diff --git a/src/main/ssh/ssh-remote-cli-format.test.ts b/src/main/ssh/ssh-remote-cli-format.test.ts
index d4135f8dd3a..9ce0c2eee8b 100644
--- a/src/main/ssh/ssh-remote-cli-format.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/ssh/ssh-remote-cli-format.test.ts
@@ -96,4 +96,38 @@ describe('formatRemoteCli', () => {
       stderr: ''
     })
   })
+
+  it('falls back to JSON for malformed Linear issue row fields', () => {
+    const response: RpcResponse = {
+      id: 'rpc-1',
+      ok: true,
+      _meta: meta,
+      result: {
+        issues: [
+          {
+            id: 'issue-1',
+            identifier: 'ENG-1',
+            title: 'Broken state',
+            url: 'https://linear.app/acme/issue/ENG-1',
+            labels: [],
+            state: { name: 42 },
+            workspace: { id: 'workspace-1', name: 'Acme' }
+          }
+        ],
+        meta: {
+          limit: null,
+          returned: 1,
+          hasMore: false,
+          orderBy: 'updatedAt',
+          partial: false,
+          workspaceErrors: []
+        }
+      }
+    }
+
+    expect(formatRemoteCli(response)).toEqual({
+      stdout: `${JSON.stringify(response.result)}\n`,
+      stderr: ''
+    })
+  })
 })
diff --git a/src/main/ssh/ssh-remote-linear-result-guards.ts b/src/main/ssh/ssh-remote-linear-result-guards.ts
index 41ad667f311..54b8ae42c17 100644
--- a/src/main/ssh/ssh-remote-linear-result-guards.ts
+++ b/src/main/ssh/ssh-remote-linear-result-guards.ts
@@ -47,10 +47,48 @@ function isLinearMcpIssue(issue: unknown): boolean {
     typeof issue.title === 'string' &&
     typeof issue.url === 'string' &&
     Array.isArray(issue.labels) &&
+    issue.labels.every(isLinearNamedEntity) &&
+    isOptionalLinearNamedEntity(issue.state) &&
+    isOptionalLinearNamedEntity(issue.team) &&
+    isOptionalLinearNamedEntity(issue.project) &&
+    isOptionalLinearNamedEntity(issue.cycle) &&
+    isOptionalLinearUser(issue.assignee) &&
+    (issue.priority === undefined ||
+      issue.priority === null ||
+      typeof issue.priority === 'number') &&
     isLinearWorkspaceCandidate(issue.workspace)
   )
 }
 
+function isOptionalLinearNamedEntity(value: unknown): boolean {
+  return value === undefined || value === null || isLinearNamedEntity(value)
+}
+
+function isLinearNamedEntity(value: unknown): boolean {
+  return (
+    isRecord(value) &&
+    (value.id === undefined || value.id === null || typeof value.id === 'string') &&
+    (value.name === undefined || value.name === null || typeof value.name === 'string') &&
+    (value.color === undefined || value.color === null || typeof value.color === 'string') &&
+    (value.type === undefined || value.type === null || typeof value.type === 'string')
+  )
+}
+
+function isOptionalLinearUser(value: unknown): boolean {
+  return (
+    value === undefined ||
+    value === null ||
+    (isRecord(value) &&
+      (value.id === undefined || value.id === null || typeof value.id === 'string') &&
+      (value.displayName === undefined ||
+        value.displayName === null ||
+        typeof value.displayName === 'string') &&
+      (value.avatarUrl === undefined ||
+        value.avatarUrl === null ||
+        typeof value.avatarUrl === 'string'))
+  )
+}
+
 function isLinearWorkspaceCandidate(workspace: unknown): boolean {
   return (
     isRecord(workspace) && typeof workspace.id === 'string' && typeof workspace.name === 'string'