GitHub Kanban MCP server

GitHub Kanban MCP Server is a powerful tool that manages GitHub issues in a Kanban board format, designed to streamline task management with Large Language Models (LLMs). This server implements the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to provide efficient project management and visualization capabilities.

Prerequisites

Before installing the GitHub Kanban MCP Server, make sure you have:

• Node.js 18.x or higher
• npm 9.x or higher
• GitHub CLI (gh)

Installation

Install the package using npm:

npm install @sunwood-ai-labs/github-kanban-mcp-server

Configure GitHub CLI authentication:

gh auth login

Configuration

Add the following to your MCP configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github-kanban": {
      "command": "github-kanban-mcp-server"
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

Managing Issues

Listing Issues

The list_issues tool retrieves a list of issues from your Kanban board.

Input Parameters:

• repo: GitHub repository name (required)
• state: Issue state ('open', 'closed', 'all')
• labels: Array of labels to filter by

Example:

{
  "repo": "username/repository",
  "state": "open",
  "labels": ["bug", "high-priority"]
}

Creating Issues

The create_issue tool creates a new issue in your repository.

Input Parameters:

• repo: GitHub repository name (required)
• title: Issue title (required)
• emoji: Emoji to prefix the title
• body: Issue description
• labels: Array of labels
• assignees: Array of users to assign

Example:

{
  "repo": "username/repository",
  "title": "Implement login feature",
  "emoji": "🔑",
  "body": "Create a secure login system with OAuth support",
  "labels": ["feature", "frontend"],
  "assignees": ["developer1"]
}

Updating Issues

The update_issue tool updates an existing issue.

Input Parameters:

• repo: GitHub repository name (required)
• issue_number: Issue number (required)
• title: New title
• emoji: Emoji to prefix the title
• body: New description
• state: New state ('open', 'closed')
• labels: New array of labels
• assignees: New array of assignees

Example:

{
  "repo": "username/repository",
  "issue_number": 42,
  "title": "Enhance login feature",
  "state": "open",
  "labels": ["feature", "frontend", "in-progress"]
}

Managing Comments

Adding Comments

The add_comment tool adds a comment to a task.

Input Parameters:

• repo: GitHub repository name (required)
• issue_number: Task (Issue) ID (required)
• body: Comment content (supports Markdown) (required)
• state: Issue state to change upon commenting ('open', 'closed')

Example:

{
  "repo": "username/repository",
  "issue_number": 42,
  "body": "I've started working on this feature. Will be completed by Friday.",
  "state": "open"
}

Advanced Usage

You can combine these tools to create comprehensive task management workflows. For example:

1. List all open issues with the "bug" label
2. Create a new issue for each bug that needs to be fixed
3. Add comments to provide status updates
4. Update issues to change their labels or state as work progresses

This approach enables LLMs to effectively manage GitHub projects through the Kanban interface, automating routine task management activities.

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-kanban" '{"command":"github-kanban-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-kanban": {
            "command": "github-kanban-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-kanban": {
            "command": "github-kanban-mcp-server"
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect