GitHub MCP Server

Overview

GitHub MCP Server is GitHub's own MCP implementation, giving AI agents and assistants direct, structured access to GitHub (repositories, issues, pull requests, Actions runs, code scanning alerts, discussions and more) through natural language instead of hand-rolled API calls.

How it works

The server ships in two forms: a remote server hosted by GitHub (the easiest way to get started, with OAuth or a PAT) and a local server you run yourself via Docker or a Go binary. Both expose the same GitHub capabilities grouped into toolsets (repos, issues, pull_requests, actions, code_security, discussions, projects, stargazers...), which you can enable selectively so the agent's tool list stays small and focused.

1. Connect: point any MCP-capable client (VS Code, Claude Code/Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot CLI...) at the remote URL or the local Docker image.
2. Pick toolsets: enable only what you need (--toolsets repos,issues) or all.
3. Let the agent act: browse code, triage issues, open/review PRs, inspect Actions runs and security findings, all from chat.
4. Read-only / lockdown modes: run with --read-only to prevent writes, or --lockdown-mode to filter content from users without push access (reduces prompt-injection risk from untrusted issues/PRs).

Examples

Typical use cases straight from the project's own docs:

"Summarize open issues labeled 'bug' in this repo and suggest a triage order."
"Open a PR that fixes the failing lint step in the last Actions run."
"What Dependabot alerts are open on the main branch right now?"

Great for repo management, issue/PR automation, CI/CD intelligence and code/security analysis, anywhere an agent needs real GitHub context to act on rather than a guess.

Installation

For the remote server you need nothing local beyond an MCP client that supports HTTP servers. For the local server you need Docker.

1. Easiest option: add the remote server URL (https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/) to your MCP client's config and sign in with OAuth or a personal access token when prompted.
2. Or run it locally with Docker instead:

   docker run -i --rm -p 127.0.0.1:8085:8085 -e GITHUB_OAUTH_CALLBACK_PORT \
     ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server
   

   and point your client at that process.
3. Restart your client, then narrow the toolsets you actually need (for example --toolsets repos,issues) instead of enabling all of them.
4. For sensitive repos, add --read-only or --lockdown-mode to limit what the agent can do.