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GitHub MCP Server

Official

Archived

Manage repos, issues & PRs from chat

How to install ↓ Compare GitHub source repository ↗

Category: Dev Tools #38 of 438
Stars: ★ 305 Popular
Transport: stdio (local process)
Runtime: Node.js
Credentials: API key / credential required
License: MIT
Last commit: 16 months ago ⚠
Tools: 6

66FMRS · C

GitHub workflow coverage is broad, but write-capable tokens need strict scoping; maintenance and reliability remain conservative until the current upstream implementation is runtime-verified.

Strongest · Documentation 15/20 Weakest · Maintenance 10/20

Reliability

14/20

Security and permissions

13/20

Maintenance

10/20

Documentation

15/20

Setup experience

14/20

Reviewed by an editorListed 2026-07-13

Read the FMRS scoring method →

Fit and risk

What it can accessUses the networkChanges third-party account data

Best for

Development teams that want to handle issues, files, and pull requests from a coding assistant
Maintainers automating repetitive GitHub workflows

Not for

Environments that cannot provide a GitHub token
Organizations requiring every repository write to be confirmed manually in GitHub's UI

Required permissions

A GitHub Personal Access Token
Least-privilege Contents, Issues, or Pull requests access for the target repositories

Risks and side effects

A leaked high-privilege token can modify repository code and issues
The model can create incorrect branches, issues, or pull requests; retain human confirmation for writes

Setup

Before you start

Runtime：Node.js

GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN requiredsecret A GitHub personal access token generated under GitHub Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens, used to call the GitHub API.

Create a GitHub Personal Access Token with the repository permissions you need, then pass it through the configured environment variable.

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Shown for Claude Desktop. Other clients may use a different file or key (VS Code uses "servers") — the configurator below converts it.

.vscode/mcp.json

{
  "servers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Goes in your project's .vscode/mcp.json (VS Code uses a "servers" key).

Terminal

claude mcp add github -e GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxx -- npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-github

Run it in a terminal; replace any <…> placeholders with your own values first.

Generate and validate client config

Check that it works

Check that tools such as search_repositories and create_issue appear in your client's tool list, then run a repository search; a successful result confirms the token and connection work. Note: this repository is archived and unmaintained with no security guarantees; for production use the actively maintained modelcontextprotocol/servers repository instead.

Troubleshooting

Confirm the token is active and can access the target repository
Check whether organization SSO authorization is required
For 403 responses, review fine-grained token repository and permission scopes

Things to try

Once connected, you can ask your AI assistant things like:

Search for repositories with modelcontextprotocol in the name
Create an issue titled "Missing docs" in the mcp-demo repository
List the recent commits on the main branch of mcp-demo
Open a pull request in mcp-demo that updates the README

Tools 6

create_or_update_file writes

Create a new repository file or update an existing one

search_repositories read-only

Search repositories by keyword

create_issue writes

Create a new issue

create_pull_request writes

Open a pull request

list_commits read-only

List commit history for a branch

merge_pull_request writes

Merge an approved pull request

Use cases

Create a fix branch and open a pull request

Triage and respond to a backlog of issues

Generate a weekly summary of repository commits

Supported clients

Claude Desktop

Cursor

Cline

VS CodePartial support

Listed from the project's documentation, not tested by this site.

Overview

This server wraps the GitHub REST and GraphQL APIs so models can update files, work with issues, create pull requests, and inspect repository history from a conversation. It reduces context switching during everyday development and collaboration.

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Source revision 9be4674d1ddf Data synced 2026-10-14 Read the FMRS scoring method