go build -v ./main.go
./main.exe http --address ":38888"
这将在端口 38888 上使用 streamable-http 传输启动服务器。
日志格式控制
服务器支持通过 --pretty 命令行参数控制日志输出格式:
--pretty=false:输出压缩的 JSON 格式日志(单行,无缩进)
--pretty=true:输出美化的 JSON 格式日志(多行,带缩进和换行)
示例:
# 使用压缩 JSON 日志格式
go run -v ./main.go http --address ":38888" --pretty=false
# 使用美化 JSON 日志格式(默认)
go run -v ./main.go http --address ":38888" --pretty=true
工具配置
GitHub MCP 服务器支持通过 --toolsets 标志启用或禁用特定功能组。这允许您控制 AI
工具可用的 GitHub API 功能。仅启用您需要的工具集可以帮助 LLM
进行工具选择并减少上下文大小。
工具集不仅限于工具。相关的 MCP 资源和提示也包含在适用的地方。
GitHub MCP Server
The GitHub MCP Server connects AI tools directly to GitHub's platform. This
gives AI agents, assistants, and chatbots the ability to read repositories and
code files, manage issues and PRs, analyze code, and automate workflows. All
through natural language interactions.
Use Cases
Repository Management: Browse and query code, search files, analyze commits,
and understand project structure across any repository you have access to.
Issue & PR Automation: Create, update, and manage issues and pull requests.
Let AI help triage bugs, review code changes, and maintain project boards.
CI/CD & Workflow Intelligence: Monitor GitHub Actions workflow runs, analyze
build failures, manage releases, and get insights into your development
pipeline.
Code Analysis: Examine security findings, review Dependabot alerts, understand
code patterns, and get comprehensive insights into your codebase.
Team Collaboration: Access discussions, manage notifications, analyze team
activity, and streamline processes for your team.
Built for developers who want to connect their AI tools to GitHub context and
capabilities, from simple natural language queries to complex multi-step agent
workflows.
Remote GitHub MCP Server
The remote GitHub MCP Server is hosted by GitHub and provides the easiest method
for getting up and running. If your MCP host does not support remote MCP
servers, don't worry! You can use the
local version of the GitHub MCP Server
instead.
Prerequisites
A compatible MCP host with remote server support (VS Code 1.101+, Claude
Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.)
For quick installation, use one of the one-click install buttons above. Once you
complete that flow, toggle Agent mode (located by the Copilot Chat text input)
and the server will start. Make sure you're using
VS Code 1.101 or
later for remote MCP and OAuth support.
Alternatively, to manually configure VS Code, choose the appropriate JSON block
from the examples below and add it to your host configuration:
Note: Each MCP host application needs to configure a GitHub App or OAuth
App to support remote access via OAuth. Any host application that supports
remote MCP servers should support the remote GitHub server with PAT
authentication. Configuration details and support levels vary by host. Make
sure to refer to the host application's documentation for more info.
⚠️ Public Preview Status: The remote GitHub MCP Server is currently in
Public Preview. During preview, access may be gated depending on
authentication type and surface:
OAuth: Subject to GitHub Copilot Editor Preview Policy until GA
PAT: Controlled via your organization's PAT policies
MCP Servers in Copilot policy: Enables/disables access to all MCP servers in
VS Code, with other Copilot editors migrating to this policy in the coming
months.
Configuration
See Remote Server Documentation on how to pass
additional configuration settings to the remote GitHub MCP Server.
Local GitHub MCP Server
Prerequisites
To run the server in a container, you will need to have
Docker installed.
Once Docker is installed, you will also need to ensure Docker is running. The
image is public; if you get errors on pull, you may have an expired token and
need to docker logout ghcr.io.
Lastly you will need to
Create a GitHub Personal Access Token.
The MCP server can use many of the GitHub APIs, so enable the permissions
that you feel comfortable granting your AI tools (to learn more about access
tokens, please check out the
documentation).
Environment Variables (Recommended)
To keep your GitHub PAT secure and reusable across different MCP hosts:
Store your PAT in environment variables
export GITHUB_PAT=your_token_here
Or create a .env file:
GITHUB_PAT=your_token_here
Protect your .env file
# Add to .gitignore to prevent accidental commits
echo ".env" >> .gitignore
Reference the token in configurations
# CLI usage
claude mcp update github -e GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=$GITHUB_PAT
# In config files (where supported)
"env": {
"GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "$GITHUB_PAT"
}
Note: Environment variable support varies by host app and IDE. Some
applications (like Windsurf) require hardcoded tokens in config files.
Token Security Best Practices
Minimum scopes: Only grant necessary permissions
repo - Repository operations
read:packages - Docker image access
Separate tokens: Use different PATs for different projects/environments
Regular rotation: Update tokens periodically
Never commit: Keep tokens out of version control
File permissions: Restrict access to config files containing tokens
chmod 600 ~/.your-app/config.json
Installation
Install in GitHub Copilot on VS Code
For quick installation, use one of the one-click install buttons above. Once you
complete that flow, toggle Agent mode (located by the Copilot Chat text input)
and the server will start.
Optionally, you can add a similar example (i.e. without the mcp key) to a file
called .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace. This will allow you to share the
configuration with other host applications that accept the same format.
Note: Any host application that supports local MCP servers should be able
to access the local GitHub MCP server. However, the specific configuration
process, syntax and stability of the integration will vary by host
application. While many may follow a similar format to the examples above,
this is not guaranteed. Please refer to your host application's documentation
for the correct MCP configuration syntax and setup process.
Build from source
If you don't have Docker, you can use go build to build the binary in the
cmd/github-mcp-server directory, and use the github-mcp-server stdio command
with the GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN environment variable set to your token.
To specify the output location of the build, use the -o flag. You should
configure your server to use the built executable as its command. For example:
You can also run the server using streamable-http mode:
go run -v ./main.go http --address ":38888"
This will start the server on port 38888 using streamable-http transport.
Tool Configuration
The GitHub MCP Server supports enabling or disabling specific groups of
functionalities via the --toolsets flag. This allows you to control which
GitHub API capabilities are available to your AI tools. Enabling only the
toolsets that you need can help the LLM with tool choice and reduce the context
size.
Toolsets are not limited to Tools. Relevant MCP Resources and Prompts are also
included where applicable.
Available Toolsets
The following sets of tools are available (all are on by default):
Toolset
Description
context
Strongly recommended: Tools that provide context about the current user and GitHub context you are operating in
actions
GitHub Actions workflows and CI/CD operations
code_security
Code security related tools, such as GitHub Code Scanning
dependabot
Dependabot tools
discussions
GitHub Discussions related tools
experiments
Experimental features that are not considered stable yet
gists
GitHub Gist related tools
issues
GitHub Issues related tools
notifications
GitHub Notifications related tools
orgs
GitHub Organization related tools
pull_requests
GitHub Pull Request related tools
repos
GitHub Repository related tools
secret_protection
Secret protection related tools, such as GitHub Secret Scanning
users
GitHub User related tools
Tools
cancel_workflow_run - Cancel workflow run
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
run_id: The unique identifier of the workflow run (number, required)
delete_workflow_run_logs - Delete workflow logs
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
run_id: The unique identifier of the workflow run (number, required)
artifact_id: The unique identifier of the artifact (number, required)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
get_job_logs - Get job logs
failed_only: When true, gets logs for all failed jobs in run_id (boolean,
optional)
job_id: The unique identifier of the workflow job (required for single job
logs) (number, optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
return_content: Returns actual log content instead of URLs (boolean,
optional)
run_id: Workflow run ID (required when using failed_only) (number,
optional)
