GitHub MCP server

This Go implementation of the GitHub Model Context Protocol (MCP) server enables AI assistants to interact with the GitHub API, performing operations like creating repositories, managing branches, and manipulating files.

Prerequisites

• Go 1.21 or higher
• A GitHub personal access token with appropriate permissions

Installation

go get github.com/metoro-io/github-mcp-server-go

Authentication

The server supports two authentication methods:

Environment Variable Authentication

Set your GitHub personal access token as an environment variable:

export GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=your_github_token

HTTP Header Authentication

Pass your GitHub token via the Authorization header:

Authorization: Bearer your_github_token

or simply:

Authorization: your_github_token

Usage

1. Set your GitHub personal access token as described in the Authentication section
2. Run the server:

go run main.go

Available Tools

The server provides these tools for GitHub interaction:

Repository Management

• search_repositories: Search for GitHub repositories
• create_repository: Create a new GitHub repository in your account
• fork_repository: Fork a GitHub repository to your account or specified organization

Branch Operations

• create_branch: Create a new branch in a GitHub repository
• list_commits: Get list of commits of a branch in a GitHub repository

File Operations

• get_file_contents: Get the contents of a file or directory from a GitHub repository
• create_or_update_file: Create or update a single file in a GitHub repository
• push_files: Push multiple files to a GitHub repository in a single commit

Issue Management

• create_issue: Create a new issue in a GitHub repository
• get_issue: Get details of a specific issue in a GitHub repository
• list_issues: List issues in a GitHub repository with filtering options
• update_issue: Update an existing issue in a GitHub repository
• add_issue_comment: Add a comment to an existing issue

Search Functionality

• search_code: Search for code across GitHub repositories
• search_issues: Search for issues and pull requests across GitHub repositories
• search_users: Search for users on GitHub

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":"npx","args":["-y","github-mcp-server-go"]}'

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": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "github-mcp-server-go"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "github-mcp-server-go"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect