GitHub
Manage GitHub repositories using a personal access token via CLI or environment variables.
GitHub MCP Server
A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides comprehensive GitHub repository operations through a simple CLI interface.
Features
- 🔍 Repository exploration and file content retrieval
- 📄 README and file content access
- 🔎 Code search within repositories
- 📋 Issues and pull requests management
- 🌿 Branch and commit information
- 👤 User information lookup
- 🚀 Rate limiting and error handling
- 📦 Easy npx installation
Installation & Usage
Quick Start (Recommended)
# Run directly with npx (no installation needed)
npx @ildunari/github-mcp-server --github-token YOUR_GITHUB_TOKEN
# Or use environment variable
export GITHUB_TOKEN=your_token_here
npx @ildunari/github-mcp-server --github-token $GITHUB_TOKEN
Global Installation
npm install -g @ildunari/github-mcp-server
@ildunari/github-mcp-server --github-token YOUR_GITHUB_TOKEN
GitHub Token Setup
-
Go to GitHub Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens
-
Generate a new token (classic) with these scopes:
repo(for private repositories)public_repo(for public repositories)read:user(for user information)
-
Use the token with the CLI:
npx @ildunari/github-mcp-server --github-token ghp_your_token_here
Available Tools
Repository Operations
github_repo_info- Get repository informationgithub_list_contents- List directory contentsgithub_get_file_content- Get file contentgithub_get_readme- Get repository READMEgithub_search_code- Search code in repository
Issues & Pull Requests
github_list_issues- List repository issuesgithub_get_issue- Get specific issue detailsgithub_list_pulls- List pull requestsgithub_get_pull- Get specific pull request details
Repository Management
github_list_branches- List repository branchesgithub_user_info- Get user information
CLI Options
Options:
-t, --github-token GitHub access token for API requests [required]
-r, --rate-limit Rate limit delay in ms between requests [default: 100]
-h, --help Show help
Examples
Basic Usage
# Start the MCP server
npx @ildunari/github-mcp-server --github-token YOUR_TOKEN
# The server will run on stdio and accept MCP requests
With Custom Rate Limiting
# Slower rate limiting (500ms between requests)
npx @ildunari/github-mcp-server --github-token YOUR_TOKEN --rate-limit 500
MCP Client Configuration
For use with Claude Desktop or other MCP clients:
{
"mcpServers": {
"github": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["@ildunari/github-mcp-server", "--github-token", "YOUR_GITHUB_TOKEN"]
}
}
}
Response Formats
All tools support two detail levels:
summary(default) - Condensed informationdetailed- Full API response
Example tool call:
{
"name": "github_repo_info",
"arguments": {
"repo_url": "https://github.com/microsoft/vscode",
"detail_level": "summary"
}
}
Error Handling
The server includes comprehensive error handling for:
- Invalid GitHub URLs
- API rate limits
- Authentication errors
- Network issues
- File encoding problems
License
MIT License
Author
ildunari
Contributing
- Fork the repository
- Create your feature branch
- Commit your changes
- Push to the branch
- Create a Pull Request
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