GitHub MCP server

github-mcp

A public read+write MCP server over the GitHub REST API, built to the desktop-mcp/rag-mcp/mcp-factory standard (own pyproject, fastmcp server, honest README, real test suite) with env-gated tool groups (write disabled by default). Not the official GitHub MCP server -- see below.

Quickstart (60 seconds)

pip install jaimenbell-github-mcp

// Add to your MCP host config (e.g. Claude Desktop/Code's mcpServers block)
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github-mcp": {
      "command": "github-mcp"
    }
  }
}

The write tool group (issue/PR mutations) is off by default -- see Env vars below to enable it.

What this is / is not

This is a reference portfolio implementation demonstrating a hardened read+write MCP server pattern over a real external SaaS API (GitHub) -- env-gated tool groups, typed error/rate-limit handling, auth that degrades gracefully, a real test suite. It exists to show, concretely, "I build read/write MCP servers over external APIs" with a link a client can click.

It is NOT the official GitHub MCP server. It does not aim for parity with GitHub's own MCP offering (GraphQL, Actions, webhooks, GitHub Apps are all out of scope -- see below). It started life as a factory-scaffolded read-only demo (mcp-factory's generated/github_read_server.py) and was hand-hardened into this standalone read+write server -- the scaffold-then-harden path is itself part of the story this repo tells.

Tools (14)

One row per tool -- the two groups below just control default-on/off state, not what exists.

Tool	Group	What it does
get_repo	read	Repo metadata (stars, language, license, default branch, archived flag...)
list_issues	read	List issues on a repo (PRs filtered out)
get_issue	read	Fetch a single issue
list_pull_requests	read	List pull requests on a repo
get_pull_request	read	Fetch a single pull request
get_file_content	read	Read a repo file's content (base64-decoded, binary detected not decoded)
search_repos	read	Search public repositories
get_user	read	Public user/org profile
list_commits	read	List commits on a branch/ref
create_issue	write	Open an issue
comment_on_issue	write	Comment on an issue/PR
update_issue_state	write	Open/close an issue
add_labels	write	Add labels to an issue/PR
create_pr_review_comment	write	Create a PR review comment on a diff line

read is always on and works unauthenticated (GitHub's 60 req/hr tier). write is env-gated and OFF by default -- requires GITHUB_MCP_ENABLE_WRITE=1 and GITHUB_TOKEN.

A disabled write call returns a structured policy_refusal error (never a silent no-op, never a crash). A write call with the group enabled but no token returns a structured auth_required error -- the group gate and the token precondition are checked independently, both before any network call.

Write-safety-off-by-default

This is defense-in-depth, mirroring desktop-mcp's input group: harness-level permission prompts are the first gate, but the server itself refuses every write tool unless its own environment explicitly opts in with GITHUB_MCP_ENABLE_WRITE=1, and even then refuses without a GITHUB_TOKEN. A misconfigured or overly-permissive MCP host cannot turn on GitHub mutations this process wasn't deliberately configured to allow. The registration this repo ships with (see ~/.claude.json's github-mcp entry) has the write group absent from env -- enabling it is a deliberate per-registration operator choice, not a code change.

Honest-capabilities table

Every claim below maps to the file that implements it and the test(s) that verify it -- no capability is asserted without a corresponding implementation and test.

Claim	Implementation	Verified by
Repo metadata (stars, language, license, default branch, archived flag...)	github_mcp/groups/read.py::get_repo	tests/test_read.py::TestGetRepo, live: tests/test_live_smoke.py::test_live_get_repo_real_json
List / fetch issues (PRs filtered from list)	github_mcp/groups/read.py::list_issues, get_issue	tests/test_read.py::TestListIssues, TestGetIssue
List / fetch pull requests	github_mcp/groups/read.py::list_pull_requests, get_pull_request	tests/test_read.py::TestListPullRequests, TestGetPullRequest
Read a repo file's content (base64-decoded, binary detected not decoded)	github_mcp/groups/read.py::get_file_content	tests/test_read.py::TestGetFileContent
Search public repositories	github_mcp/groups/read.py::search_repos	tests/test_read.py::TestSearchRepos
Public user/org profile	github_mcp/groups/read.py::get_user	tests/test_read.py::TestGetUser
List commits on a branch/ref	github_mcp/groups/read.py::list_commits	tests/test_read.py::TestListCommits
Open an issue	github_mcp/groups/write.py::create_issue	tests/test_write.py::TestCreateIssue
Comment on an issue/PR	github_mcp/groups/write.py::comment_on_issue	tests/test_write.py::TestCommentOnIssue
Open/close an issue	github_mcp/groups/write.py::update_issue_state	tests/test_write.py::TestUpdateIssueState
Add labels to an issue/PR	github_mcp/groups/write.py::add_labels	tests/test_write.py::TestAddLabels
Create a PR review comment on a diff line	github_mcp/groups/write.py::create_pr_review_comment	tests/test_write.py::TestCreatePrReviewComment
Write group OFF by default, structured refusal when disabled	github_mcp/config.py::group_enabled, gated_write	tests/test_config.py::TestGroupEnabled, tests/test_write.py::TestGateDisabledByDefault
Write tools require a token even when the group is enabled	github_mcp/config.py::check_write_preconditions	tests/test_config.py::TestCheckWritePreconditions, tests/test_write.py::TestAuthRequiredWhenGroupEnabled
Fine-grained PAT auth, degrades to unauthenticated tier when absent	github_mcp/client.py::_headers	tests/test_client.py::TestAuthHeaderInjection, tests/test_read.py::TestUnauthDegrade
GitHub primary rate-limit (403 + X-RateLimit-Reset) and secondary rate-limit (403 + Retry-After, no X-RateLimit-Remaining) both surface as a typed error with reset/retry time, never a crash	github_mcp/client.py::_rate_limit_error, _is_rate_limit_response	tests/test_client.py::TestRateLimitError, tests/test_client.py::TestRateLimitError::test_secondary_rate_limit_no_ratelimit_headers_retry_after_only, tests/test_read.py::TestUnauthDegrade::test_get_repo_rate_limited_without_token_is_typed
Malformed owner/repo/path (control chars etc.) that would raise httpx.InvalidURL surfaces as a typed error, never an uncaught exception	github_mcp/client.py::request	tests/test_client.py::TestNetworkError::test_malformed_path_raises_invalid_url_caught_as_network_error
Generic 4xx/5xx surfaces as a typed error, never a crash	github_mcp/client.py::_api_error	tests/test_client.py::TestApiError
Non-JSON / malformed responses and network failures surface as typed errors	github_mcp/client.py::_handle_response, request	tests/test_client.py::TestDecodeError, TestNetworkError