tail_lines: Number of lines to return from the end of the log (number,
optional)
get_workflow_run - Get workflow run
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
run_id: The unique identifier of the workflow run (number, required)
get_workflow_run_logs - Get workflow run logs
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
run_id: The unique identifier of the workflow run (number, required)
get_workflow_run_usage - Get workflow usage
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
run_id: The unique identifier of the workflow run (number, required)
list_workflow_jobs - List workflow jobs
filter: Filters jobs by their completed_at timestamp (string, optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
run_id: The unique identifier of the workflow run (number, required)
list_workflow_run_artifacts - List workflow artifacts
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
run_id: The unique identifier of the workflow run (number, required)
list_workflow_runs - List workflow runs
actor: Returns someone's workflow runs. Use the login for the user who
created the workflow run. (string, optional)
branch: Returns workflow runs associated with a branch. Use the name of
the branch. (string, optional)
event: Returns workflow runs for a specific event type (string, optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
status: Returns workflow runs with the check run status (string, optional)
workflow_id: The workflow ID or workflow file name (string, required)
list_workflows - List workflows
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
rerun_failed_jobs - Rerun failed jobs
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
run_id: The unique identifier of the workflow run (number, required)
rerun_workflow_run - Rerun workflow run
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
run_id: The unique identifier of the workflow run (number, required)
run_workflow - Run workflow
inputs: Inputs the workflow accepts (object, optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
ref: The git reference for the workflow. The reference can be a branch or
tag name. (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
workflow_id: The workflow ID (numeric) or workflow file name (e.g.,
main.yml, ci.yaml) (string, required)
get_code_scanning_alert - Get code scanning alert
alertNumber: The number of the alert. (number, required)
owner: The owner of the repository. (string, required)
repo: The name of the repository. (string, required)
list_code_scanning_alerts - List code scanning alerts
owner: The owner of the repository. (string, required)
ref: The Git reference for the results you want to list. (string,
optional)
repo: The name of the repository. (string, required)
severity: Filter code scanning alerts by severity (string, optional)
state: Filter code scanning alerts by state. Defaults to open (string,
optional)
tool_name: The name of the tool used for code scanning. (string, optional)
get_me - Get my user profile
No parameters required
get_dependabot_alert - Get dependabot alert
alertNumber: The number of the alert. (number, required)
owner: The owner of the repository. (string, required)
repo: The name of the repository. (string, required)
list_dependabot_alerts - List dependabot alerts
owner: The owner of the repository. (string, required)
repo: The name of the repository. (string, required)
severity: Filter dependabot alerts by severity (string, optional)
state: Filter dependabot alerts by state. Defaults to open (string,
optional)
get_discussion - Get discussion
discussionNumber: Discussion Number (number, required)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
get_discussion_comments - Get discussion comments
after: Cursor for pagination. Use the endCursor from the previous page's
PageInfo for GraphQL APIs. (string, optional)
discussionNumber: Discussion Number (number, required)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
list_discussion_categories - List discussion categories
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
list_discussions - List discussions
after: Cursor for pagination. Use the endCursor from the previous page's
PageInfo for GraphQL APIs. (string, optional)
category: Optional filter by discussion category ID. If provided, only
discussions with this category are listed. (string, optional)
direction: Order direction. (string, optional)
orderBy: Order discussions by field. If provided, the 'direction' also
needs to be provided. (string, optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
repo: Repository name. If not provided, discussions will be queried at the
organisation level. (string, optional)
create_gist - Create Gist
content: Content for simple single-file gist creation (string, required)
description: Description of the gist (string, optional)
filename: Filename for simple single-file gist creation (string, required)
