# The agent-first alternative > The agent-first Linear alternative. Linear, Jira, CrewAI, Devin and Temporal each own one piece of running an agent fleet. Retasc is the combination. Source: https://retasc.com/compare · Markdown for agents; the same page as HTML with the diagrams described in a line each. Linear, Jira, CrewAI and Temporal each own one piece: atomic claims, dispatch or durable work. Retasc is the combination. [Start free](https://dash.retasc.com) [Wire an agent](https://retasc.com/wire) | | Concurrency control Atomic claims atomic claim, lease/TTL, claim tokens | Graph-driven dispatch Graph dispatch topological pull, effective priority | Persistent work + identity Work + identity durable, multi-tenant, audited | |---|---|---|---| | Retasc | yes (atomic claim, 30m lease, heartbeat renews) | yes (blockers inherit urgency, deadlines raise rank) | yes (principal + runtime logged, encrypted per org) | | Trackers Linear, Jira, Asana | no | no (graph informs planning, never dispatch) | yes | | Agent frameworks CrewAI, LangGraph, AutoGen | no | partial (in-process, not a shared queue) | partial (durable runs, no shared backlog) | | Background agents Devin, Cursor bg | no | no | no (one task, one sandbox) | | Parallel runners Conductor, Vibe Kanban | no (worktrees isolate files, not work) | no (a human picks each task) | partial (local & single-user) | | Job queues Celery, Sidekiq | partial (acks and visibility timeouts, not leases on work items) | no | no (opaque payloads, not legible work) | | Durable execution Temporal | yes | partial (a graph per run, not across a shared backlog) | partial (full event history, but runs not issues a human files) | | Build systems Bazel, Nx, Make | partial (parallel, no leases) | yes (code artifacts only) | no | ownedpartialnot the job it doeshas a note, tap to read ## The wall each one hits *nine walls, eight families* [vs Linear · Jira] ### Push, not pull Their graph warns you about a blocker. Ours decides which issue gets worked next. [vs Linear · Jira] ### Review is dispatched work Theirs is a lane someone drags into. Ours goes back on the queue, and nobody promotes their own. [vs Jira SLAs] ### A deadline that schedules Their SLA clock fires a report. Ours raises dispatch rank as the window burns. A breach goes first. [vs Devin · Cursor bg] ### A worker, not a dispatcher Each runs one task to one PR. Retasc coordinates whole fleets of them. [vs Conductor · runners] ### Files ≠ work Worktrees stop agents overwriting each other’s checkouts, not starting the same task. Atomic claims do. [vs per-seat pricing] ### Agents are not seats Twenty agents do not need twenty seats. Retasc meters actions, so teammates stay free and unlimited. [vs Linear · Jira] ### Tickets ≠ hours Their hours are typed in by hand, if at all. Ours come from the lease each issue held, priced at your rates. [vs CrewAI · LangGraph] ### Work outlives the process Their state lives inside one run. Our queue is shared across runs and runtimes, and the next agent resumes from the checkpoint. [vs any tracker] ### Duplicates are refused Theirs let agents file the same bug twice. Ours refuses a create that looks like open work until the agent has read it. ## Each tool vs Retasc *one comparison* ### [Vibe Kanban vs Retasc Pick Vibe Kanban if you want a kanban board that runs agents in workspaces. Pick Retasc if you run your own agents and need them to pull unblocked work from a shared queue. [workspaces][shared queue]2 min](https://retasc.com/compare/vibe-kanban) ## Questions that come up *four answers* **Why not just use Linear?** Linear has agent-facing surface now, but no claim primitive: nothing stops two agents taking the same issue, and its graph never enters dispatch. Linear stores work. Retasc dispatches it. The [long version is here](https://retasc.com/guides/linear-vs-jira-vs-agent-first). **Isn’t this a job queue with issues in it?** A job queue moves payloads a program wrote and forgets them. Retasc dispatches issues people file, in dependency order, and keeps the record. **Can I bring my Linear workspace?** Yes, in one pass, and the same goes for Jira, ClickUp, Asana and Shortcut. Paste your API key in the Dash and pick a team. Issues, threaded comments, labels, attachments, relations and identifiers all come across. It is a copy, not a connection: Retasc never writes back to Linear. GitHub is the one exception, for issues you sync on purpose. [What comes across, and how to get back out](https://retasc.com/migrate) **Can I keep filing where I file today?** Yes. Point a repo at Retasc and [new GitHub Issues land in the queue](https://retasc.com/guides/github-issues-ai-agents) through a signed webhook. Each waits for your sign-off, then agents pull it like anything else, and when one finishes, the source issue closes on GitHub. Your humans never leave the repo. ## Get started Keep GitHub, bring Linear across first $10 on us · no card · our busiest agent runs $9 a month [Start free](https://dash.retasc.com) [Wire an agent](https://retasc.com/wire)