cmd/github-mcp-server/github-mcp-server

GitHub MCP Server implemented in Go.

The GitHub MCP Server is a[Model Context Protocol (MCP)](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/introduction)

server that provides seamless integration with GitHub APIs, enabling advanced

automation and interaction capabilities for developers and tools.

Create a GitHub Personal Access Token with the appropriate permissions

and set it as the GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN environment variable.

- Automating GitHub workflows and processes.

- Extracting and analyzing data from GitHub repositories.

- Building AI powered tools and applications that interact with GitHub's ecosystem.

[Create a GitHub Personal Access Token](https://github.com/settings/personal-access-tokens/new).

The MCP server can use many of the GitHub APIs, so enable the permissions that you feel comfortable granting your AI tools.

You can either use a Docker image or build thebinary from the repo.

To learn more about access tokens, please check out the[documentation](https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/keeping-your-account-and-data-secure/managing-your-personal-access-tokens).

To run the server in a container, you will need to have[Docker](https://www.docker.com/) installed.

As of now, this repo is private, and hence the docker image is not available publicly. To pull it,

you need to make sure you can access the GitHub docker registry. See[this](https://docs.github.com/en/packages/working-with-a-github-packages-registry/working-with-the-container-registry#authenticating-with-a-personal-access-token-classic)

for more details.

docker pull ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server:main

Install the GitHub MCP server into VS Code by clicking here:

First, install`github-mcp-server` by cloning the repo and running the following command:

Or run this command in your terminal:

go install ./cmd/github-mcp-server

code --add-mcp'{"name":"github","command":"docker","args":["run", "-i", "--rm", "-e", "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN", "ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server:main"], "env": {"GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "${input:github-pat}"}, "inputs": [{ "id": "github-pat", "type": "promptString", "description": "Github Personal Access Token", "password": true}]}'

If you don't want to clone the repo, you can run:

GOPRIVATE=github.com/github go install github.com/github/github-mcp-server/cmd/github-mcp-server@latest

VS Code is now configured and will prompt for your token the first time you use agent mode.

Find where the binary is installed by running:

which github-mcp-server

{

"mcpServers": {

"github": {

"command":"docker",

"args": [

"run",

"-i",

"--rm",

"-e",

"GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN",

],

"env": {

"GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN":"<YOUR_TOKEN>"

}

}

}

}

Start VS Code Insiders and make sure you pass the`GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN` environment variable to the process.

If you don't have Docker, you can use`go` to build the binary in the

`cmd/github-mcp-server` directory, and use the`github-mcp-server stdio`

command with the`GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN` environment variable set to

your token.

One way to do this is to make sure that[you can run VS code from your terminal](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/mac#_launch-vs-code-from-the-command-line) and

start it with the following command:

export GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=your-token-here

code-insiders

The flag`--gh-host` and the environment variable`GH_HOST` can be used to set

the GitHub Enterprise Server hostname.

Create a new file`.vscode/mcp.json` and provide this configuration:

The descriptions of the tools can be overridden by creating a

`github-mcp-server-config.json` file in the same directory as the binary.

If you are using the docker image, use this configuration:

The file should contain a JSON object with the tool names as keys and the new

descriptions as values. For example:

{

"inputs": [

{

"id":"github-pat",

"type":"promptString",

"description":"Github Personal Access Token",

"password":true,

}

],

"servers": {

"github-mcp-server": {

"type":"stdio",

"command":"docker",

"args": [

"run","-i","--rm","-e","GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN","ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server:main"

],

"env": {

"GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN":"${input:github-pat}"

}

}

}

"TOOL_ADD_ISSUE_COMMENT_DESCRIPTION":"an alternative description",

"TOOL_CREATE_BRANCH_DESCRIPTION":"Create a new branch in a GitHub repository"

}

When you start the server, VS Code will prompt for your token, as indicated by`${input:github-pat}`.

You can create an export of the current translations by running the binary with

the`--export-translations` flag.

If you built the binary from the repo use this configuration:

This flag will preserve any translations/overrides you have made, while adding

any new translations that have been added to the binary since the last time you

exported.

{

"mcp": {

"inputs": [ ],

"servers": {

"mcp-github-server": {

"command":"path-to-your/github-mcp-server",

"args": ["stdio"],

"env": { }

}

}

}

}

./github-mcp-server --export-translations

cat github-mcp-server-config.json

Right on top of`servers`, you should see a`Start` link to start the server.

You can also use ENV vars to override the descriptions. The environment

variable names are the same as the keys in the JSON file, prefixed with

`GITHUB_MCP_` and all uppercase.

For example, to override the`TOOL_ADD_ISSUE_COMMENT_DESCRIPTION` tool, you can

set the following environment variable:

Try something like the following prompt to verify that it works:

export GITHUB_MCP_TOOL_ADD_ISSUE_COMMENT_DESCRIPTION="an alternative description"

The flag`--gh-host` and the environment variable`GH_HOST` can be used to set the GitHub Enterprise Server hostname.

-**Get Repository Content**

-**Get Repository Content**

Retrieves the content of a repository at a specific path.

-**Template**:`repo://{owner}/{repo}/contents{/path*}`

-`repo`: Repository name (string, required)

-`path`: File or directory path (string, optional)

-**Get Repository Content for a Specific Branch**

-**Get Repository Content for a Specific Branch**

Retrieves the content of a repository at a specific path for a given branch.

-**Template**:`repo://{owner}/{repo}/refs/heads/{branch}/contents{/path*}`

-`branch`: Branch name (string, required)

-`path`: File or directory path (string, optional)

-**Get Repository Content for a Specific Commit**

-**Get Repository Content for a Specific Commit**

Retrieves the content of a repository at a specific path for a given commit.

-**Template**:`repo://{owner}/{repo}/sha/{sha}/contents{/path*}`

-`sha`: Commit SHA (string, required)

-`path`: File or directory path (string, optional)

-**Get Repository Content for a Specific Tag**

-**Get Repository Content for a Specific Tag**

Retrieves the content of a repository at a specific path for a given tag.

-**Template**:`repo://{owner}/{repo}/refs/tags/{tag}/contents{/path*}`

-`tag`: Tag name (string, required)

-`path`: File or directory path (string, optional)

-**Get Repository Content for a Specific Pull Request**

-**Get Repository Content for a Specific Pull Request**

Retrieves the content of a repository at a specific path for a given pull request.

-**Template**:`repo://{owner}/{repo}/refs/pull/{pr_number}/head/contents{/path*}`

-`repo`: Repository name (string, required)

-`pr_number`: Pull request number (string, required)

-`path`: File or directory path (string, optional)

go run cmd/github-mcp-server/main.go stdio

E.g:

Set the PAT token in the environment variable and run:

script/get-me

And you should see the output of the GitHub MCP server responding with the user information.

GitHub MCP Server running on stdio

{

"jsonrpc":"2.0",

"id": 3,

"result": {

"content": [

{

"type":"text",

"text":"{\"login\":\"juruen\",\"id\" ... }

"TOOL_ADD_ISSUE_COMMENT_DESCRIPTION":"an alternative description",

"TOOL_CREATE_BRANCH_DESCRIPTION":"Create a new branchin a GitHub repository"