How to Use GitHub MCP with Claude Code

What is the GitHub MCP?

The GitHub MCP gives Claude Code authenticated access to the GitHub API. It can read and write repositories, manage issues and pull requests, inspect CI status, and search code — making it a powerful pair-programmer that understands not just your local codebase but your entire project history.

Installation

mcpizy install github

You will be asked for a GitHub Personal Access Token (PAT) with the repo and read:org scopes. For organization repos you may also need workflow and read:discussion.

Key Capabilities

• Create and update issues — open bug reports or feature requests with labels, assignees, and milestones.
• Open pull requests — push a branch and create a PR with a generated description in one step.
• Review diffs — fetch the diff of any PR and ask Claude to summarize, identify bugs, or suggest improvements.
• Search code and commits — find where a function is called across all your repositories.
• Manage releases — draft and publish GitHub releases with auto-generated changelogs.

Example Usage

After fixing a bug, ask Claude to wrap up the work:

// Claude will:
// 1. Stage and commit the fix
// 2. Push the branch
// 3. Open a PR with a descriptive body
// 4. Link the PR to the relevant issue

Claude uses the MCP's create_pull_request and create_issue tools to accomplish this in seconds.

Tips and Best Practices

• Scope your PAT to only the repositories you need to limit blast radius if the token is ever exposed.
• Use the MCP's search_code tool to quickly locate where a deprecated API is still used before removing it.
• Pair with the Linear MCP to keep your issue tracker and GitHub issues in sync automatically.
• For CI workflows, request the workflow scope so Claude can re-trigger failed Actions runs.

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