The descriptions of the tools can be overridden by creating a github-mcp-server.json file in the same directory as the binary.
The file should contain a JSON object with the tool names as keys and the new descriptions as values.
For example:

{"TOOL_ADD_ISSUE_COMMENT_DESCRIPTION":"an alternative description","TOOL_CREATE_BRANCH_DESCRIPTION":"Create a new branch in a GitHub repository"}

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

./github-mcp-server --export-translationscat github-mcp-server.json

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 withGITHUB_MCP_ and all uppercase.
For example, to override theTOOL_ADD_ISSUE_COMMENT_DESCRIPTION tool, you can set the following environment variable:

export GITHUB_MCP_TOOL_ADD_ISSUE_COMMENT_DESCRIPTION="an alternative description"

The JSON Dump

So far, I have drawn the line at descriptions, but parameters can easily be added, I just didn't want this PR to touch any more parts. This is the whole shebang:

{"RESOURCE_REPOSITORY_CONTENT_BRANCH_DESCRIPTION":"Repository Content for specific branch","RESOURCE_REPOSITORY_CONTENT_COMMIT_DESCRIPTION":"Repository Content for specific commit","RESOURCE_REPOSITORY_CONTENT_DESCRIPTION":"Repository Content","RESOURCE_REPOSITORY_CONTENT_PR_DESCRIPTION":"Repository Content for specific pull request","RESOURCE_REPOSITORY_CONTENT_TAG_DESCRIPTION":"Repository Content for specific tag","TOOL_ADD_ISSUE_COMMENT_DESCRIPTION":"Add a comment to an existing issue","TOOL_CREATE_BRANCH_DESCRIPTION":"Create a new branch in a GitHub repository","TOOL_CREATE_OR_UPDATE_FILE_DESCRIPTION":"Create or update a single file in a GitHub repository","TOOL_CREATE_REPOSITORY_DESCRIPTION":"Create a new GitHub repository in your account","TOOL_FORK_REPOSITORY_DESCRIPTION":"Fork a GitHub repository to your account or specified organization","TOOL_GET_CODE_SCANNING_ALERT_DESCRIPTION":"Get details of a specific code scanning alert in a GitHub repository.","TOOL_GET_FILE_CONTENTS_DESCRIPTION":"Get the contents of a file or directory from a GitHub repository","TOOL_GET_ISSUE_DESCRIPTION":"Get details of a specific issue in a GitHub repository.","TOOL_GET_ME_DESCRIPTION":"Get details of the authenticated GitHub user","TOOL_GET_PULL_REQUEST_COMMENTS_DESCRIPTION":"Get the review comments on a pull request","TOOL_GET_PULL_REQUEST_DESCRIPTION":"Get details of a specific pull request","TOOL_GET_PULL_REQUEST_FILES_DESCRIPTION":"Get the list of files changed in a pull request","TOOL_GET_PULL_REQUEST_REVIEWS_DESCRIPTION":"Get the reviews on a pull request","TOOL_GET_PULL_REQUEST_STATUS_DESCRIPTION":"Get the combined status of all status checks for a pull request","TOOL_LIST_CODE_SCANNING_ALERTS_DESCRIPTION":"List code scanning alerts in a GitHub repository.","TOOL_LIST_COMMITS_DESCRIPTION":"Get list of commits of a branch in a GitHub repository","TOOL_LIST_PULL_REQUESTS_DESCRIPTION":"List and filter repository pull requests","TOOL_MERGE_PULL_REQUEST_DESCRIPTION":"Merge a pull request","TOOL_SEARCH_CODE_DESCRIPTION":"Search for code across GitHub repositories","TOOL_SEARCH_ISSUES_DESCRIPTION":"Search for issues and pull requests across GitHub repositories","TOOL_SEARCH_REPOSITORIES_DESCRIPTION":"Search for GitHub repositories","TOOL_SEARCH_USERS_DESCRIPTION":"Search for GitHub users","TOOL_UPDATE_PULL_REQUEST_BRANCH_DESCRIPTION":"Update a pull request branch with the latest changes from the base branch"}

Live example`tools/list`

An example running with a file, and an env var:

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":3,"result": {"tools": [      {"description":"an alternative description","inputSchema": {"type":"object","properties": {"body": {"description":"Comment text","type":"string"            },"issue_number": {"description":"Issue number to comment on","type":"number"            },"owner": {"description":"Repository owner","type":"string"            },"repo": {"description":"Repository name","type":"string"            }          },"required": ["owner","repo","issue_number","body"          ]        },"name":"add_issue_comment"      },      {"description":"OVERRIDE DESCRIPTION","inputSchema": {"type":"object","properties": {"branch": {"description":"Name for new branch","type":"string"            },"from_branch": {"description":"Source branch (defaults to repo default)","type":"string"            },"owner": {"description":"Repository owner","type":"string"            },"repo": {"description":"Repository name","type":"string"            }          },"required": ["owner","repo","branch"          ]        },"name":"create_branch"      },...    ]  }}

SamMorrowDrums requested review fromjuruen,toby andCopilot

March 19, 2025 18:12

CopilotAI reviewed

Mar 19, 2025

View reviewed changes

Copy link

Contributor

CopilotAI left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others.Learn more.

Pull Request Overview

This PR implements a new translation framework that enables overriding tool and resource descriptions through environment variables and JSON configuration. The key changes include updating all GitHub tool and resource functions to accept a translation function parameter, modifying tests to pass a default translation function, and adding preliminary translation support in the server initialization.

Reviewed Changes

Copilot reviewed 14 out of 14 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
pkg/github/server.go	Updated NewServer to retrieve and pass the translation helper.
pkg/github/repositories.go	Updated tool functions to accept the translation function.
pkg/github/search.go	Updated search tool functions to use the translation function.
pkg/github/issues.go	Updated issue tool functions to use the translation function.
pkg/github/pullrequests.go	Updated pull request tool functions to accept the translation function.
pkg/github/code_scanning.go	Updated code scanning tool functions to use the translation function.
Various test files	Modified test cases to pass the default translation function.