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.
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
A compatible MCP host with remote server support (VS Code 1.101+, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.)
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/","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
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
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.
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
To run the server in a container, you will need to have Docker installed.
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.
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).
Handling PATs Securely
Environment Variables (Recommended)
To keep your GitHub PAT secure and reusable across different MCP hosts:
Store your PAT in environment variables
export GITHUB_PAT=your_token_here
Or create a .env file:
GITHUB_PAT=your_token_here
Protect your .env file
# Add to .gitignore to prevent accidental commitsecho".env" >> .gitignore
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.
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":"${input:github_token}"}}}}}
Optionally, you can add a similar example (i.e. without the mcp key) to a file called .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace. This will allow you to share the configuration with other host applications that accept the same format.
Example JSON block without the MCP key included
{"inputs":[{"type":"promptString","id":"github_token","description":"GitHub Personal Access Token","password":true}],"servers":{"github":{"command":"docker","args":["run","-i","--rm","-e","GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN","ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server"],"env":{"GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN":"${input:github_token}"}}}}
Install in Other MCP Hosts
For other MCP host applications, please refer to our installation guides:
GitHub Copilot in other IDEs - Installation for JetBrains, Visual Studio, Eclipse, and Xcode with GitHub Copilot
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:
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):
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.
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.
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:
user: Username to get teams for. If not provided, uses the authenticated user. (string, optional)
Dependabot
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)
Discussions
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)
category: Optional filter by discussion category ID. If provided, only discussions with this category are listed. (string, optional)
direction: Order direction. (string, optional)
orderBy: Order discussions by field. If provided, the 'direction' also needs to be provided. (string, optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number, optional)
repo: Repository name. If not provided, discussions will be queried at the organisation level. (string, optional)
Gists
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)
Git
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)
Issues
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)
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)
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:
get - Get details of a specific issue.
get_comments - Get issue comments.
get_sub_issues - Get sub-issues of the issue.
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)
repo: The name of the repository (string, required)
issue_write - Create or update issue.
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
assignees: Usernames to assign to this issue (string[], optional)
body: Issue body content (string, optional)
duplicate_of: Issue number that this issue is a duplicate of. Only used when state_reason is 'duplicate'. (number, optional)
issue_number: Issue number to update (number, optional)
labels: Labels to apply to this issue (string[], optional)
method: Write operation to perform on a single issue.
Options are:
'create' - creates a new issue.
'update' - updates an existing issue.
(string, required)
milestone: Milestone number (number, optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
state: New state (string, optional)
state_reason: Reason for the state change. Ignored unless state is changed. (string, optional)
title: Issue title (string, optional)
type: Type of this issue. Only use if the repository has issue types configured. Use list_issue_types tool to get valid type values for the organization. If the repository doesn't support issue types, omit this parameter. (string, optional)
owner: The organization owner of the repository (string, required)
list_issues - List issues
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
after: Cursor for pagination. Use the endCursor from the previous page's PageInfo for GraphQL APIs. (string, optional)
direction: Order direction. If provided, the 'orderBy' also needs to be provided. (string, optional)
labels: Filter by labels (string[], optional)
orderBy: Order issues by field. If provided, the 'direction' also needs to be provided. (string, optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number, optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
since: Filter by date (ISO 8601 timestamp) (string, optional)
state: Filter by state, by default both open and closed issues are returned when not provided (string, optional)
search_issues - Search issues
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
order: Sort order (string, optional)
owner: Optional repository owner. If provided with repo, only issues 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)
query: Search query using GitHub issues search syntax (string, required)
repo: Optional repository name. If provided with owner, only issues for this repository are listed. (string, optional)
sort: Sort field by number of matches of categories, defaults to best match (string, optional)
sub_issue_write - Change sub-issue
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
after_id: The ID of the sub-issue to be prioritized after (either after_id OR before_id should be specified) (number, optional)
before_id: The ID of the sub-issue to be prioritized before (either after_id OR before_id should be specified) (number, optional)
issue_number: The number of the parent issue (number, required)
method: The action to perform on a single sub-issue
Options are:
'add' - add a sub-issue to a parent issue in a GitHub repository.
'remove' - remove a sub-issue from a parent issue in a GitHub repository.
'reprioritize' - change the order of sub-issues within a parent issue in a GitHub repository. Use either 'after_id' or 'before_id' to specify the new position.
