GitHub MCP Server (Local)

A local MCP server that gives Claude Desktop direct access to your GitHub account via a personal access token. Runs entirely on your machine — your token never leaves your computer except to talk to GitHub's API directly.

Tools included

• github_whoami — get the authenticated user's profile
• github_list_repos — list your repos
• github_get_repo — get details on a specific repo
• github_search_repos — search repositories
• github_get_file — read a file's contents from a repo
• github_list_issues — list issues in a repo
• github_create_issue — create an issue
• github_list_pull_requests — list PRs in a repo
• github_search_code — search code across GitHub

1. Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ installed on your computer
• A GitHub Personal Access Token (PAT)

Create a GitHub token

1. Go to https://github.com/settings/tokens
2. Click Generate new token → Fine-grained token (recommended) or classic token
3. Give it a name, an expiration, and scopes:
   • Fine-grained: grant access to the repos you want, with Contents (read), Issues (read/write), Pull requests (read) permissions
   • Classic: the repo scope covers everything above
4. Copy the token (starts with github_pat_ or ghp_) — you won't see it again

Keep this token secret. Anyone with it can act as you on GitHub within its scopes.

2. Install

Unzip this project anywhere on your computer, then in a terminal:

cd github-mcp-server
npm install
npm run build

This produces a dist/index.js file — that's what Claude Desktop will run.

3. Configure Claude Desktop

Open your Claude Desktop config file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add an entry under mcpServers (create the file/section if it doesn't exist), using the absolute path to dist/index.js:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/github-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "ghp_your_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace the path and token with your own values.

4. Restart Claude Desktop

Fully quit and reopen the app. You should see a small tools/plug icon indicating the "github" MCP server is connected, and its tools will be available in chat.

Notes

• This server only runs while Claude Desktop is open — it starts/stops the process for you.
• To revoke access at any time, delete the token at https://github.com/settings/tokens.
• To add more capabilities (e.g. creating PRs, managing branches), extend src/index.ts with additional server.tool(...) calls using the Octokit REST API.