GitHub MCP server

The GitHub MCP server provides a standardized interface for Large Language Models (LLMs) to interact with GitHub repositories through the Model Context Protocol. It enables AI agents to manage repositories, issues, pull requests, branches, files, and releases through a consistent API.

Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v16 or newer)
• A GitHub personal access token with appropriate permissions

Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/cyanheads/github-mcp-server.git
   cd github-mcp-server
   

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   

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

   GITHUB_TOKEN=your_github_personal_access_token
   LOG_LEVEL=info
   SERVER_NAME=github-mcp-server
   

4. Build the project:

   npm run build
   

5. Start the server:

   node build/index.js
   

Configuration

The server can be configured through environment variables:

Environment Variable	Description	Default
GITHUB_TOKEN	GitHub personal access token (required)	-
LOG_LEVEL	Logging level (debug, info, warn, error, fatal)	info
SERVER_NAME	MCP server name	github-mcp-server
SERVER_VERSION	MCP server version	0.1.0
API_TIMEOUT_MS	Timeout for API calls in milliseconds	10000
RATE_LIMITING_ENABLED	Whether rate limiting is enabled	true
RATE_LIMITING_MIN_REMAINING	Minimum remaining requests before throttling	100
RATE_LIMITING_RESET_BUFFER_MS	Time buffer to add to rate limit reset time	5000

MCP Client Settings

Add to your MCP client settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/github-mcp-server/build/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "your_github_personal_access_token",
        "LOG_LEVEL": "info",
        "SERVER_NAME": "github-mcp-server"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

Repository Management Tools

Tool	Description
get_repository	Get detailed information about a specific repository Parameters: owner, repo
list_repositories	List repositories for the authenticated user Parameters: type (optional), sort (optional)
create_repository	Create a new GitHub repository Parameters: name, description (optional), private (optional)

Branch Management Tools

Tool	Description
list_branches	List branches in a repository Parameters: owner, repo, protected (optional), per_page (optional)
create_branch	Create a new branch Parameters: owner, repo, branch, sha
delete_branch	Delete a branch Parameters: owner, repo, branch

Issue Management Tools

Tool	Description
create_issue	Create a new issue in a repository Parameters: owner, repo, title, body (optional), labels (optional)
list_issues	List issues in a repository Parameters: owner, repo, state (optional), labels (optional)

Pull Request Management Tools

Tool	Description
create_pull_request	Create a new pull request Parameters: owner, repo, title, head, base, body (optional)
merge_pull_request	Merge a pull request Parameters: owner, repo, pull_number, commit_title (optional), commit_message (optional), merge_method (optional)
update_pull_request	Update an existing pull request Parameters: owner, repo, pull_number, title (optional), body (optional), state (optional), base (optional), maintainer_can_modify (optional)
list_pull_requests	List pull requests in a repository Parameters: owner, repo, state (optional), head (optional), base (optional), sort (optional), direction (optional)

File Management Tools

Tool	Description
update_file	Create or update a file in a repository Parameters: owner, repo, path, message, content, sha (optional), branch (optional)

Release Management Tools

Tool	Description
create_release	Create a new release Parameters: owner, repo, tag_name, name (optional), body (optional), draft (optional), prerelease (optional)

Important Note

This repository is deprecated. Please use the official GitHub MCP server instead at https://github.com/github/github-mcp-server.

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 "github" '{"command":"node","args":["/path/to/github-mcp-server/build/index.js"],"env":{"GITHUB_TOKEN":"your_github_personal_access_token","LOG_LEVEL":"info","SERVER_NAME":"github-mcp-server"}}'

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": {
        "github": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "/path/to/github-mcp-server/build/index.js"
            ],
            "env": {
                "GITHUB_TOKEN": "your_github_personal_access_token",
                "LOG_LEVEL": "info",
                "SERVER_NAME": "github-mcp-server"
            }
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "github": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "/path/to/github-mcp-server/build/index.js"
            ],
            "env": {
                "GITHUB_TOKEN": "your_github_personal_access_token",
                "LOG_LEVEL": "info",
                "SERVER_NAME": "github-mcp-server"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect