GistPad (GitHub Gists) MCP server

GistPad MCP is a server that allows you to manage your knowledge, notes, and prompts through GitHub Gists. It works with VS Code via the GistPad extension and GistPad.dev, enabling you to access and edit your gists from any MCP-enabled AI tool like GitHub Copilot or Claude Desktop.

Installation

For VS Code Users

1. Install the GistPad extension and reload VS Code:

   • Install from the VS Code marketplace
   • Note: This requires VS Code 1.101.0 or newer

2. Open the GistPad tab and sign in with your GitHub account. This completes setup - you can immediately use GistPad from Copilot chat in Agent mode.

For Other MCP Clients

1. Generate a GitHub personal access token with only the gist scope:

   • Go to GitHub token settings

2. Add the following to your client's MCP config file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gistpad": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "gistpad-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "<YOUR_PAT>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Usage Examples

Once set up, you can interact with your gists in various ways:

Exploring Content

Try asking:

• "How many gists have I edited this month?"
• "What's the summary of my [specific] gist?"

Creating Content

• "Create a new gist about [topic]"
• "Update my [specific] gist to call out [something]"

Managing Daily Todos

• "What are my unfinished todos for today?"
• "Add a new todo for [task]"

Collaboration

• "Add a comment to the [specific] gist saying [comment]"
• "Give me a share URL for the [specific] gist"
• "View my starred gists"

Organizing Gists

• "Archive my gist about [topic]"
• "Add a new [filename] file to the [gist name] gist and migrate the [content] into it"

Working with Prompts

• "Create a new prompt that searches the web for a specified manga series and then provides a summary about it"
• "Delete my prompt about [topic]"

Available Tools

Gist Management

• list_gists - Lists all your gists (excluding daily notes and archived gists)
• get_gist - Retrieves contents of a specific gist by ID
• create_gist - Creates a new gist with specified description and initial file
• delete_gist - Deletes a gist by ID
• update_gist_description - Updates a gist's description
• duplicate_gist - Creates a copy of an existing gist with all its files
• refresh_gists - Reloads your gist lists, ignoring cached data

File Management

• update_gist_file - Updates contents of a specific file in a gist
• add_gist_file - Adds a new file to an existing gist
• delete_gist_file - Deletes a file from a gist
• rename_gist_file - Renames an existing file within a gist

Daily Notes

• get_todays_note - Gets or creates today's daily note
• update_todays_note - Updates content of today's daily note
• list_daily_notes - Lists all your daily notes
• get_daily_note - Gets contents of a specific daily note by date
• delete_daily_note - Deletes a specific daily note by date

Starring and Archiving

• list_starred_gists - Lists all your starred gists
• star_gist - Stars a specific gist
• unstar_gist - Unstars a gist
• list_archived_gists - Lists all your archived gists
• archive_gist - Archives one of your gists
• unarchive_gist - Unarchives a gist

Comments

• list_gist_comments - Lists all comments for a specified gist
• add_gist_comment - Adds a new comment to a gist
• edit_gist_comment - Updates content of an existing comment
• delete_gist_comment - Deletes a comment from a gist

Prompts

• list_gist_prompts - Lists prompts in your collection
• add_gist_prompt - Adds a new prompt to your collection
• delete_gist_prompt - Deletes a prompt from your collection

Resource Configuration

If you want to expose archived gists, starred gists, and/or daily notes as resources, update your MCP server config with flags:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gistpad": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "gistpad-mcp", "--archived", "--starred", "--daily"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "<YOUR_PAT>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Troubleshooting

If you're not seeing a gist in your list, GistPad MCP might be using cached data. The server updates when you make changes through it or every hour. For immediate refresh, use the refresh_gists tool (e.g., run #refresh_gists in VS Code Copilot chat).

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 "gistpad" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","gistpad-mcp"],"env":{"GITHUB_TOKEN":"<YOUR_PAT>"}}'

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": {
        "gistpad": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "gistpad-mcp"
            ],
            "env": {
                "GITHUB_TOKEN": "<YOUR_PAT>"
            }
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "gistpad": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "gistpad-mcp"
            ],
            "env": {
                "GITHUB_TOKEN": "<YOUR_PAT>"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect