github-mcp-server

A connector that lets a coding agent use GitHub's API through the Model Context Protocol, a standard way for software tools to communicate. It can run locally in Docker or connect to GitHub's hosted service.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it to access GitHub repositories, issues, pull requests, and other configured GitHub tools from an agent.
Why use it?
It removes the need to manually look up and pass GitHub data to the agent. Read-only settings can limit access when changes are not wanted.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/github/gh-aw/github-mcp-server
Any agent
npx skills add github/gh-aw --skill github-mcp-server
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/github/gh-aw

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Per session 19 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 4,467 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

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.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00019 $0.04467
Opus 5 $0.00010 $0.02233
Sonnet 5 $0.00004 $0.00893
Haiku 4.5 $0.00002 $0.00447

Measured 2d ago against content hash 2ea8eb46d210, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

github-mcp-server 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 2d 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.

.github/skills/github-mcp-server/SKILL.md · 414 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 414 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

GitHub MCP Server Documentation

This file documents the GitHub MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, including tools and configuration options.

Note: This file is automatically generated and updated by the github-mcp-tools-report.md workflow. Manual edits may be overwritten.

Last Updated: [To be filled by workflow]

Overview

The GitHub MCP server provides AI agents with programmatic access to GitHub's API through the Model Context Protocol. It supports two modes of operation:

Local Mode (Docker-based)

  • Runs as a Docker container on the GitHub Actions runner
  • Uses GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN environment variable for authentication
  • Configurable toolsets via GITHUB_TOOLSETS environment variable
  • Supports read-only mode via GITHUB_READ_ONLY environment variable

Remote Mode (Hosted)

  • Connects to hosted GitHub MCP server at https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/
  • Uses Bearer token authentication in HTTP headers
  • Supports read-only mode via X-MCP-Readonly header
  • No Docker container required

Configuration

Basic Configuration

Local Mode (Docker):

tools:
  github:
    mode: "local"
    toolsets: [default]  # or [repos, issues, pull_requests]

Remote Mode (Hosted):

tools:
  github:
    mode: "remote"
    toolsets: [default]  # or [repos, issues, pull_requests]

Read-Only Mode

To restrict the GitHub MCP server to read-only operations:

tools:
  github:
    mode: "remote"
    read-only: true
    toolsets: [repos, issues]

Custom Authentication

Use a custom GitHub token instead of the default:

tools:
  github:
    mode: "remote"
    github-token: "${{ secrets.CUSTOM_GITHUB_PAT }}"
    toolsets: [repos, issues]

Available Toolsets

The GitHub MCP server organizes tools into logical toolsets. You can enable specific toolsets, use [default] for the recommended defaults, or use [all] to enable everything.

:::note[Why Use Toolsets?] The allowed: pattern for listing individual GitHub tools is not recommended for new workflows. Individual tool names may change between GitHub MCP server versions, but toolsets provide a stable API. Always use toolsets: instead. See Migration from Allowed to Toolsets for guidance on updating existing workflows. :::

Read the full file on GitHub · 414 lines

Changes

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.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 414 lines · 19 tokens per session scan A 2ea8eb46d210

Subscribe to this mod's changes

github-mcp-server is a skill published in the GitHub repository github/gh-aw (5,050 stars, last pushed 2d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 19 tokens to every session and 4,467 once invoked, about $0.0001 per session on Opus 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.

Related

Other skills, from other repositories

c-github

Interact with GitHub using the gh CLI and jq. Manage PRs, issues, repositories, and Actions workflows. Make raw API calls with gh api for anything not covered by built-in commands.

daxaur/openpaw · 48 tokens

watch-pr

Watch a GitHub pull request for CI status, reviews, comments, merge conflicts, and terminal states using the gh-watch extension. Use when the user wants to monitor a PR, wait for CI, or track PR progress.

justincampbell/gh-watch · 48 tokens

watch-tag

Watch a GitHub repository for new tags using the gh-watch extension. Use when the user wants to be notified when a tag is created, when a release is cut, or when a tag that includes a specific commit appears (e.g. "tell me when my merge ships in a release").

justincampbell/gh-watch · 62 tokens

watch-branch

Watch a GitHub branch for new commits using the gh-watch extension. Use when the user wants to be notified when new commits are pushed to a branch, monitor main for merges, or track branch activity.

justincampbell/gh-watch · 45 tokens

watch-commit

Watch a GitHub commit for CI status changes using the gh-watch extension. Use when the user wants to monitor a commit's CI checks, wait for a build to finish, or track CI progress on a specific SHA.

justincampbell/gh-watch · 48 tokens

update-architecture-docs

Generate or update the architecture documentation in docs/content/architecture/. Use on "update architecture docs", "generate architecture documentation", "regenerate architecture docs", or after any structural change to the codebase.

AlexSkrypnyk/scaffold · 46 tokens