If you do not have the required access, share this guide with an administrator. Once setup is complete, they can add you as a user with the appropriate scope.

3. Project Management 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 permissions in your project management tool.
  • You can connect it at any time during the trial.

Get Started

1. Begin Registration

  1. Open your trial confirmation email.
  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.

1. Open the Relevant Git Integration Guide

Select the integration guide that matches your environment:

2. Select Repositories

You can connect up to 50 repositories during your trial. To get the best results:

  • Choose repositories with recent development activity.
  • Include repositories tied to your Jira, Azure Boards, or Shortcut projects, if applicable.
  • A checked box means LinearB will follow the repository. An unchecked box means LinearB will ignore it.

Click Continue to start the analysis.

Analysis in progress

Your repositories begin analyzing immediately. While analysis runs, continue setup by connecting your project management tool, enabling notifications, and configuring release detection. These steps help ensure accurate metrics and meaningful workflow insights during your trial.

Connect Your Project Management Tool

Connecting your project management tool is optional, but recommended. It enables planning accuracy, investment insights, work type identification, and richer project reporting.

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

Requirements:

  • You must be an administrator in your project management tool.
  • You may need to install an app or create a token, depending on the integration.

How to connect:

  1. Go to Settings → Project Management.
  2. Select Jira, Azure Boards, or Shortcut.
  3. Complete the setup steps for your selected tool.
Jira (Cloud and Data Center)

What you’ll need: Jira admin access

Jira Cloud

  1. Enter your Jira Cloud URL, for example https://company.atlassian.net.
  2. Approve the OAuth connection when prompted.
  3. Select the Jira projects LinearB should sync.

Jira Data Center

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

What you’ll need: An Azure DevOps personal access token (PAT)

Required PAT permissions:

  • Work Items — Read
  • Analytics — Read
  • Projects and Teams — Read
  1. Create a PAT with the required permissions.
  2. Paste it into LinearB when prompted.
  3. Select the Azure projects LinearB should sync.
Shortcut

What you’ll need: A Shortcut API token

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

Enable WorkerB

WorkerB sends PR updates, review requests, CI status changes, and team notifications directly to Slack or Microsoft Teams. This helps reduce pickup time and keeps work moving without leaving your communication tools.

Choose Your Communication Platform

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

Slack

Prerequisites

  • LinearB user role: Admin
  • Slack user role: Admin
  • Public Slack channels are supported immediately
  • Private channels require assistance. Provide the Slack channel name, channel ID, and LinearB team name.

Setup Steps

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

Connect Additional Teams

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

Prerequisites

  • LinearB user role: Admin
  • Microsoft Teams user role: Admin
  • WorkerB must be installed in Microsoft 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

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

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

Configure Team Notifications

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

Examples include:

  • 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 or Teams channel.
  4. Save your changes.

Enable Personal Notifications

Developers can 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 and LinearB
  • Pref — Open notification preferences
  • Prs — Show open PRs you authored
  • Prs long — Show long-living PRs
  • Prs done — Show completed PRs
  • Updates — Show the latest PR updates
  • Reviews — Show PRs assigned for review
  • Invite — Invite teammates
  • Unlink — Disconnect your 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 your preferences and save.

Available Commands

  • /lb connect — Link Slack and LinearB
  • /lb updates — Show PR updates
  • /lb reviews — Show PRs assigned to you
  • /lb prs — Show your open PRs
  • /lb prs long — Show long-living PRs
  • /lb prs done — Show completed PRs
  • /lb help — List available commands
  • /lb pref — Open preferences
  • /lb unlink — Unlink your account
  • /lb invite — Invite teammates

Configure Release Detection

Release Detection determines when code is deployed. This enables accurate Deploy Time, CFR (Change Failure Rate), and MTTR metrics. Choose the method that matches your team’s release process.

Supported Methods

Release by Tag (Default)

  • Best for teams that tag releases, for example 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, for example ^v.

Release by PR to a Dedicated Branch

Note: This method sets Deploy Time to 0 because release is defined at the moment the PR is merged into the branch.

  • Use this if your team merges PRs into 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)$

Release by Direct Merge to a Branch

  • Use this 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)$

Release by Deployment API

  • Best for teams that use CI/CD pipelines to track real deployment events.
  • Your pipeline sends deployment events directly to LinearB.
  • Supports multi-stage environments, for example staging to production.
  • LinearB matches deployments to merged branches using Git ancestry.

Note: For full API reference, see the Deployment API documentation .

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 other settings as needed.
  4. Save your configuration.

Advanced configuration:

  • Exclude branches (for example bots or experiments)
  • Ignore file extensions that are not part of production code

Enable gitStream Automation (Optional)

gitStream automates PR workflows, enforces policies, and supports AI-assisted review. Enabling it during your trial helps you evaluate 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

Your LinearB trial environment is now configured.

  • Metrics will begin populating as Git activity continues.
  • You can explore Cycle Time, PR activity, and team investment insights.
  • You can invite teammates to collaborate. Trials support unlimited users.

Need Help?

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

Related resources:

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