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GitHub MCP Server implemented in Go.

Create a GitHub Personal Access Token with the appropriate permissionsand set it as the GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN environment variable.

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

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. Seethisfor more details.

To make sure you can access the GitHub docker registry, run the following command:

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

If the above command works, you are good to go.

First, installgithub-mcp-server by cloning the repo and running the following command:

go install ./cmd/github-mcp-server

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

This will install thegithub-mcp-server binary in your$GOPATH/bin directory.

Find where the binary is installed by running:

# note this assumes $GOPATH/bin is in your $PATHwhich github-mcp-server

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

One way to do this is to make sure thatyou can run VS code from your terminal andstart it with the following command:

export GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=your-token-herecode-insiders

Another way is to set the environment variable in your shell configuration file (e.g.,.bashrc,.zshrc, etc.).

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

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

{"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}"            }        }    }}

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

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

{"mcp": {"inputs": [ ],"servers": {"mcp-github-server": {"command":"path-to-your/github-mcp-server","args": ["stdio"],"env": {   }      }    }  }}

Right on top ofservers, you should see aStart link to start the server.

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

I'd like to know more about my GitHub profile.

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

• get_me - Get details of the authenticated user
  • No parameters required

• get_issue - Gets the contents of an issue within a repository

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • issue_number: Issue number (number, required)

• create_issue - Create a new issue in a GitHub repository

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • title: Issue title (string, required)
  • body: Issue body content (string, optional)
  • assignees: Comma-separated list of usernames to assign to this issue (string, optional)
  • labels: Comma-separated list of labels to apply to this issue (string, optional)

• add_issue_comment - Add a comment to an issue

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • issue_number: Issue number (number, required)
  • body: Comment text (string, required)

• list_issues - List and filter repository issues

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • state: Filter by state ('open', 'closed', 'all') (string, optional)
  • labels: Comma-separated list of labels to filter by (string, optional)
  • sort: Sort by ('created', 'updated', 'comments') (string, optional)
  • direction: Sort direction ('asc', 'desc') (string, optional)
  • since: Filter by date (ISO 8601 timestamp) (string, optional)
  • page: Page number (number, optional)
  • per_page: Results per page (number, optional)

• update_issue - Update an existing issue in a GitHub repository

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • issue_number: Issue number to update (number, required)
  • title: New title (string, optional)
  • body: New description (string, optional)
  • state: New state ('open' or 'closed') (string, optional)
  • labels: Comma-separated list of new labels (string, optional)
  • assignees: Comma-separated list of new assignees (string, optional)
  • milestone: New milestone number (number, optional)

• search_issues - Search for issues and pull requests

  • query: Search query (string, required)
  • sort: Sort field (string, optional)
  • order: Sort order (string, optional)
  • page: Page number (number, optional)
  • per_page: Results per page (number, optional)

• get_pull_request - Get details of a specific pull request

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • pull_number: Pull request number (number, required)

• list_pull_requests - List and filter repository pull requests

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • state: PR state (string, optional)
  • sort: Sort field (string, optional)
  • direction: Sort direction (string, optional)
  • per_page: Results per page (number, optional)
  • page: Page number (number, optional)

• merge_pull_request - Merge a pull request

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • pull_number: Pull request number (number, required)
  • commit_title: Title for the merge commit (string, optional)
  • commit_message: Message for the merge commit (string, optional)
  • merge_method: Merge method (string, optional)

• get_pull_request_files - Get the list of files changed in a pull request

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • pull_number: Pull request number (number, required)

• get_pull_request_status - Get the combined status of all status checks for a pull request

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • pull_number: Pull request number (number, required)

• update_pull_request_branch - Update a pull request branch with the latest changes from the base branch

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • pull_number: Pull request number (number, required)
  • expected_head_sha: The expected SHA of the pull request's HEAD ref (string, optional)

• get_pull_request_comments - Get the review comments on a pull request

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • pull_number: Pull request number (number, required)

• get_pull_request_reviews - Get the reviews on a pull request

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • pull_number: Pull request number (number, required)

• create_pull_request_review - Create a review on a pull request review

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • pull_number: Pull request number (number, required)
  • body: Review comment text (string, optional)
  • event: Review action ('APPROVE', 'REQUEST_CHANGES', 'COMMENT') (string, required)
  • commit_id: SHA of commit to review (string, optional)
  • comments: Line-specific comments array of objects, each object with path (string), position (number), and body (string) (array, optional)

• create_or_update_file - Create or update a single file in a repository

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • path: File path (string, required)
  • message: Commit message (string, required)
  • content: File content (string, required)
  • branch: Branch name (string, optional)
  • sha: File SHA if updating (string, optional)

• push_files - Push multiple files in a single commit

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • branch: Branch to push to (string, required)
  • files: Files to push, each with path and content (array, required)
  • message: Commit message (string, required)

• search_repositories - Search for GitHub repositories

  • query: Search query (string, required)
  • sort: Sort field (string, optional)
  • order: Sort order (string, optional)
  • page: Page number (number, optional)
  • per_page: Results per page (number, optional)

• create_repository - Create a new GitHub repository

  • name: Repository name (string, required)
  • description: Repository description (string, optional)
  • private: Whether the repository is private (boolean, optional)
  • auto_init: Auto-initialize with README (boolean, optional)
  • gitignore_template: Gitignore template name (string, optional)

• get_file_contents - Get contents of a file or directory

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • path: File path (string, required)
  • ref: Git reference (string, optional)

• fork_repository - Fork a repository

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • organization: Target organization name (string, optional)

• create_branch - Create a new branch

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • branch: New branch name (string, required)
  • sha: SHA to create branch from (string, required)

• list_commits - Gets commits of a branch in a repository

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • sha: Branch name, tag, or commit SHA (string, optional)
  • path: Only commits containing this file path (string, optional)
  • page: Page number (number, optional)
  • per_page: Results per page (number, optional)

• search_code - Search for code across GitHub repositories

  • query: Search query (string, required)
  • sort: Sort field (string, optional)
  • order: Sort order (string, optional)
  • page: Page number (number, optional)
  • per_page: Results per page (number, optional)

• search_users - Search for GitHub users

  • query: Search query (string, required)
  • sort: Sort field (string, optional)
  • order: Sort order (string, optional)
  • page: Page number (number, optional)
  • per_page: Results per page (number, optional)

• get_code_scanning_alert - Get a code scanning alert

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • alert_number: Alert number (number, required)

• list_code_scanning_alerts - List code scanning alerts for a repository

  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • ref: Git reference (string, optional)
  • state: Alert state (string, optional)
  • severity: Alert severity (string, optional)

• Get Repository Content
  Retrieves the content of a repository at a specific path.

  • Template:repo://{owner}/{repo}/contents{/path*}
  • Parameters:
    • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
    • repo: Repository name (string, required)
    • path: File or directory path (string, optional)

• 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*}
  • Parameters:
    • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
    • repo: Repository name (string, required)
    • branch: Branch name (string, required)
    • path: File or directory path (string, optional)

• 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*}
  • Parameters:
    • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
    • repo: Repository name (string, required)
    • sha: Commit SHA (string, required)
    • path: File or directory path (string, optional)

• 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*}
  • Parameters:
    • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
    • repo: Repository name (string, required)
    • tag: Tag name (string, required)
    • path: File or directory path (string, optional)

• 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*}
  • Parameters:
    • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
    • 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\" ... }      }    ]  }}

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"

Testing

• Integration tests
• Blackbox testing: ideally comparing output to Anthropic's server to make sure that this is a fully compatible drop-in replacement.