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GitHub MCP Server

GitHub's official MCP server — give any AI agent the full GitHub surface: repos, issues, PRs, Actions, security.

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About

The GitHub MCP Server is GitHub's official bridge between AI agents and the GitHub platform, and with 33,600+ stars it is one of the most adopted MCP servers in existence. It exposes repositories, code search, issues, pull requests, Actions workflow runs, code and secret scanning, Dependabot alerts, discussions, and projects as MCP tools, organized into toolsets you enable selectively — each with a read-only variant.

Two ways to run it: the GitHub-hosted remote server at https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/ (51 tools, OAuth auto-flow, no tokens in env — the recommended path) or locally via the official Docker image ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server with a personal access token. The legacy @modelcontextprotocol/server-github npm package was deprecated in April 2025 and should not be used. Practical advice from the ecosystem: scope toolsets tightly, prefer read-only mode for analysis work, enable lockdown mode (which limits public-repo content to push-authorized authors) in shared environments, and require human approval before merging to protected branches. One caution: a third-party registry flagged an August 2026 DoS advisory (GHSA-w4q6-qw23-4rg7) against the self-hosted server with no published patch at the time of writing — unverified, but another reason to prefer the vendor-operated remote endpoint.

What it can do

  • Official GitHub surface as MCP tools: repos, issues, PRs, Actions, code/security scanning, Dependabot, discussions, projects
  • Hosted remote server (51 tools, OAuth, no local runtime) or self-hosted Docker image
  • Selectively enabled toolsets, each with a read-only variant
  • Lockdown mode limiting public-repo content to push-authorized authors
  • Extra remote-only toolsets (Copilot Spaces, support-docs search, Copilot PR creation)
  • Org policies and governance documentation

Setup

  1. Remote (recommended): point your MCP host at https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/ — e.g. claude mcp add --transport http — and authenticate with OAuth.
  2. Or local: docker run -i --rm -e GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=<token> -e GITHUB_TOOLSETS="repos,issues,pull_requests" ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server.
  3. Enable only the toolsets you need; use --read-only for analysis-only workflows.
  4. In shared or enterprise environments, enable lockdown mode and org policies.

Prerequisites

An MCP-compatible host (VS Code 1.101+, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot CLI, etc.); a GitHub account with OAuth or a scoped personal access token.

Use cases

mcpdeveloper-toolscoding-agentsopen-source

Works with

Trust score — 9/10

/10 trustMetrics-checked

Scored 9/10 (metrics tier, metrics-v1). Evidence: 33,643 GitHub stars (GitHub API), MIT license, official GitHub repo pushed Oct 15 2026, multiple independent guides corroborating remote/local setup and toolset model. Strengths: first-party, huge adoption, read-only and lockdown modes show security was designed in. Docked for: (1) a third-party registry flags an Aug 2026 HIGH DoS advisory (GHSA-w4q6-qw23-4rg7) with no published patch — unverified, but self-hosters should check current status; (2) PAT-based local mode puts full repo access behind one token — scope it tightly. License: MIT.

★ 33,643 GitHub stars

How the trust score is built

Full methodology →
Adoption · stars/downloads, log-scaled vs peers
9.0/10
Maintenance · recency, releases, issue load
9.0/10
Openness · license + docs
10.0/10
Manual review · sanity read + red-flag check
8.0/10
  • · 33,643 GitHub stars (log-scaled vs catalog peers, verified via GitHub API)
  • · last push Oct 15 2026; MIT-licensed; official GitHub repo; remote server at api.githubcopilot.com/mcp plus Docker image ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server
  • · Toolsets (repos/issues/PRs/Actions/security) with read-only variants, lockdown mode — corroborated by multiple independent guides
  • · manual review: third-party registry flags an Aug 2026 HIGH DoS advisory (GHSA-w4q6-qw23-4rg7) with no published patch at time of writing — unverified, but self-hosters should check status; prefer the vendor-operated remote endpoint; scope PATs tightly

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these sources. Where a claim comes from the provider and couldn't be independently verified, the text says so.