(string, required)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
replace_parent: When true, replaces the sub-issue's current parent issue. Use with 'add' method only. (boolean, optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
sub_issue_id: The ID of the sub-issue to add. ID is not the same as issue number (number, required)
Labels
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)
Notifications
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)
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
add_project_item - Add project item
Required OAuth Scopes: project
item_id: The numeric ID of the issue or pull request to add to the project. (number, required)
item_type: The item's type, either issue or pull_request. (string, required)
owner: If owner_type == user it is the handle for the GitHub user account. If owner_type == org it is the name of the organization. The name is not case sensitive. (string, required)
owner_type: Owner type (string, required)
project_number: The project's number. (number, required)
delete_project_item - Delete project item
Required OAuth Scopes: project
item_id: The internal project item ID to delete from the project (not the issue or pull request ID). (number, required)
owner: If owner_type == user it is the handle for the GitHub user account. If owner_type == org it is the name of the organization. The name is not case sensitive. (string, required)
owner_type: Owner type (string, required)
project_number: The project's number. (number, required)
get_project - Get project
Required OAuth Scopes: read:project
Accepted OAuth Scopes: project, read:project
owner: If owner_type == user it is the handle for the GitHub user account. If owner_type == org it is the name of the organization. The name is not case sensitive. (string, required)
owner_type: Owner type (string, required)
project_number: The project's number (number, required)
get_project_field - Get project field
Required OAuth Scopes: read:project
Accepted OAuth Scopes: project, read:project
field_id: The field's id. (number, required)
owner: If owner_type == user it is the handle for the GitHub user account. If owner_type == org it is the name of the organization. The name is not case sensitive. (string, required)
owner_type: Owner type (string, required)
project_number: The project's number. (number, required)
get_project_item - Get project item
Required OAuth Scopes: read:project
Accepted OAuth Scopes: project, read:project
fields: Specific list of field IDs to include in the response (e.g. ["102589", "985201", "169875"]). If not provided, only the title field is included. (string[], optional)
item_id: The item's ID. (number, required)
owner: If owner_type == user it is the handle for the GitHub user account. If owner_type == org it is the name of the organization. The name is not case sensitive. (string, required)
owner_type: Owner type (string, required)
project_number: The project's number. (number, required)
list_project_fields - List project fields
Required OAuth Scopes: read:project
Accepted OAuth Scopes: project, read:project
after: Forward pagination cursor from previous pageInfo.nextCursor. (string, optional)
before: Backward pagination cursor from previous pageInfo.prevCursor (rare). (string, optional)
owner: If owner_type == user it is the handle for the GitHub user account. If owner_type == org it is the name of the organization. The name is not case sensitive. (string, required)
owner_type: Owner type (string, required)
per_page: Results per page (max 50) (number, optional)
project_number: The project's number. (number, required)
list_project_items - List project items
Required OAuth Scopes: read:project
Accepted OAuth Scopes: project, read:project
after: Forward pagination cursor from previous pageInfo.nextCursor. (string, optional)
before: Backward pagination cursor from previous pageInfo.prevCursor (rare). (string, optional)
fields: Field IDs to include (e.g. ["102589", "985201"]). CRITICAL: Always provide to get field values. Without this, only titles returned. (string[], optional)
owner: If owner_type == user it is the handle for the GitHub user account. If owner_type == org it is the name of the organization. The name is not case sensitive. (string, required)
owner_type: Owner type (string, required)
per_page: Results per page (max 50) (number, optional)
project_number: The project's number. (number, required)
query: Query string for advanced filtering of project items using GitHub's project filtering syntax. (string, optional)
list_projects - List projects
Required OAuth Scopes: read:project
Accepted OAuth Scopes: project, read:project
after: Forward pagination cursor from previous pageInfo.nextCursor. (string, optional)
before: Backward pagination cursor from previous pageInfo.prevCursor (rare). (string, optional)
owner: If owner_type == user it is the handle for the GitHub user account. If owner_type == org it is the name of the organization. The name is not case sensitive. (string, required)
owner_type: Owner type (string, required)
per_page: Results per page (max 50) (number, optional)
query: Filter projects by title text and open/closed state; permitted qualifiers: is:open, is:closed; examples: "roadmap is:open", "is:open feature planning". (string, optional)
update_project_item - Update project item
Required OAuth Scopes: project
item_id: The unique identifier of the project item. This is not the issue or pull request ID. (number, required)
owner: If owner_type == user it is the handle for the GitHub user account. If owner_type == org it is the name of the organization. The name is not case sensitive. (string, required)
owner_type: Owner type (string, required)
project_number: The project's number. (number, required)
updated_field: Object consisting of the ID of the project field to update and the new value for the field. To clear the field, set value to null. Example: {"id": 123456, "value": "New Value"} (object, required)
Pull Requests
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)
head: Filter by head user/org and branch (string, optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number, optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
sort: Sort by (string, optional)
state: Filter by state (string, optional)
merge_pull_request - Merge pull request
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
commit_message: Extra detail for merge commit (string, optional)
commit_title: Title for merge commit (string, optional)
merge_method: Merge method (string, optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
pullNumber: Pull request number (number, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
pull_request_read - Get details for a single pull request
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
method: Action to specify what pull request data needs to be retrieved from GitHub.
