TL;DR

GitHub is a Version Control MCP server that lets Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf and any MCP-compatible AI agent official GitHub MCP — repos, issues, PRs. Install in 1 minute with mcpizy install github.

GitHub

Install verified 9 tools

Version Control

Last updated September 23, 2026 · By MCPizy team

Official GitHub MCP — repos, issues, PRs

Official homepage

Install GitHub

Via MCPizy CLI (recommended):

mcpizy install github

Or run directly:

npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-github

Tools exposed

9 tools available

get_repository

Get details about a GitHub repository

Inputs

ownerstringrequired
repostringrequired

list_issues

List issues in a repository with filters

Inputs

ownerstringrequired
repostringrequired
statestringoptional

create_issue

Open a new issue with a title and body

Inputs

ownerstringrequired
repostringrequired
titlestringrequired
bodystringoptional

list_pull_requests

List pull requests in a repository

Inputs

ownerstringrequired
repostringrequired
statestringoptional

create_pull_request

Open a new pull request between two branches

Inputs

ownerstringrequired
repostringrequired
titlestringrequired
headstringrequired
basestringrequired

get_file_contents

Read a file from a repo at a given ref

Inputs

ownerstringrequired
repostringrequired
pathstringrequired

create_or_update_file

Write a file to a repo (for commits via the API)

Inputs

ownerstringrequired
repostringrequired
pathstringrequired
contentstringrequired
messagestringrequired

search_code

Search code across GitHub

Inputs

qstringrequired

search_repositories

Search GitHub repositories

Inputs

querystringrequired

Configuration

Works identically across clients. Only the config file path differs.

Claude Code~/.claude.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "ghp_..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "ghp_..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Windsurf~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "ghp_..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Authentication setup

1
Create a fine-grained personal access token with repo + issues scopes
Get it GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN

What you can do with GitHub MCP

Paste any of these prompts into Claude Code, Cursor or another MCP-compatible client.

“Show me all open issues in `vercel/next.js` tagged `bug` from the last week”

Uses: list_issues

“Open an issue in my repo titled 'Fix CI flakiness' with a description of the problem”

Uses: create_issue

“Read the README of `anthropics/claude-code` and summarise the quickstart”

Uses: get_file_contents

“Find TypeScript repos with more than 10k stars that mention 'MCP server'”

Uses: search_repositories

“Create a PR from my branch `feat/auth` into `main` with title 'Add OAuth flow'”

Uses: create_pull_request

Why GitHub MCP matters

GitHub MCP is the most installed MCP server in the wild — and for good reason. It exposes the GitHub API as a clean set of agent tools: read repos, list and create issues, manage PRs, search code, write files. For any AI coding workflow, having Claude or Cursor call GitHub directly (instead of you copy-pasting issue text) compresses 10-minute tasks into 30 seconds.

Where it shines: PR review automation. The agent reads `list_pull_requests`, fetches the diff, leaves contextual `create_comment` calls. Issue triage is the second-best use: "look at the 20 oldest open issues, group by area, suggest labels." The official server (run by the Anthropic / Model Context Protocol team) ships ~9 tools that cover 90 % of the daily GitHub surface. There's also a more aggressive community fork with full Actions / projects / packages support if you need deeper workflows.

Compared to Linear MCP for issue work, GitHub wins when your team lives in GitHub-native projects and PR comments are the source of truth. Linear wins for sprint/cycle workflows and richer issue states. We run both — GitHub MCP for code/PRs, Linear MCP for planning. Token cost is lean for read tools (issues, PRs are short), heavier for `get_file_contents` on large files (one 1k-line file ≈ 4k tokens). Authentication is a fine-grained PAT — set the smallest scope (read-only repo + issues for safety), upgrade to write only when you have explicit human approval in the loop.

Common pitfalls

Fine-grained tokens have surprising scope limits — the "all repositories" toggle does NOT include private repos by default. If `list_pull_requests` returns empty for a private repo, regenerate the token with that repo explicitly selected.

`search_code` uses GitHub's code search index, which is eventually consistent and lossy. Recently pushed code can take 5-30 min to appear; some file types (lock files, vendored deps) are not indexed at all. For "find all callers of X" the agent should fall back to cloning + grep when search returns < 3 hits.

`create_or_update_file` commits via the API, which means no GPG signing, no pre-commit hooks, and no CI run on the same commit unless your branch protection allows it. For anything more than docs / small fixes, ask the agent to push to a branch and open a PR — never to commit directly to main.

Rate limits: 5,000 req/h for authenticated PAT. An aggressive triage of 200 issues at 5 calls each = 1,000 req — fine. A repo-wide audit across 50 repos can hit the wall. The agent should batch via GraphQL or accept paginated reads.

How GitHub MCP compares

Honest pros/cons against the closest version control MCP servers.

Server	Strengths	Trade-offs
GitLab MCP	Same primitives if your team is on GitLab, MIT-licensed	Smaller community, fewer tools maintained, no GraphQL coverage yet
Gitea MCP	Self-hostable, lightweight, good for private dev orgs	Tools cover only basic repo/issue ops, no PR automation depth
Linear MCP	Better for sprint/cycle planning, cleaner issue states	No code-side primitives — you still need GitHub for PRs

Works with

Claude Code

Claude Desktop

Cursor

Windsurf

VS Code + Copilot

Any MCP Client

More Version Control MCPs

🍵

Gitea

Manage Gitea repositories, issues, and pull requests for self-hosted Git from AI agents.

🦊

GitLab

GitLab API — projects, merge requests, pipelines

Alternatives to GitHub

If GitHub doesn't fit your stack, these Version Control MCP servers solve similar problems.

📦

Git

Local Git repository operations

🔴

Gitee

Gitee API integration for repository, issue, and pull request management. China's GitHub.

🐙

GitKraken

CLI for interacting with GitKraken APIs including Jira, GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket.

Frequently asked questions

What is the GitHub MCP server?

GitHub is listed as an Version Control Model Context Protocol server whose documented purpose is to let an MCP-compatible agent official GitHub MCP — repos, issues, PRs. Client support, permissions and authentication remain specific to the upstream project.

How do I install GitHub MCP with Claude Code?

The fastest way is the MCPizy CLI: run `mcpizy install github` and MCPizy will add the server to your `.claude.json` automatically. You can also install it manually by adding an entry under `mcpServers` in `.claude.json` with the command `npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-github` and restarting Claude Code.

Does MCPizy charge to view or install GitHub MCP?

No. Reading this profile and copying its install guidance is free. Upstream software, API, account or usage costs are separate, and licence coverage should be checked from the linked source when available.

Does GitHub MCP work with Cursor and Windsurf?

The MCP standard is supported by those clients, but a specific server can still have client-specific setup or transport limits. Use the configuration shown on this page when present and verify the upstream instructions before installation.

What can I do with GitHub MCP?

Its documented purpose is to let an MCP-compatible agent official GitHub MCP — repos, issues, PRs. The exact tools, permissions and write capabilities depend on the server version and configuration shown by the upstream project.

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