GitHub MCP server

This MCP server enables Claude and other MCP-compatible LLMs to interact with the GitHub API, allowing you to manage GitHub repositories, issues, and more directly through your AI assistant.

Installation

Prerequisites

• TypeScript
• Node.js
• Octokit library
• Model Context Protocol SDK

Setting Up the Server

1. Clone the repository to your local machine

2. Install the required dependencies:

   npm install
   

3. Create a .env file in the project root with your GitHub credentials:

   GITHUB_TOKEN=your-github-personal-access-token
   

4. Build the TypeScript files:

   npx tsc
   

5. Start the server:

   node build/index.js
   

Testing Your MCP Server

Using MCP Inspector

1. Run the inspector with your server:

   npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node build/index.js
   

2. Open your browser and navigate to:

   http://localhost:5173
   

3. Use the inspector interface to test the MCP functionality

Using Claude Desktop

1. Download and install Claude Desktop

2. Configure Claude to use your MCP server:

   • Go to File > Settings... > Developer > Edit Config
   • Edit the claude_desktop_config.json file with the following:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "gh": {
         "command": "node",
         "args": ["absolute\\path\\to\\your\\index.js\\file"],
         "env": {
           "GITHUB_TOKEN": "your-github-personal-access-token"
         }
       }
     }
   }
   

3. Restart Claude Desktop to apply the changes

Available Features

Tools

The server provides four GitHub interaction tools:

• create-issue: Create a new issue in a GitHub repository
• get-repo-info: Get detailed information about a GitHub repository
• list-issues: List all issues in a specified repository
• search-repos: Search for GitHub repositories using keywords

Prompts

Five built-in prompts help generate content for GitHub interactions:

• create-issue-description: Generate a descriptive issue body
• create-pull-request-description: Generate PR descriptions
• search-repos-prompt: Create effective repository search queries
• create-issue-prompt: Generate parameters for new issues
• enhance-github-response: Format and enhance raw GitHub API data

To use a prompt in Claude Desktop, select it from the "Choose an integration" dropdown menu when the MCP connection is active.

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "gh" '{"command":"node","args":["build/index.js"],"env":{"GITHUB_TOKEN":"your-github-personal-access-token"}}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "gh": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "build/index.js"
            ],
            "env": {
                "GITHUB_TOKEN": "your-github-personal-access-token"
            }
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "gh": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "build/index.js"
            ],
            "env": {
                "GITHUB_TOKEN": "your-github-personal-access-token"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect