Configure Private Teams in Linear
Private teams restrict issue access to members by default. On Enterprise, enabled issue sharing can grant nonmembers access to individual issues; review those grants as well as team membership.
Step-by-step guide
Check access and scope
Private teams require an eligible plan. Only authorized owners or administrators can change an existing team visibility; confirm your current role.
Define team membership
List who should access the sensitive work and who should not.
Set team visibility
Create the private team or ask its owner to change existing visibility. Private teams require Business or a higher eligible plan, and visibility changes to an existing team need an authorized owner or administrator.
- Worked example: For an internal compensation project, use anonymized sample issues while checking visibility. A private issue linking to a broadly shared spreadsheet still exposes information through the spreadsheet.
Invite required members
Add only the people who need the work rather than a broad convenience group.
Audit shared resources
Review projects shared with other teams, external resource permissions and existing issue-specific shares. On Enterprise, inspect Team settings > Access and permissions > Issue sharing with the team owner.
Test intended access paths
Use anonymized sample issues. Test an ordinary nonmember without a share, an intended member and any intended issue-specific recipient.
Verify the result
The unshared outsider is excluded, members retain intended access and any issue-specific recipients match the approved sharing scope.
Common mistakes
Avoid the main failure mode
Assuming project membership and team privacy are identical creates accidental disclosure. Review each shared object independently.
Check the handoff edge case
Adding the whole organization to a private team defeats the intended access boundary. Invite people according to the actual need.
Sources and verification
Based on product documentation checked on 2026-10-24. This is a documentation-based guide, not a hands-on benchmark. Features and availability can change.