GitHub MCP Server

The GitHub MCP Server connects AI tools directly to GitHub's platform. This gives AI agents, assistants, and chatbots the ability to read repositories and code files, manage issues and PRs, analyze code, and automate workflows. All through natural language interactions.

Use Cases

• Repository Management: Browse and query code, search files, analyze commits, and understand project structure across any repository you have access to.
• Issue & PR Automation: Create, update, and manage issues and pull requests. Let AI help triage bugs, review code changes, and maintain project boards.
• CI/CD & Workflow Intelligence: Monitor GitHub Actions workflow runs, analyze build failures, manage releases, and get insights into your development pipeline.
• Code Analysis: Examine security findings, review Dependabot alerts, understand code patterns, and get comprehensive insights into your codebase.
• Team Collaboration: Access discussions, manage notifications, analyze team activity, and streamline processes for your team.

Built for developers who want to connect their AI tools to GitHub context and capabilities, from simple natural language queries to complex multi-step agent workflows.

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Remote GitHub MCP Server

The remote GitHub MCP Server is hosted by GitHub and provides the easiest method for getting up and running. If your MCP host does not support remote MCP servers, don't worry! You can use the local version of the GitHub MCP Server instead.

Prerequisites

1. A compatible MCP host with remote server support (VS Code 1.101+, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.)
2. Any applicable policies enabled

Install in VS Code

For quick installation, use one of the one-click install buttons above. Once you complete that flow, toggle Agent mode (located by the Copilot Chat text input) and the server will start. Make sure you're using VS Code 1.101 or later for remote MCP and OAuth support.

Alternatively, to manually configure VS Code, choose the appropriate JSON block from the examples below and add it to your host configuration:

{
  "servers": {
    "github": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/"
    }
  }
}

{
  "servers": {
    "github": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${input:github_mcp_pat}"
      }
    }
  },
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "github_mcp_pat",
      "description": "GitHub Personal Access Token",
      "password": true
    }
  ]
}

Install in other MCP hosts

• Copilot CLI - Installation guide for GitHub Copilot CLI
• GitHub Copilot in other IDEs - Installation for JetBrains, Visual Studio, Eclipse, and Xcode with GitHub Copilot
• Claude Applications - Installation guide for Claude Desktop and Claude Code CLI
• Codex - Installation guide for OpenAI Codex
• Cursor - Installation guide for Cursor IDE
• Windsurf - Installation guide for Windsurf IDE
• Rovo Dev CLI - Installation guide for Rovo Dev CLI

Note: Each MCP host application needs to configure a GitHub App or OAuth App to support remote access via OAuth. Any host application that supports remote MCP servers should support the remote GitHub server with PAT authentication. Configuration details and support levels vary by host. Make sure to refer to the host application's documentation for more info.

Configuration

Toolset configuration

See Remote Server Documentation for full details on remote server configuration, toolsets, headers, and advanced usage. This file provides comprehensive instructions and examples for connecting, customizing, and installing the remote GitHub MCP Server in VS Code and other MCP hosts.

When no toolsets are specified, default toolsets are used.

Insiders Mode

Try new features early! The remote server offers an insiders version with early access to new features and experimental tools.

{
  "servers": {
    "github": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/insiders"
    }
  }
}

{
  "servers": {
    "github": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/",
      "headers": {
        "X-MCP-Insiders": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

See Remote Server Documentation for more details and examples, and Insiders Features for a full list of what's available.

GitHub Enterprise

GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency (ghe.com)

GitHub Enterprise Cloud can also make use of the remote server.

Example for https://octocorp.ghe.com with GitHub PAT token:

{
    ...
    "github-octocorp": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://copilot-api.octocorp.ghe.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer ${input:github_mcp_pat}"
      }
    },
    ...
}

Note: When using OAuth with GitHub Enterprise with VS Code and GitHub Copilot, you also need to configure your VS Code settings to point to your GitHub Enterprise instance - see Authenticate from VS Code

GitHub Enterprise Server

GitHub Enterprise Server does not support remote server hosting. Please refer to GitHub Enterprise Server and Enterprise Cloud with data residency (ghe.com) from the local server configuration.

