grite vs Linear
Hosted product-team issue tracker
Linear and grite share a CLI-first sensibility but disagree on where state should live. Linear keeps it on hosted servers and bets on workflow polish. Grite keeps it in the repo and bets on offline-first, agent-native architecture.
| Feature | grite | Linear | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Storage model | Event log in git refs | Hosted database (Linear cloud) | grite |
| License | MIT, open source | Proprietary | grite |
| Offline support | Full offline; sync on git push | Limited; web app caches recent data | grite |
| CLI | Primary interface; --json everywhere | Community CLIs over the SDK | grite |
| AI-agent affordance | AGENTS.md, memory labels, distributed locks | Linear API + MCP-style integrations | grite |
| Multi-agent merge | Deterministic CRDT, no conflicts | Server-side sequential writes, rate limited | grite |
| Audit trail | Tamper-evident WAL, optional Ed25519 | Server-side change history | grite |
| Web UI | None | Polished, opinionated, web-first | Linear |
| Triage / roadmap views | Export to JSON/Markdown/CSV | Native cycles, roadmaps, initiatives | Linear |
| Non-engineer access | Requires CLI or export consumption | Browser link is enough | Linear |
| Performance ceiling | ~10ms list at 1k issues; tested to 100k events | Bound by hosted infra and API | grite |
| Lock-in surface | None — the repo is the state | Hosted DB, export must be requested | grite |
Pick grite when
- ▸You want the issue store to be physically inside the repository, not on a vendor server
- ▸Your team includes AI agents and you need a discoverable memory layer (AGENTS.md)
- ▸You operate in places where the network is unreliable or restricted
- ▸You want to avoid a hosted SaaS dependency for state your repo could carry
Pick Linear when
- ▸You want a polished web UI with triage views, roadmaps, and cycle reports out of the box
- ▸Your team includes non-engineers (design, PM) who need a web surface, not a CLI
- ▸You rely on Linear-specific integrations (Slack, Figma, Notion) for daily workflow
Both can be right
Many teams keep Linear for what it is great at and adopt grite for the internal queue, agent memory, or offline-first work. The export formats make it cheap to move issues either direction.