The release plan Linear doesn't draw.
Linear has no story map, so teams that plan in Linear draw theirs somewhere else and let it drift. CardBoard is a user story map that links to Linear. A card and its issue share title, description, status, estimate, and parent, edited from either side. Nest a card under another and its issue becomes a sub-issue. Move a sub-issue in Linear and the card follows. Where cards sit on the map never syncs.
Linear is built for the next issue. A story map is built for the whole release.
Linear is fast because it keeps you focused on what's next: a clean list and a keyboard shortcut for everything. That focus is also why it can't show you the whole journey at once, left to right, with the thinnest useful release drawn across it.
So Linear teams sketch the map in a whiteboard, copy the stories into issues, and stop looking at the sketch. CardBoard keeps the map linked. The stories you mapped are the issues you ship, and their status comes back to the map without anyone updating it.
Four fields both ways, including how issues nest.
| Card field | Direction | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Both ways | |
| Description | Both ways | Both sides store Markdown, so formatting passes through unchanged. |
| Status | Both ways | Each team's own workflow states. |
| Estimate | Both ways | The card's size, on the team's own estimate scale. Off-scale sizes are skipped and the card says why. |
| Parent | Both ways | Nesting on the map is a sub-issue in Linear, and the reverse. |
| Link to the card | CardBoard to Linear | A CardBoard Card attachment on every linked issue. |
| Assignee, priority, labels | Not synced | |
| Position, release slice, color | Never | The map owns these. |
Every field, what CardBoard reads, and how to remove it: Linear integration docs.
Nest on the map, nest in Linear.
A story that's too big gets split. On the map you tuck the smaller stories under it. In Linear they become sub-issues. CardBoard treats those as one link, in both directions.
- Nest a linked card under another and its issue becomes a sub-issue. Take it out and the issue goes back to the top level.
- Re-parent a sub-issue in Linear and the card moves under its new parent on the map within seconds.
- Send a nested set of cards to Linear and the parents are created first, so their children arrive as sub-issues.
Nesting is structure, not position. On a story map, cards stay where you put them, and a story's place in the journey or its release slice never reaches Linear.
One admin connects it. Nobody else signs in.
CardBoard connects to Linear as an app on your workspace, with read and write access and no admin scope. After one approval, every member works through that connection. Each map then opts in to one Linear team, and teams no map is connected to are never read.
Drag issues from the tracker drawer onto the map, or map first and send the cards you commit to. Every linked issue gets a link back to its card, so anyone in Linear is one click from the map.
Story mapping tools that work with Linear.
Fewer tools connect to Linear than to Jira. Two of the best-known story mappers, StoriesOnBoard and Easy Agile, don't connect at all.
| Tool | Linear sync | Plan needed |
|---|---|---|
| CardBoard | Title, description, status, estimate, and parent, both ways as they change | Pro, $10 a month |
| Miro | Two-way Linear cards. Moving a card in a Columns widget doesn't change its status, and Tables, Timeline, and Kanban are read-only outside Enterprise. | Business, $20 per member |
| Mural | Two-way, but Mural edits reach Linear when someone clicks Sync, and Linear wins conflicts | Documented on Business |
| Avion | Linear integration on Business and up | Business, $166 a month billed annually, unlimited users |
| StoriesOnBoard, Easy Agile | No Linear integration | Not available |
Checked September 2026 against each tool's own help center and pricing: Miro, Mural, Mural pricing, Miro pricing, Avion pricing.
The whole field, with pricing, is on our comparison of story mapping tools.
What the Linear sync leaves alone.
- Assignee, priority, and labels stay in Linear.
- Projects, cycles, and comments aren't read.
- Updates to existing issues show in Linear as the CardBoard app. CardBoard's audit log names the person.
- One Linear workspace per CardBoard workspace, and one team per map.
- CardBoard isn't in Linear's integrations directory yet. You connect from CardBoard.
Frequently asked questions
- Does Linear have a story map?
- No. Linear organizes work into projects, issues, and sub-issues. A story map needs a second axis, the steps a user takes, so Linear teams map in another tool and link it back.
- Does everyone need to connect their own Linear account?
- No. One admin approves CardBoard as an app on your Linear workspace, and every member works through that connection. Issues created from CardBoard show the person who created them. Updates to existing issues show as the CardBoard app, and CardBoard's own audit log records who made each one.
- Does moving a card change the issue's project, cycle, or priority?
- No. CardBoard doesn't read or write projects or cycles, and a card's position never syncs. You can recut a release on the map and nothing moves in Linear.
- Why doesn't assignee sync?
- The Linear integration covers what a map needs to stay current. Assignee, priority, and labels stay in Linear. On Azure DevOps and Jira, CardBoard also syncs assignee.
- What does it cost?
- Mapping is free. Connecting a map to Linear needs a paid plan, from $10 a month on Pro billed annually. Guests are free and can comment on linked cards.
Also on Jira or Azure DevOps? New to the method? Start with the user story mapping guide.
Draw the release. Ship it in Linear.
Start a map free. Connect your Linear workspace once, from $10 a month, and every map can use it.