MCP OSSInsight MCP server

The OSSInsight MCP server provides data analysis for GitHub individuals, organizations, and repositories, offering in-depth insights into the open source ecosystem. It serves as a powerful tool to extract and analyze GitHub data through various features like repository and developer analysis.

Installation

You can set up the OSSInsight MCP server using either Docker or NPX.

Docker Setup

Add the following configuration to your setup:

{
  "mcpServers": { 
    "ossinsight": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--rm",
        "-i",
        "mcp/ossinsight"
      ]
    }
  }
}

To build the Docker image:

docker build -t mcp/ossinsight -f Dockerfile .

NPX Setup

Alternatively, configure using NPX:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ossinsight": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-ossinsight"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Usage

The OSSInsight MCP server provides several tools for analyzing GitHub data:

Repository Analysis

Get detailed metrics and insights about a GitHub repository:

{
  "owner_repo": "microsoft/vscode"
}

You can also specify a time period for the analysis:

{
  "owner_repo": "microsoft/vscode",
  "time_period": "last_year"
}

Developer Analysis

Retrieve detailed information about a GitHub developer's contributions and activity:

{
  "username": "octocat"
}

Collection Information

Get information about a specific collection of repositories:

{
  "collection_id": "open-source-database"
}

List Collections

Browse through the available repository collections:

{
  "page": 1,
  "per_page": 20
}

Compare Repositories

Compare key metrics between two repositories:

{
  "repo1": "facebook/react",
  "repo2": "vuejs/vue"
}

Natural Language Queries

Access data using natural language:

{
  "query": "Which database projects gained the most stars in 2023?"
}

Features

The server provides comprehensive data analysis through:

• Repository Analysis: Star trends, contributor activity, and code commits
• Developer Analysis: Contribution patterns, activity history, and influence
• Organization Analysis: Overview of GitHub organizations, members, and repositories
• Project Comparison: Side-by-side repository metrics comparison
• Project Collections: Curated collections of projects by category
• Natural Language Queries: Ask questions about GitHub data in plain English

The server uses both the OSSInsight Public API and web page scraping to ensure maximum data coverage while respecting API rate limits (600 requests per hour per IP).

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 "ossinsight" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@modelcontextprotocol/server-ossinsight"]}'

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": {
        "ossinsight": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@modelcontextprotocol/server-ossinsight"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "ossinsight": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@modelcontextprotocol/server-ossinsight"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect