github-mcp
Use when an agent needs to operate GitHub natively — create issues and PRs, read and search repositories, and inspect commits — instead of shelling out to ad-hoc git commands.
- Score
- 99.9403 signals
- Evidence
- 32,663 stars · 4,883 forks · passed install test
- Last commit
- as last read from GitHub; most reads are from 2 Sep 2026 or later
- Listed
Install
armory install github-mcp --cli claudemerges a server entry into.mcp.jsonListed as compatible
{
"mcpServers": {
"github-mcp": {
"command": "docker",
"args": [
"run",
"-i",
"--rm",
"-e",
"GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN",
"ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server"
]
}
}
}↳ Restart Claude Code to load the MCP server.
Needs the armory CLI · not on npm yet, build it from cli/ in the repository
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What it is
An MCP server that exposes GitHub operations as agent tools: open and comment on issues, create branches and pull requests, read file contents, search code and repos, and list commits. It turns "do something on GitHub" into a direct tool call.
When to use it
When an agent's task involves the GitHub API — filing an issue from a CI failure, opening a PR, searching for a
pattern across a repo. Prefer it over scripted gh/git when you want structured tool calls.
How to install / invoke
Run GitHub's own server image, as its README documents, with a personal access token set in the environment the harness starts it from:
docker run -i --rm -e GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server
GitHub also hosts the same server at https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/ for harnesses that connect to a remote MCP
server. GitHub publishes no npm package for it: github-mcp-server on npm comes from another publisher.
Notes
Scope the token to what the agent actually needs. A gh CLI remains a fine fallback for scripted flows where you
don't want a server in context.