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Local GitHub MCP Server

Prerequisites

1. To run the server in a container, you will need to have Docker installed.
2. Once Docker is installed, you will also need to ensure Docker is running. The Docker image is available at ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server. The image is public; if you get errors on pull, you may have an expired token and need to docker logout ghcr.io.
3. Lastly you will need to Create a GitHub Personal Access Token. The MCP server can use many of the GitHub APIs, so enable the permissions that you feel comfortable granting your AI tools (to learn more about access tokens, please check out the documentation).

Environment Variables (Recommended)

To keep your GitHub PAT secure and reusable across different MCP hosts:

1. Store your PAT in environment variables

   export GITHUB_PAT=your_token_here
   

   Or create a .env file:

   GITHUB_PAT=your_token_here
   

2. Protect your .env file

   # Add to .gitignore to prevent accidental commits
   echo ".env" >> .gitignore
   

3. Reference the token in configurations

   # CLI usage
   claude mcp update github -e GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=$GITHUB_PAT
   
   # In config files (where supported)
   "env": {
     "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "$GITHUB_PAT"
   }
   

Note: Environment variable support varies by host app and IDE. Some applications (like Windsurf) require hardcoded tokens in config files.

Token Security Best Practices

• Minimum scopes: Only grant necessary permissions

  • repo - Repository operations
  • read:packages - Docker image access
  • read:org - Organization team access

• Separate tokens: Use different PATs for different projects/environments

• Regular rotation: Update tokens periodically

• Never commit: Keep tokens out of version control

• File permissions: Restrict access to config files containing tokens

  chmod 600 ~/.your-app/config.json
  

GitHub Enterprise Server and Enterprise Cloud with data residency (ghe.com)

The flag --gh-host and the environment variable GITHUB_HOST can be used to set the hostname for GitHub Enterprise Server or GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency.

• For GitHub Enterprise Server, prefix the hostname with the https:// URI scheme, as it otherwise defaults to http://, which GitHub Enterprise Server does not support.
• For GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency, use https://YOURSUBDOMAIN.ghe.com as the hostname.

"github": {
    "command": "docker",
    "args": [
    "run",
    "-i",
    "--rm",
    "-e",
    "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN",
    "-e",
    "GITHUB_HOST",
    "ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server"
    ],
    "env": {
        "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "${input:github_token}",
        "GITHUB_HOST": "https://<your GHES or ghe.com domain name>"
    }
}

Installation

Install in GitHub Copilot on VS Code

For quick installation, use one of the one-click install buttons above. Once you complete that flow, toggle Agent mode (located by the Copilot Chat text input) and the server will start.

More about using MCP server tools in VS Code's agent mode documentation.

Install in GitHub Copilot on other IDEs (JetBrains, Visual Studio, Eclipse, etc.)

Add the following JSON block to your IDE's MCP settings.

{
  "mcp": {
    "inputs": [
      {
        "type": "promptString",
        "id": "github_token",
        "description": "GitHub Personal Access Token",
        "password": true
      }
    ],
    "servers": {
      "github": {
        "command": "docker",
        "args": [
          "run",
          "-i",
          "--rm",
          "-e",
          "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN",
          "ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server"
        ],
        "env": {
          "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "${input:github_token}"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Optionally, you can add a similar example (i.e. without the mcp key) to a file called .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace. This will allow you to share the configuration with other host applications that accept the same format.

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "github_token",
      "description": "GitHub Personal Access Token",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "-e",
        "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN",
        "ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "${input:github_token}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Install in Other MCP Hosts

For other MCP host applications, please refer to our installation guides:

• Copilot CLI - Installation guide for GitHub Copilot CLI
• GitHub Copilot in other IDEs - Installation for JetBrains, Visual Studio, Eclipse, and Xcode with GitHub Copilot
• Claude Code & Claude Desktop - Installation guide for Claude Code and Claude Desktop
• Cursor - Installation guide for Cursor IDE
• Google Gemini CLI - Installation guide for Google Gemini CLI
• Windsurf - Installation guide for Windsurf IDE

For a complete overview of all installation options, see our Installation Guides Index.

Note: Any host application that supports local MCP servers should be able to access the local GitHub MCP server. However, the specific configuration process, syntax and stability of the integration will vary by host application. While many may follow a similar format to the examples above, this is not guaranteed. Please refer to your host application's documentation for the correct MCP configuration syntax and setup process.

Build from source

If you don't have Docker, you can use go build 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. To specify the output location of the build, use the -o flag. You should configure your server to use the built executable as its command. For example:

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "github": {
        "command": "/path/to/github-mcp-server",
        "args": ["stdio"],
        "env": {
          "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "<YOUR_TOKEN>"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

CLI utilities

The github-mcp-server binary includes a few CLI subcommands that are helpful for debugging and exploring the server.

• github-mcp-server tool-search "<query>" searches tools by name, description, and input parameter names. Use --max-results to return more matches. Example (color output requires a TTY; use docker run -t (or -it) when running in Docker):

docker run -it --rm ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server tool-search "issue" --max-results 5
github-mcp-server tool-search "issue" --max-results 5

Tool Configuration

The GitHub MCP Server supports enabling or disabling specific groups of functionalities via the --toolsets flag. This allows you to control which GitHub API capabilities are available to your AI tools. Enabling only the toolsets that you need can help the LLM with tool choice and reduce the context size.

Toolsets are not limited to Tools. Relevant MCP Resources and Prompts are also included where applicable.

When no toolsets are specified, default toolsets are used.

Looking for examples? See the Server Configuration Guide for common recipes like minimal setups, read-only mode, and combining tools with toolsets.

Specifying Toolsets

To specify toolsets you want available to the LLM, you can pass an allow-list in two ways:

1. Using Command Line Argument:

   github-mcp-server --toolsets repos,issues,pull_requests,actions,code_security
   

2. Using Environment Variable:

   GITHUB_TOOLSETS="repos,issues,pull_requests,actions,code_security" ./github-mcp-server
   

The environment variable GITHUB_TOOLSETS takes precedence over the command line argument if both are provided.

Specifying Individual Tools

You can also configure specific tools using the --tools flag. Tools can be used independently or combined with toolsets and dynamic toolsets discovery for fine-grained control.

1. Using Command Line Argument:

   github-mcp-server --tools get_file_contents,issue_read,create_pull_request
   

2. Using Environment Variable:

   GITHUB_TOOLS="get_file_contents,issue_read,create_pull_request" ./github-mcp-server
   

3. Combining with Toolsets (additive):

   github-mcp-server --toolsets repos,issues --tools get_gist
   

   This registers all tools from repos and issues toolsets, plus get_gist.

4. Combining with Dynamic Toolsets (additive):

   github-mcp-server --tools get_file_contents --dynamic-toolsets
   

   This registers get_file_contents plus the dynamic toolset tools (enable_toolset, list_available_toolsets, get_toolset_tools).

Important Notes:

• Tools, toolsets, and dynamic toolsets can all be used together
• Read-only mode takes priority: write tools are skipped if --read-only is set, even if explicitly requested via --tools
• Tool names must match exactly (e.g., get_file_contents, not getFileContents). Invalid tool names will cause the server to fail at startup with an error message
• When tools are renamed, old names are preserved as aliases for backward compatibility. See Deprecated Tool Aliases for details.

Using Toolsets With Docker

When using Docker, you can pass the toolsets as environment variables:

docker run -i --rm \
  -e GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=<your-token> \
  -e GITHUB_TOOLSETS="repos,issues,pull_requests,actions,code_security" \
  ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server

Using Tools With Docker

When using Docker, you can pass specific tools as environment variables. You can also combine tools with toolsets:

# Tools only
docker run -i --rm \
  -e GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=<your-token> \
  -e GITHUB_TOOLS="get_file_contents,issue_read,create_pull_request" \
  ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server

# Tools combined with toolsets (additive)
docker run -i --rm \
  -e GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=<your-token> \
  -e GITHUB_TOOLSETS="repos,issues" \
  -e GITHUB_TOOLS="get_gist" \
  ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server

Special toolsets

"all" toolset

The special toolset all can be provided to enable all available toolsets regardless of any other configuration:

./github-mcp-server --toolsets all

Or using the environment variable:

GITHUB_TOOLSETS="all" ./github-mcp-server

"default" toolset

The default toolset default is the configuration that gets passed to the server if no toolsets are specified.

The default configuration is:

• context
• repos
• issues
• pull_requests
• users

To keep the default configuration and add additional toolsets:

GITHUB_TOOLSETS="default,stargazers" ./github-mcp-server

Insiders Mode

The local GitHub MCP Server offers an insiders version with early access to new features and experimental tools.

1. Using Command Line Argument:

   ./github-mcp-server --insiders
   

2. Using Environment Variable:

   GITHUB_INSIDERS=true ./github-mcp-server
   

When using Docker:

docker run -i --rm \
  -e GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=<your-token> \
  -e GITHUB_INSIDERS=true \
  ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server

Available Toolsets

The following sets of tools are available:

Additional Toolsets in Remote GitHub MCP Server

Tools

• actions_get - Get details of GitHub Actions resources (workflows, workflow runs, jobs, and artifacts)

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • method: The method to execute (string, required)
  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • resource_id: The unique identifier of the resource. This will vary based on the "method" provided, so ensure you provide the correct ID:
    • Provide a workflow ID or workflow file name (e.g. ci.yaml) for 'get_workflow' method.
    • Provide a workflow run ID for 'get_workflow_run', 'get_workflow_run_usage', and 'get_workflow_run_logs_url' methods.
    • Provide an artifact ID for 'download_workflow_run_artifact' method.
    • Provide a job ID for 'get_workflow_job' method. (string, required)

• actions_list - List GitHub Actions workflows in a repository

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • method: The action to perform (string, required)
  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • page: Page number for pagination (default: 1) (number, optional)
  • per_page: Results per page for pagination (default: 30, max: 100) (number, optional)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • resource_id: The unique identifier of the resource. This will vary based on the "method" provided, so ensure you provide the correct ID:
    • Do not provide any resource ID for 'list_workflows' method.
    • Provide a workflow ID or workflow file name (e.g. ci.yaml) for 'list_workflow_runs' method, or omit to list all workflow runs in the repository.

• get_code_scanning_alert - Get code scanning alert

  • Required OAuth Scopes: security_events
  • Accepted OAuth Scopes: repo, security_events
  • alertNumber: The number of the alert. (number, required)
  • owner: The owner of the repository. (string, required)
  • repo: The name of the repository. (string, required)

• list_code_scanning_alerts - List code scanning alerts

  • Required OAuth Scopes: security_events
  • Accepted OAuth Scopes: repo, security_events
  • owner: The owner of the repository. (string, required)
  • ref: The Git reference for the results you want to list. (string, optional)
  • repo: The name of the repository. (string, required)
  • severity: Filter code scanning alerts by severity (string, optional)
  • state: Filter code scanning alerts by state. Defaults to open (string, optional)
  • tool_name: The name of the tool used for code scanning. (string, optional)

• get_me - Get my user profile

  • No parameters required

• get_team_members - Get team members

  • Required OAuth Scopes: read:org
  • Accepted OAuth Scopes: admin:org, read:org, write:org
  • org: Organization login (owner) that contains the team. (string, required)
  • team_slug: Team slug (string, required)

• get_teams - Get teams

  • Required OAuth Scopes: read:org
  • Accepted OAuth Scopes: admin:org, read:org, write:org
  • user: Username to get teams for. If not provided, uses the authenticated user. (string, optional)

• assign_copilot_to_issue - Assign Copilot to issue

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • base_ref: Git reference (e.g., branch) that the agent will start its work from. If not specified, defaults to the repository's default branch (string, optional)
  • custom_instructions: Optional custom instructions to guide the agent beyond the issue body. Use this to provide additional context, constraints, or guidance that is not captured in the issue description (string, optional)
  • issue_number: Issue number (number, required)
  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)

• request_copilot_review - Request Copilot review

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • pullNumber: Pull request number (number, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)

• get_dependabot_alert - Get dependabot alert

  • Required OAuth Scopes: security_events
  • Accepted OAuth Scopes: repo, security_events
  • alertNumber: The number of the alert. (number, required)
  • owner: The owner of the repository. (string, required)
  • repo: The name of the repository. (string, required)

• list_dependabot_alerts - List dependabot alerts

  • Required OAuth Scopes: security_events
  • Accepted OAuth Scopes: repo, security_events
  • owner: The owner of the repository. (string, required)
  • repo: The name of the repository. (string, required)
  • severity: Filter dependabot alerts by severity (string, optional)
  • state: Filter dependabot alerts by state. Defaults to open (string, optional)

• get_discussion - Get discussion

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • discussionNumber: Discussion Number (number, required)
  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)

• get_discussion_comments - Get discussion comments

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • after: Cursor for pagination. Use the endCursor from the previous page's PageInfo for GraphQL APIs. (string, optional)
  • discussionNumber: Discussion Number (number, required)
  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number, optional)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)

• list_discussion_categories - List discussion categories

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name. If not provided, discussion categories will be queried at the organisation level. (string, optional)

• list_discussions - List discussions

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • after: Cursor for pagination. Use the endCursor from the previous page's PageInfo for GraphQL APIs. (string, optional)

• create_gist - Create Gist

  • Required OAuth Scopes: gist
  • content: Content for simple single-file gist creation (string, required)
  • description: Description of the gist (string, optional)
  • filename: Filename for simple single-file gist creation (string, required)
  • public: Whether the gist is public (boolean, optional)

• get_gist - Get Gist Content

  • gist_id: The ID of the gist (string, required)

• list_gists - List Gists

  • page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
  • perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number, optional)
  • since: Only gists updated after this time (ISO 8601 timestamp) (string, optional)
  • username: GitHub username (omit for authenticated user's gists) (string, optional)

• update_gist - Update Gist

  • Required OAuth Scopes: gist
  • content: Content for the file (string, required)
  • description: Updated description of the gist (string, optional)
  • filename: Filename to update or create (string, required)
  • gist_id: ID of the gist to update (string, required)

• get_repository_tree - Get repository tree
  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • owner: Repository owner (username or organization) (string, required)
  • path_filter: Optional path prefix to filter the tree results (e.g., 'src/' to only show files in the src directory) (string, optional)
  • recursive: Setting this parameter to true returns the objects or subtrees referenced by the tree. Default is false (boolean, optional)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • tree_sha: The SHA1 value or ref (branch or tag) name of the tree. Defaults to the repository's default branch (string, optional)

• add_issue_comment - Add comment to issue

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • body: Comment content (string, required)
  • issue_number: Issue number to comment on (number, required)
  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)

• get_label - Get a specific label from a repository.

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • name: Label name. (string, required)
  • owner: Repository owner (username or organization name) (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)

• issue_read - Get issue details

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • issue_number: The number of the issue (number, required)
  • method: The read operation to perform on a single issue. Options are:
    1. get - Get details of a specific issue.
    2. get_comments - Get issue comments.
    3. get_sub_issues - Get sub-issues of the issue.
    4. get_labels - Get labels assigned to the issue. (string, required)
  • owner: The owner of the repository (string, required)
  • page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
  • perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number, optional)

• get_label - Get a specific label from a repository.

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • name: Label name. (string, required)
  • owner: Repository owner (username or organization name) (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)

• label_write - Write operations on repository labels.