Limitations (read before relying on this)

• REST v1 only. No GraphQL API coverage.
• No webhooks / GitHub App auth. Fine-grained PAT only.
• No Actions/workflow-dispatch tools. Issue/PR CRUD is the v1 write surface.
• Unauthenticated read is rate-limited to 60 req/hr by GitHub itself (10 req/min for search) -- expect rate_limited errors under sustained unauthenticated use; set GITHUB_TOKEN (even a read-only fine-grained PAT) to raise this considerably.
• get_file_content truncates past 100KB and reports (rather than decodes) non-UTF-8 files.
• No pagination beyond a single page for list endpoints (limit, capped per-endpoint, is the only page-size control in v1).
• Not registered with the mcp-factory hub. Ships as a standalone repo (own pyproject, system Python312 install), matching the rag-mcp/desktop-mcp model.

Env vars

Var	Effect	Default
GITHUB_MCP_ENABLE_WRITE	enable the write tool group	unset (off)
GITHUB_TOKEN	fine-grained PAT; read works without it (degraded unauth rate), write requires it	unset
GITHUB_MCP_LIVE	1 to run the real-network smoke test (see Testing)	unset (skip)

Usage examples

// A tool call from the MCP host, illustrative -- not a shell command.
{"tool": "get_repo", "arguments": {"owner": "anthropics", "repo": "anthropic-sdk-python"}}
// -> {"ok": true, "full_name": "anthropics/anthropic-sdk-python", "stargazers_count": 1234, ...}

// write group disabled (default):
{"tool": "create_issue", "arguments": {"owner": "o", "repo": "r", "title": "bug"}}
// -> {"ok": false, "error": {"type": "policy_refusal", "group": "write", "required_env": "GITHUB_MCP_ENABLE_WRITE", ...}}

// write group enabled, no token set:
{"tool": "create_issue", "arguments": {"owner": "o", "repo": "r", "title": "bug"}}
// -> {"ok": false, "error": {"type": "auth_required", "tool": "create_issue", ...}}

Testing

CI (.github/workflows/ci.yml) runs this suite on every push/PR and fails the build if the Tests badge above drifts from what the suite actually reports -- see scripts/check_readme_counts.py.

# unit suite (respx-mocked api.github.com, no real network touched)
python -m pytest -q

# handshake check -- prints every registered tool name
python scripts/list_tools.py

# real-network read smoke (get_repo against a stable public repo;
# no write smoke exists anywhere in this suite -- see safety rails above)
GITHUB_MCP_LIVE=1 python -m pytest -q -k live_get_repo

Install

pip install -r requirements.txt   # or: pip install .
# deps: fastmcp==3.4.2, httpx==0.28.1
# test-only: pytest==9.0.3, respx==0.23.1

Setup / connect

1. pip install -r requirements.txt on Python 3.12+.
2. (Optional) generate a fine-grained PAT scoped to the repos you want read+write access to (Issues: read/write, Pull requests: read/write, Contents: read is enough for v1). Read tools work with no token at all -- they just run at GitHub's unauthenticated 60 req/hr tier.
3. Add to your MCP host config (e.g. ~/.claude.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github-mcp": {
      "command": "C:\\Users\\<you>\\AppData\\Local\\Programs\\Python\\Python312\\python.exe",
      "args": ["C:\\Users\\<you>\\projects\\github-mcp\\run_server.py"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "your-fine-grained-pat-here"
        // GITHUB_MCP_ENABLE_WRITE intentionally absent -- write stays off
        // until you deliberately opt in per-deployment.
      }
    }
  }
}

1. To enable write tools for a given deployment, add "GITHUB_MCP_ENABLE_WRITE": "1" to that entry's env block. This is a registration-time operator decision, not a code change.

Registered in ~/.claude.json as github-mcp (stdio, system Python312, read group always on, write group absent from env -- off).

Commercial support

Maintained by Jaimen Bell. For production MCP integrations, custom servers, or agent-reliability work, see jaimenbell.dev.

Building your own MCP server? The MCP Starter Kit has templates, a build playbook, and packaging war-stories from shipping this one.

mcp-name: io.github.jaimenbell/github-mcp