Github MCP Server

Github MCP server is a locally run integration for AI assistants that speak the Model Context Protocol. Manages GitHub issues via Cline by listing existing issues and creating new ones.

What you get

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation for interacting with GitHub issues through Cline.

• List GitHub issues from a repository
• Create new GitHub issues
• Error handling and validation
• Secure authentication via environment variables

Setting it up

Setup follows the usual MCP pattern — install or clone the server, register it in your client's configuration file, restart the client.

What the assistant can call

Once Github is connected, these are the calls the assistant has available:

• get_issues — Get a list of issues from a GitHub repository: json { "repo": "owner/repo" }
• create_issue — Create a new issue in a GitHub repository: json { "repo": "owner/repo", "title": "Issue title", "body": "Issue description" }

Configuration and credentials

You will need one environment variable: GITHUB_TOKEN. The server will not start without them, which is usually why the tools fail to appear on a first run. Keep credentials in your client's env block or a secrets manager rather than in a file you might commit.

Before you rely on it

• It runs with your machine's permissions. That is convenient and also the reason to think about what you point it at before you approve a tool call.
• Missing credentials fail quietly in some clients — if no tools show up, check the environment block first.
• MCP clients confirm each tool call by default. Leave that on until you have watched what the github mcp server does with a few real requests.

Choosing this one

This sits in the developer tooling group, where several servers overlap in what they claim to do but differ sharply once you actually set them up. Github's toolset — get_issues, create_issue — is a fair guide to whether it matches your workflow. It is maintained by timbuchinger; worth a glance at recent repository activity before you build anything load-bearing on it.

This entry was verified against Github's own documentation before publication; SyncDev keeps the directory reviewed rather than auto-generated.