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • color: Label color as 6-character hex code without '#' prefix (e.g., 'f29513'). Required for 'create', optional for 'update'. (string, optional)
  • description: Label description text. Optional for 'create' and 'update'. (string, optional)
  • method: Operation to perform: 'create', 'update', or 'delete' (string, required)
  • name: Label name - required for all operations (string, required)
  • new_name: New name for the label (used only with 'update' method to rename) (string, optional)
  • owner: Repository owner (username or organization name) (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)

• list_label - List labels from a repository

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • owner: Repository owner (username or organization name) - required for all operations (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name - required for all operations (string, required)

• dismiss_notification - Dismiss notification

  • Required OAuth Scopes: notifications
  • state: The new state of the notification (read/done) (string, required)
  • threadID: The ID of the notification thread (string, required)

• get_notification_details - Get notification details

  • Required OAuth Scopes: notifications
  • notificationID: The ID of the notification (string, required)

• list_notifications - List notifications

  • Required OAuth Scopes: notifications
  • before: Only show notifications updated before the given time (ISO 8601 format) (string, optional)
  • filter: Filter notifications to, use default unless specified. Read notifications are ones that have already been acknowledged by the user. Participating notifications are those that the user is directly involved in, such as issues or pull requests they have commented on or created. (string, optional)
  • owner: Optional repository owner. If provided with repo, only notifications for this repository are listed. (string, optional)
  • page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
  • perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number, optional)
  • repo: Optional repository name. If provided with owner, only notifications for this repository are listed. (string, optional)
  • since: Only show notifications updated after the given time (ISO 8601 format) (string, optional)

• search_orgs - Search organizations
  • Required OAuth Scopes: read:org
  • Accepted OAuth Scopes: admin:org, read:org, write:org
  • order: Sort order (string, optional)
  • page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
  • perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number, optional)
  • query: Organization search query. Examples: 'microsoft', 'location:california', 'created:>=2025-01-01'. Search is automatically scoped to type:org. (string, required)
  • sort: Sort field by category (string, optional)

• projects_get - Get details of GitHub Projects resources

  • Required OAuth Scopes: read:project
  • Accepted OAuth Scopes: project, read:project
  • field_id: The field's ID. Required for 'get_project_field' method. (number, optional)
  • fields: Specific list of field IDs to include in the response when getting a project item (e.g. ["102589", "985201", "169875"]). If not provided, only the title field is included. Only used for 'get_project_item' method. (string[], optional)
  • item_id: The item's ID. Required for 'get_project_item' method. (number, optional)
  • method: The method to execute (string, required)
  • owner: The owner (user or organization login). The name is not case sensitive. (string, optional)
  • owner_type: Owner type (user or org). If not provided, will be automatically detected. (string, optional)
  • project_number: The project's number. (number, optional)
  • status_update_id: The node ID of the project status update. Required for 'get_project_status_update' method. (string, optional)

• projects_list - List GitHub Projects resources

  • Required OAuth Scopes: read:project
  • Accepted OAuth Scopes: project, read:project
  • after: Forward pagination cursor from previous pageInfo.nextCursor. (string, optional)

• add_comment_to_pending_review - Add review comment to the requester's latest pending pull request review

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • body: The text of the review comment (string, required)
  • line: The line of the blob in the pull request diff that the comment applies to. For multi-line comments, the last line of the range (number, optional)
  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • path: The relative path to the file that necessitates a comment (string, required)
  • pullNumber: Pull request number (number, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • side: The side of the diff to comment on. LEFT indicates the previous state, RIGHT indicates the new state (string, optional)
  • startLine: For multi-line comments, the first line of the range that the comment applies to (number, optional)
  • startSide: For multi-line comments, the starting side of the diff that the comment applies to. LEFT indicates the previous state, RIGHT indicates the new state (string, optional)
  • subjectType: The level at which the comment is targeted (string, required)

• add_reply_to_pull_request_comment - Add reply to pull request comment

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • body: The text of the reply (string, required)
  • commentId: The ID of the comment to reply to (number, required)

