GitHub MCP Server is GitHub's official Model Context Protocol server, which lets AI tools interact with GitHub repositories and development data. It is used to browse code, manage issues and pull requests, inspect automation runs, review security findings, and support other repository workflows through natural-language requests. The catalogue add-ons connect coding agents to these GitHub capabilities.
Borrowing it
Nothing to install: this file belongs to github/github-mcp-server. Take a copy, put it at the same path in your own repository, and replace the rules that are about this project with yours.
curl -O https://raw.githubusercontent.com/github/github-mcp-server/main/.github/copilot-instructions.mdgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/github/github-mcp-serverWrote this? Show the measurements
A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.
[](https://agentmods.dev/instructions/github/github-mcp-server/copilot-instructions)<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/github/github-mcp-server/copilot-instructions"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/github/github-mcp-server/copilot-instructions/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/instructions/github/github-mcp-server/copilot-instructions"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/instructions/github/github-mcp-server/copilot-instructions.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>What it costs to keep this loaded
Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5.1 | $0.03219 | $0.03219 |
| Opus 5.5 | $0.01288 | $0.01288 |
| Sonnet 5.5 | $0.00644 | $0.00644 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00322 | $0.00322 |
Grade A, and why
github-mcp-server copilot-instructions.md scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 16d ago.
A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.
Nothing flagged
None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.
Copies of this mod
1 near-identical copy found in the catalogue:
- omnigit-mcp copilot-instructions.md — 97% identical, 20 lines differ
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 291 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
GitHub MCP Server - Copilot Instructions
Project Overview
This is the GitHub MCP Server, a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that connects AI tools to GitHub's platform. It enables AI agents to manage repositories, issues, pull requests, workflows, and more through natural language.
Key Details:
- Language: Go 1.27.3+ (~38k lines of code)
- Type: MCP server application with CLI interface
- Primary Package: github-mcp-server (stdio MCP server - this is the main focus)
- Secondary Package: mcpcurl (testing utility - don't break it, but not the priority)
- Framework: Uses modelcontextprotocol/go-sdk for MCP protocol, google/go-github for GitHub API
- Size: ~60MB repository, 70 Go files
- Library Usage: This repository is also used as a library by the remote server. Functions that could be called by other repositories should be exported (capitalized), even if not required internally. Preserve existing export patterns.
Code Quality Standards:
- Popular Open Source Repository - High bar for code quality and clarity
- Comprehension First - Code must be clear to a wide audience
- Clean Commits - Atomic, focused changes with clear messages
- Structure - Always maintain or improve, never degrade
- Code over Comments - Prefer self-documenting code; comment only when necessary
Critical Build & Validation Steps
Required Commands (Run Before Committing)
ALWAYS run these commands in this exact order before using report_progress or finishing work:
- Format Code:
script/lint(runsgofmt -s -w .thengolangci-lint) - Run Tests:
script/test(runsgo test -race ./...) - Update Documentation:
script/generate-docs(if you modified MCP tools/toolsets)
These commands are FAST: Lint ~1s, Tests ~1s (cached), Build ~1s
When Modifying MCP Tools/Endpoints
If you change any MCP tool definitions or schemas:
- Run tests with
UPDATE_TOOLSNAPS=true go test ./...to update toolsnaps - Commit the updated
.snapfiles inpkg/github/__toolsnaps__/ - Run
script/generate-docsto update README.md - Toolsnaps document API surface and ensure changes are intentional
What this file has done since we first saw it
Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.
- 16d ago Changed · +2 tokens per session 1ddcb0ed5bb4
- 2mo ago First seen · 291 lines · 3,217 tokens per session scan A 83a4bbbae137
github-mcp-server copilot-instructions.md is an instructions file published in the GitHub repository github/github-mcp-server (34,264 stars, last pushed yesterday), licensed MIT. It adds 3,219 tokens to every session, about $0.0129 per session on Opus 5.5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.
github-mcp-server copilot-instructions.md compared with instructions from other repositories
| Mod | Type | Stars | Last push | Licence | Scan | Tokens | Works with |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| github-mcp-server copilot-instructions.mdgithub/github-mcp-server | Instructions file | 34k | yesterday | MIT | A | 3,219 | GitHub Copilot |
| vscode buildNext.instructions.mdmicrosoft/vscode | Instructions file | 195k | today | MIT | A | 9,719 | GitHub Copilot |
| next.js AGENTS.mdvercel/next.js | Instructions file | 143k | today | MIT | A | 7,461 | Codex, OpenCode |
| vscode oss-third-party-notices.instructions.mdmicrosoft/vscode | Instructions file | 195k | today | MIT | A | 5,516 | GitHub Copilot |
| langchain AGENTS.mdlangchain-ai/langchain | Instructions file | 149k | today | MIT | A | 4,680 | Codex, OpenCode |
| vscode copilot-instructions.mdmicrosoft/vscode | Instructions file | 195k | today | MIT | A | 3,093 | GitHub Copilot |
| deepseek-harness AGENTS.mddeepseek-ai/deepseek-harness | Instructions file | 274k | 2d ago | MIT | A | 4,313 | Codex, OpenCode |