mcp-github

This MCP server provides a GitHub integration for Cursor and Claude Desktop, exposing a wide range of GitHub operations through natural language commands. It can manage repositories, pull requests, issues, code search, commits, releases, webhooks, and branch protection, all from conversational prompts like "list my repositories", "show open PRs for repo X", or "create an issue in repo Y". The server translates these requests into GitHub API calls and returns structured results that you can further act on within your workflow. To use it, configure your MCP client (Cursor or Claude) with the server entry that points to the mcp-github-server package (typically via npx) and supply your GitHub token. Once configured, you can issue commands to browse repos, create PRs or issues, review PRs, search code, manage webhooks, and more, all without leaving your chat interface.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 18+ installed
• npm or pnpm
• A GitHub Personal Access Token with repo scope (and optionally read:org)

Installation from npm (recommended for quick setup):

npm install -g mcp-github-server

Installation from source:

git clone https://github.com/pblarismendi/mcp-github-server.git
cd mcp-github-server
npm install
npm run build

Configure the MCP client (Cursor/Claude) to point to the server using npx as shown in the mcp_config example and supply your GitHub token in the environment variable GITHUB_TOKEN. If you prefer a local path, you can build and then run the server with node dist/index.js or the equivalent built artifact.

Environment variables and configuration tips:

• GITHUB_TOKEN must be provided in the MCP client configuration (not exposed publicly).
• If using a local installation, ensure the path to dist/index.js is absolute and correct.
• For Windows users, using npx is recommended to avoid path resolution issues with global installs.
• If you encounter authentication errors, regenerate the token or re-authenticate with the correct scopes.
• The server supports a wide range of features via the listed tools (repositories, PRs, issues, code search, commits, releases, webhooks, branches, and more). Use the available commands to explore capabilities and refer to the README for exact tool names and usage.
• Keep dependencies up to date to ensure compatibility with GitHub API changes.