• create_branch - Create branch

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • branch: Name for new branch (string, required)
  • from_branch: Source branch (defaults to repo default) (string, optional)
  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)

• create_or_update_file - Create or update file

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • branch: Branch to create/update the file in (string, required)
  • content: Content of the file (string, required)
  • message: Commit message (string, required)
  • owner: Repository owner (username or organization) (string, required)
  • path: Path where to create/update the file (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)
  • sha: The blob SHA of the file being replaced. Required if the file already exists. (string, optional)

• create_repository - Create repository

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • autoInit: Initialize with README (boolean, optional)
  • description: Repository description (string, optional)

• get_secret_scanning_alert - Get secret scanning alert

  • Required OAuth Scopes: security_events
  • Accepted OAuth Scopes: repo, security_events
  • alertNumber: The number of the alert. (number, required)
  • owner: The owner of the repository. (string, required)
  • repo: The name of the repository. (string, required)

• list_secret_scanning_alerts - List secret scanning alerts

  • Required OAuth Scopes: security_events
  • Accepted OAuth Scopes: repo, security_events
  • owner: The owner of the repository. (string, required)
  • repo: The name of the repository. (string, required)
  • resolution: Filter by resolution (string, optional)
  • secret_type: A comma-separated list of secret types to return. All default secret patterns are returned. To return generic patterns, pass the token name(s) in the parameter. (string, optional)
  • state: Filter by state (string, optional)

• get_global_security_advisory - Get a global security advisory

  • Required OAuth Scopes: security_events
  • Accepted OAuth Scopes: repo, security_events
  • ghsaId: GitHub Security Advisory ID (format: GHSA-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx). (string, required)

• list_global_security_advisories - List global security advisories

  • Required OAuth Scopes: security_events
  • Accepted OAuth Scopes: repo, security_events
  • affects: Filter advisories by affected package or version (e.g. "package1,package2@1.0.0"). (string, optional)
  • cveId: Filter by CVE ID. (string, optional)
  • cwes: Filter by Common Weakness Enumeration IDs (e.g. ["79", "284", "22"]). (string[], optional)
  • ecosystem: Filter by package ecosystem. (string, optional)
  • ghsaId: Filter by GitHub Security Advisory ID (format: GHSA-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx). (string, optional)
  • isWithdrawn: Whether to only return withdrawn advisories. (boolean, optional)
  • modified: Filter by publish or update date or date range (ISO 8601 date or range). (string, optional)
  • published: Filter by publish date or date range (ISO 8601 date or range). (string, optional)
  • severity: Filter by severity. (string, optional)

• list_starred_repositories - List starred repositories

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • direction: The direction to sort the results by. (string, optional)
  • page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
  • perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number, optional)
  • sort: How to sort the results. Can be either 'created' (when the repository was starred) or 'updated' (when the repository was last pushed to). (string, optional)
  • username: Username to list starred repositories for. Defaults to the authenticated user. (string, optional)

• star_repository - Star repository

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)

• unstar_repository - Unstar repository

  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • owner: Repository owner (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name (string, required)

• search_users - Search users
  • Required OAuth Scopes: repo
  • order: Sort order (string, optional)
  • page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
  • perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number, optional)
  • query: User search query. Examples: 'john smith', 'location:seattle', 'followers:>100'. Search is automatically scoped to type:user. (string, required)
  • sort: Sort users by number of followers or repositories, or when the person joined GitHub. (string, optional)

Additional Tools in Remote GitHub MCP Server

• create_pull_request_with_copilot - Perform task with GitHub Copilot coding agent
  • owner: Repository owner. You can guess the owner, but confirm it with the user before proceeding. (string, required)
  • repo: Repository name. You can guess the repository name, but confirm it with the user before proceeding. (string, required)
  • problem_statement: Detailed description of the task to be performed (e.g., 'Implement a feature that does X', 'Fix bug Y', etc.) (string, required)
  • title: Title for the pull request that will be created (string, required)
  • base_ref: Git reference (e.g., branch) that the agent will start its work from. If not specified, defaults to the repository's default branch (string, optional)