Possible options:
get - Get details of a specific pull request.
get_diff - Get the diff of a pull request.
get_status - Get status of a head commit in a pull request. This reflects status of builds and checks.
get_files - Get the list of files changed in a pull request. Use with pagination parameters to control the number of results returned.
get_review_comments - Get review threads on a pull request. Each thread contains logically grouped review comments made on the same code location during pull request reviews. Returns threads with metadata (isResolved, isOutdated, isCollapsed) and their associated comments. Use cursor-based pagination (perPage, after) to control results.
get_reviews - Get the reviews on a pull request. When asked for review comments, use get_review_comments method.
get_comments - Get comments on a pull request. Use this if user doesn't specifically want review comments. Use with pagination parameters to control the number of results returned.
(string, required)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number, optional)
pullNumber: Pull request number (number, required)
organization: Organization to create the repository in (omit to create in your personal account) (string, optional)
private: Whether repo should be private (boolean, optional)
delete_file - Delete file
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
branch: Branch to delete the file from (string, required)
message: Commit message (string, required)
owner: Repository owner (username or organization) (string, required)
path: Path to the file to delete (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
fork_repository - Fork repository
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
organization: Organization to fork to (string, optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
get_commit - Get commit details
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
include_diff: Whether to include file diffs and stats in the response. Default is true. (boolean, optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number, optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
sha: Commit SHA, branch name, or tag name (string, required)
get_file_contents - Get file or directory contents
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
owner: Repository owner (username or organization) (string, required)
path: Path to file/directory (string, optional)
ref: Accepts optional git refs such as refs/tags/{tag}, refs/heads/{branch} or refs/pull/{pr_number}/head (string, optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
sha: Accepts optional commit SHA. If specified, it will be used instead of ref (string, optional)
get_latest_release - Get latest release
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
get_release_by_tag - Get a release by tag name
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
tag: Tag name (e.g., 'v1.0.0') (string, required)
get_tag - Get tag details
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
tag: Tag name (string, required)
list_branches - List branches
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number, optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
list_commits - List commits
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
author: Author username or email address to filter commits by (string, optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number, optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
sha: Commit SHA, branch or tag name to list commits of. If not provided, uses the default branch of the repository. If a commit SHA is provided, will list commits up to that SHA. (string, optional)
list_releases - List releases
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number, optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
list_tags - List tags
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number, optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
push_files - Push files to repository
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
branch: Branch to push to (string, required)
files: Array of file objects to push, each object with path (string) and content (string) (object[], required)
message: Commit message (string, required)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
search_code - Search code
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
order: Sort order for results (string, optional)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number, optional)
query: Search query using GitHub's powerful code search syntax. Examples: 'content:Skill language:Java org:github', 'NOT is:archived language:Python OR language:go', 'repo:github/github-mcp-server'. Supports exact matching, language filters, path filters, and more. (string, required)
sort: Sort field ('indexed' only) (string, optional)
search_repositories - Search repositories
Required OAuth Scopes: repo
minimal_output: Return minimal repository information (default: true). When false, returns full GitHub API repository objects. (boolean, optional)
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)
sort: Sort repositories by field, defaults to best match (string, optional)
Secret Protection
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)
Security Advisories
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)
type: Advisory type. (string, optional)
updated: Filter by update date or date range (ISO 8601 date or range). (string, optional)
list_org_repository_security_advisories - List org repository security advisories
Required OAuth Scopes: security_events
Accepted OAuth Scopes: repo, security_events
direction: Sort direction. (string, optional)
org: The organization login. (string, required)
sort: Sort field. (string, optional)
state: Filter by advisory state. (string, optional)
list_repository_security_advisories - List repository security advisories
Required OAuth Scopes: security_events
Accepted OAuth Scopes: repo, security_events
direction: Sort direction. (string, optional)
owner: The owner of the repository. (string, required)
repo: The name of the repository. (string, required)
sort: Sort field. (string, optional)
state: Filter by advisory state. (string, optional)
Stargazers
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)
Users
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
Copilot
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)
Copilot Spaces
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
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:
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:
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:
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.
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"
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.