public: Whether the gist is public (boolean, optional)
list_gists - List Gists
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
since: Only gists updated after this time (ISO 8601 timestamp) (string,
optional)
username: GitHub username (omit for authenticated user's gists) (string,
optional)
update_gist - Update Gist
content: Content for the file (string, required)
description: Updated description of the gist (string, optional)
filename: Filename to update or create (string, required)
gist_id: ID of the gist to update (string, required)
add_issue_comment - Add comment to issue
body: Comment content (string, required)
issue_number: Issue number to comment on (number, required)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
add_sub_issue - Add sub-issue
issue_number: The number of the parent issue (number, required)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
replace_parent: When true, replaces the sub-issue's current parent issue
(boolean, optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
sub_issue_id: The ID of the sub-issue to add. ID is not the same as issue
number (number, required)
assign_copilot_to_issue - Assign Copilot to issue
issueNumber: Issue number (number, required)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
create_issue - Open new issue
assignees: Usernames to assign to this issue (string[], optional)
body: Issue body content (string, optional)
labels: Labels to apply to this issue (string[], optional)
milestone: Milestone number (number, optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
title: Issue title (string, required)
get_issue - Get issue details
issue_number: The number of the issue (number, required)
owner: The owner of the repository (string, required)
repo: The name of the repository (string, required)
get_issue_comments - Get issue comments
issue_number: Issue number (number, required)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
list_issues - List issues
direction: Sort direction (string, optional)
labels: Filter by labels (string[], optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
since: Filter by date (ISO 8601 timestamp) (string, optional)
sort: Sort order (string, optional)
state: Filter by state (string, optional)
list_sub_issues - List sub-issues
issue_number: Issue number (number, required)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
page: Page number for pagination (default: 1) (number, optional)
per_page: Number of results per page (max 100, default: 30) (number,
optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
remove_sub_issue - Remove sub-issue
issue_number: The number of the parent issue (number, required)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
sub_issue_id: The ID of the sub-issue to remove. ID is not the same as
issue number (number, required)
reprioritize_sub_issue - Reprioritize sub-issue
after_id: The ID of the sub-issue to be prioritized after (either after_id
OR before_id should be specified) (number, optional)
before_id: The ID of the sub-issue to be prioritized before (either
after_id OR before_id should be specified) (number, optional)
issue_number: The number of the parent issue (number, required)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
sub_issue_id: The ID of the sub-issue to reprioritize. ID is not the same
as issue number (number, required)
search_issues - Search issues
order: Sort order (string, optional)
owner: Optional repository owner. If provided with repo, only
notifications for this repository are listed. (string, optional)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
query: Search query using GitHub issues search syntax (string, required)
repo: Optional repository name. If provided with owner, only notifications
for this repository are listed. (string, optional)
sort: Sort field by number of matches of categories, defaults to best
match (string, optional)
update_issue - Edit issue
assignees: New assignees (string[], optional)
body: New description (string, optional)
issue_number: Issue number to update (number, required)
labels: New labels (string[], optional)
milestone: New milestone number (number, optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
state: New state (string, optional)
title: New title (string, optional)
dismiss_notification - Dismiss notification
state: The new state of the notification (read/done) (string, optional)
threadID: The ID of the notification thread (string, required)
get_notification_details - Get notification details
notificationID: The ID of the notification (string, required)
list_notifications - List notifications
before: Only show notifications updated before the given time (ISO 8601
format) (string, optional)
filter: Filter notifications to, use default unless specified. Read
notifications are ones that have already been acknowledged by the user.
Participating notifications are those that the user is directly involved in,
such as issues or pull requests they have commented on or created. (string,
optional)
owner: Optional repository owner. If provided with repo, only
notifications for this repository are listed. (string, optional)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
repo: Optional repository name. If provided with owner, only notifications
for this repository are listed. (string, optional)
since: Only show notifications updated after the given time (ISO 8601
format) (string, optional)
action: Action to perform: ignore, watch, or delete the repository
notification subscription. (string, required)
owner: The account owner of the repository. (string, required)
repo: The name of the repository. (string, required)
mark_all_notifications_read - Mark all notifications as read
lastReadAt: Describes the last point that notifications were checked
(optional). Default: Now (string, optional)
owner: Optional repository owner. If provided with repo, only
notifications for this repository are marked as read. (string, optional)
repo: Optional repository name. If provided with owner, only notifications
for this repository are marked as read. (string, optional)
search_orgs - Search organizations
order: Sort order (string, optional)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
query: Organization search query. Examples: 'microsoft',
'location:california', 'created:>=2025-01-01'. Search is automatically
scoped to type:org. (string, required)
sort: Sort field by category (string, optional)
add_comment_to_pending_review - Add review comment to the requester's
latest pending pull request review
body: The text of the review comment (string, required)
line: The line of the blob in the pull request diff that the comment
applies to. For multi-line comments, the last line of the range (number,
optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
path: The relative path to the file that necessitates a comment (string,
required)
pullNumber: Pull request number (number, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
side: The side of the diff to comment on. LEFT indicates the previous
state, RIGHT indicates the new state (string, optional)
startLine: For multi-line comments, the first line of the range that the
comment applies to (number, optional)
startSide: For multi-line comments, the starting side of the diff that the
comment applies to. LEFT indicates the previous state, RIGHT indicates the
new state (string, optional)
subjectType: The level at which the comment is targeted (string, required)
create_and_submit_pull_request_review - Create and submit a pull request
review without comments
body: Review comment text (string, required)
commitID: SHA of commit to review (string, optional)
event: Review action to perform (string, required)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
pullNumber: Pull request number (number, required)
private: Whether repo should be private (boolean, optional)
delete_file - Delete file
branch: Branch to delete the file from (string, required)
message: Commit message (string, required)
owner: Repository owner (username or organization) (string, required)
path: Path to the file to delete (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
fork_repository - Fork repository
organization: Organization to fork to (string, optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
get_commit - Get commit details
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
sha: Commit SHA, branch name, or tag name (string, required)
get_file_contents - Get file or directory contents
owner: Repository owner (username or organization) (string, required)
path: Path to file/directory (directories must end with a slash '/')
(string, optional)
ref: Accepts optional git refs such as refs/tags/{tag},
refs/heads/{branch} or refs/pull/{pr_number}/head (string, optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
sha: Accepts optional commit SHA. If specified, it will be used instead of
ref (string, optional)
get_tag - Get tag details
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
tag: Tag name (string, required)
list_branches - List branches
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
list_commits - List commits
author: Author username or email address to filter commits by (string,
optional)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
sha: Commit SHA, branch or tag name to list commits of. If not provided,
uses the default branch of the repository. If a commit SHA is provided, will
list commits up to that SHA. (string, optional)
list_tags - List tags
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
push_files - Push files to repository
branch: Branch to push to (string, required)
files: Array of file objects to push, each object with path (string) and
content (string) (object[], required)
message: Commit message (string, required)
owner: Repository owner (string, required)
repo: Repository name (string, required)
search_code - Search code
order: Sort order for results (string, optional)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
query: Search query using GitHub's powerful code search syntax. Examples:
'content:Skill language:Java org:github', 'NOT is:archived language:Python
OR language:go', 'repo:github/github-mcp-server'. Supports exact matching,
language filters, path filters, and more. (string, required)
sort: Sort field ('indexed' only) (string, optional)
search_repositories - Search repositories
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
get_secret_scanning_alert - Get secret scanning alert
alertNumber: The number of the alert. (number, required)
owner: The owner of the repository. (string, required)
repo: The name of the repository. (string, required)
list_secret_scanning_alerts - List secret scanning alerts
owner: The owner of the repository. (string, required)
repo: The name of the repository. (string, required)
resolution: Filter by resolution (string, optional)
secret_type: A comma-separated list of secret types to return. All default
secret patterns are returned. To return generic patterns, pass the token
name(s) in the parameter. (string, optional)
state: Filter by state (string, optional)
search_users - Search users
order: Sort order (string, optional)
page: Page number for pagination (min 1) (number, optional)
perPage: Results per page for pagination (min 1, max 100) (number,
optional)
query: User search query. Examples: 'john smith', 'location:seattle',
'followers:>100'. Search is automatically scoped to type:user. (string,
required)
sort: Sort users by number of followers or repositories, or when the
person joined GitHub. (string, optional)
Additional Tools in Remote Github MCP Server
create_pull_request_with_copilot - Perform task with GitHub Copilot coding
agent
owner: Repository owner. You can guess the owner, but confirm it with the
user before proceeding. (string, required)
repo: Repository name. You can guess the repository name, but confirm it
with the user before proceeding. (string, required)
problem_statement: Detailed description of the task to be performed (e.g.,
'Implement a feature that does X', 'Fix bug Y', etc.) (string, required)
title: Title for the pull request that will be created (string, required)
base_ref: Git reference (e.g., branch) that the agent will start its work
from. If not specified, defaults to the repository's default branch (string,
optional)
Specifying Toolsets
To specify toolsets you want available to the LLM, you can pass an allow-list in
two ways:
The special toolset all can be provided to enable all available toolsets
regardless of any other configuration:
./github-mcp-server --toolsets all
Or using the environment variable:
GITHUB_TOOLSETS="all" ./github-mcp-server
Dynamic Tool Discovery
Note: This feature is currently in beta and may not be available in all
environments. Please test it out and let us know if you encounter any issues.
Instead of starting with all tools enabled, you can turn on dynamic toolset
discovery. Dynamic toolsets allow the MCP host to list and enable toolsets in
response to a user prompt. This should help to avoid situations where the model
gets confused by the sheer number of tools available.
Using Dynamic Tool Discovery
When using the binary, you can pass the --dynamic-toolsets flag.
./github-mcp-server --dynamic-toolsets
When using Docker, you can pass the toolsets as environment variables:
To run the server in read-only mode, you can use the --read-only flag. This
will only offer read-only tools, preventing any modifications to repositories,
issues, pull requests, etc.
./github-mcp-server --read-only
When using Docker, you can pass the read-only mode as an environment variable:
GitHub Enterprise Server and Enterprise Cloud with data residency (ghe.com)
The flag --gh-host and the environment variable GITHUB_HOST can be used to
set the hostname for GitHub Enterprise Server or GitHub Enterprise Cloud with
data residency.
For GitHub Enterprise Server, prefix the hostname with the https:// URI
scheme, as it otherwise defaults to http://, which GitHub Enterprise Server
does not support.
For GitHub Enterprise Cloud with data residency, use
https://YOURSUBDOMAIN.ghe.com as the hostname.
The descriptions of the tools can be overridden by creating a
github-mcp-server-config.json file in the same directory as the binary.
The file should contain a JSON object with the tool names as keys and the new
descriptions as values. For example:
{
"TOOL_ADD_ISSUE_COMMENT_DESCRIPTION": "an alternative description",
"TOOL_CREATE_BRANCH_DESCRIPTION": "Create a new branch in a GitHub repository"
}
You can create an export of the current translations by running the binary with
the --export-translations flag.
This flag will preserve any translations/overrides you have made, while adding
any new translations that have been added to the binary since the last time you
exported.
You can also use ENV vars to override the descriptions. The environment variable
names are the same as the keys in the JSON file, prefixed with GITHUB_MCP_ and
all uppercase.
For example, to override the TOOL_ADD_ISSUE_COMMENT_DESCRIPTION tool, you can
set the following environment variable:
export GITHUB_MCP_TOOL_ADD_ISSUE_COMMENT_DESCRIPTION="an alternative description"
Library Usage
The exported Go API of this module should currently be considered unstable, and
subject to breaking changes. In the future, we may offer stability; please file
an issue if there is a use case where this would be valuable.
License
This project is licensed under the terms of the MIT open source license. Please
refer to MIT for the full terms.