• get_copilot_space - Get Copilot Space

  • owner: The owner of the space. (string, required)
  • name: The name of the space. (string, required)

• list_copilot_spaces - List Copilot Spaces

• github_support_docs_search - Retrieve documentation relevant to answer GitHub product and support questions. Support topics include: GitHub Actions Workflows, Authentication, GitHub Support Inquiries, Pull Request Practices, Repository Maintenance, GitHub Pages, GitHub Packages, GitHub Discussions, Copilot Spaces
  • query: Input from the user about the question they need answered. This is the latest raw unedited user message. You should ALWAYS leave the user message as it is, you should never modify it. (string, required)

Dynamic Tool Discovery

Note: This feature is currently in beta and is not available in the Remote GitHub MCP Server. Please test it out and let us know if you encounter any issues.

Instead of starting with all tools enabled, you can turn on dynamic toolset discovery. Dynamic toolsets allow the MCP host to list and enable toolsets in response to a user prompt. This should help to avoid situations where the model gets confused by the sheer number of tools available.

Using Dynamic Tool Discovery

When using the binary, you can pass the --dynamic-toolsets flag.

./github-mcp-server --dynamic-toolsets

When using Docker, you can pass the toolsets as environment variables:

docker run -i --rm \
  -e GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=<your-token> \
  -e GITHUB_DYNAMIC_TOOLSETS=1 \
  ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server

Read-Only Mode

To run the server in read-only mode, you can use the --read-only flag. This will only offer read-only tools, preventing any modifications to repositories, issues, pull requests, etc.

./github-mcp-server --read-only

When using Docker, you can pass the read-only mode as an environment variable:

docker run -i --rm \
  -e GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=<your-token> \
  -e GITHUB_READ_ONLY=1 \
  ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server

Lockdown Mode

Lockdown mode limits the content that the server will surface from public repositories. When enabled, the server checks whether the author of each item has push access to the repository. Private repositories are unaffected, and collaborators keep full access to their own content.

./github-mcp-server --lockdown-mode

When running with Docker, set the corresponding environment variable:

docker run -i --rm \
  -e GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=<your-token> \
  -e GITHUB_LOCKDOWN_MODE=1 \
  ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server

The behavior of lockdown mode depends on the tool invoked.

Following tools will return an error when the author lacks the push access:

• issue_read:get
• pull_request_read:get

Following tools will filter out content from users lacking the push access:

• issue_read:get_comments
• issue_read:get_sub_issues
• pull_request_read:get_comments
• pull_request_read:get_review_comments
• pull_request_read:get_reviews

i18n / Overriding Descriptions

The descriptions of the tools can be overridden by creating a github-mcp-server-config.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-translations
cat github-mcp-server-config.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 with GITHUB_MCP_ and all uppercase.

For example, to override the TOOL_ADD_ISSUE_COMMENT_DESCRIPTION tool, you can set the following environment variable:

export GITHUB_MCP_TOOL_ADD_ISSUE_COMMENT_DESCRIPTION="an alternative description"

Overriding Server Name and Title

The same override mechanism can be used to customize the MCP server's name and title fields in the initialization response. This is useful when running multiple GitHub MCP Server instances (e.g., one for github.com and one for GitHub Enterprise Server) so that agents can distinguish between them.

For example, to configure a server instance for GitHub Enterprise Server:

{
  "SERVER_NAME": "ghes-mcp-server",
  "SERVER_TITLE": "GHES MCP Server"
}

Or using environment variables:

export GITHUB_MCP_SERVER_NAME="ghes-mcp-server"
export GITHUB_MCP_SERVER_TITLE="GHES MCP Server"

Library Usage

The exported Go API of this module should currently be considered unstable, and subject to breaking changes. In the future, we may offer stability; please file an issue if there is a use case where this would be valuable.

License

This project is licensed under the terms of the MIT open source license. Please refer to MIT for the full terms.