github-mcp

name	github-mcp
description	Complete guide to all GitHub MCP server tools for repository management, issues, pull requests, and more.
homepage	https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/server-github
metadata	{"openclaw":{"emoji":"🐙","requires":{"bins":["mcporter"]},"install":[{"id":"node","kind":"node","package":"mcporter","bins":["mcporter"],"label":"Install mcporter (node)"}]}}

GitHub MCP Tools

Complete guide to all GitHub MCP server tools for repository management, issues, pull requests, and more.

🚀 Quick Start

First, always use --help to explore commands:

mcporter call github.search_repositories --help
mcporter list github --schema

Basic examples:

mcporter call github.search_repositories query="mcporter"
mcporter call github.list_issues owner="facebook" repo="react"

📋 Repository Management

Create Repository

mcporter call github.create_repository --help

Create a new repository:

mcporter call github.create_repository name="my-new-repo" description="My awesome repo" private=false auto-init=true

Required parameters:

• name: Repository name

Optional parameters:

• description: Repository description
• private: Whether repository should be private (true|false)
• auto-init: Initialize with README.md (true|false)

Search Repositories

mcporter call github.search_repositories --help

Search for repositories:

mcporter call github.search_repositories query="mcporter" perPage=10 page=1

Required parameters:

• query: Search query (see GitHub search syntax)

Optional parameters:

• page: Page number for pagination (default: 1)
• perPage: Number of results per page (default: 30, max: 100)

Fork Repository

mcporter call github.fork_repository --help

Fork a repository:

mcporter call github.fork_repository owner="facebook" repo="react" organization="my-org"

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name

Optional parameters:

• organization: Organization to fork to (defaults to your personal account)

📁 File Operations

Create or Update File

mcporter call github.create_or_update_file --help

Create a new file:

mcporter call github.create_or_update_file owner="facebook" repo="react" path="README.md" content="# My Repo" message="Initial commit" branch="main"

Create file with commit message from Markdown file:

mcporter call github.create_or_update_file owner="facebook" repo="react" path="README.md" content="# My Repo" message="$(cat path/to/commit.md)" branch="main"

Update existing file:

mcporter call github.create_or_update_file owner="facebook" repo="react" path="README.md" content="# Updated Repo" message="Update README" branch="main" sha="abc123def456"

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name
• path: Path where to create/update file
• content: Content of file
• message: Commit message (read from Markdown file: message="$(cat file.md)")
• branch: Branch to create/update file in

Optional parameters:

• sha: SHA of file being replaced (required when updating existing files)

Get File Contents

mcporter call github.get_file_contents --help

Get file contents:

mcporter call github.get_file_contents owner="facebook" repo="react" path="README.md" branch="main"

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name
• path: Path to file or directory

Optional parameters:

• branch: Branch to get contents from

Push Multiple Files

mcporter call github.push_files --help

Push multiple files:

mcporter call github.push_files owner="facebook" repo="react" branch="main" files='[{"path":"README.md","content":"# My Repo"},{"path":"src/index.js","content":"console.log(\"hello\")"}]' message="Add files"

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name
• branch: Branch to push to (e.g., 'main' or 'master')
• files: Array of files to push (each with path and content)
• message: Commit message

🌿 Branch Management

Create Branch

mcporter call github.create_branch --help

Create a new branch:

mcporter call github.create_branch owner="facebook" repo="react" branch="feature/new-feature" from_branch="main"

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name
• branch: Name for the new branch

Optional parameters:

• from_branch: Source branch to create from (defaults to repository's default branch)

List Commits

mcporter call github.list_commits --help

List commits:

mcporter call github.list_commits owner="facebook" repo="react"

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name

� Reading Content from Files

For long messages (commit messages, issue bodies, PR descriptions), read from Markdown files:

PowerShell / Bash / Zsh (Recommended)

# Read body from Markdown file
mcporter call github.create_issue owner="facebook" repo="react" title="Bug Report" body="$(cat path/to/issue.md)"

# Read commit message from file
mcporter call github.create_or_update_file owner="facebook" repo="react" path="README.md" content="# Updated" message="$(cat path/to/commit.md)" branch="main"

# Read PR body from file
mcporter call github.create_pull_request owner="facebook" repo="react" title="New Feature" head="feature" base="main" body="$(cat path/to/pr.md)"

Why use Markdown files?

• ✅ Perfect for code snippets with backticks: `code()`
• ✅ No need to escape quotes or special characters
• ✅ Easy to edit and review in Markdown editors
• ✅ Version control friendly
• ✅ Better readability for complex content

cmd.exe (Windows Command Prompt)

cmd.exe does NOT support cat command. Use one of these alternatives:

REM Option 1: Use PowerShell from cmd
powershell -Command "mcporter call github.create_issue owner=\"facebook\" repo=\"react\" title=\"Bug\" body=\"$(cat path/to/issue.md)\""

REM Option 2: Use direct JSON string (escape backticks as ``)
mcporter call github.create_issue owner="facebook" repo="react" title="Bug" body="Code example: ``print('hello')``"

REM Option 3: Create a temporary PowerShell script
echo mcporter call github.create_issue owner="facebook" repo="react" title="Bug" body="$(cat path/to/issue.md)" > temp.ps1
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File temp.ps1

Terminal Compatibility Table:

Terminal	cat Command	Command Replacement $(...)	Recommended
PowerShell	✅ Yes (alias for Get-Content)	✅ Yes	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Bash	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Zsh	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Fish	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
cmd.exe	❌ No	❌ No	⭐⭐

� Issue Management

Create Issue

mcporter call github.create_issue --help

Create a new issue:

mcporter call github.create_issue owner="facebook" repo="react" title="Bug in component" body="Steps to reproduce..." assignees='["user1","user2"]' labels='["bug","high-priority"]' milestone=1

Create issue with body from Markdown file (Recommended):

mcporter call github.create_issue owner="facebook" repo="react" title="Bug in component" body="$(cat path/to/issue.md)"

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name
• title: Issue title

Optional parameters:

• body: Issue body/description (read from Markdown file: body="$(cat file.md)")
• assignees: Array of users to assign
• milestone: Milestone number
• labels: Array of labels

List Issues

mcporter call github.list_issues --help

List all issues:

mcporter call github.list_issues owner="facebook" repo="react"

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name

Get Issue

mcporter call github.get_issue --help

Get specific issue:

mcporter call github.get_issue owner="facebook" repo="react" issue_number=123

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name
• issue_number: Issue number

Update Issue

mcporter call github.update_issue --help

Update an issue:

mcporter call github.update_issue owner="facebook" repo="react" issue_number=123 state="closed" title="Updated title"

Update issue with body from Markdown file:

mcporter call github.update_issue owner="facebook" repo="react" issue_number=123 body="$(cat path/to/update.md)"

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name
• issue_number: Issue number

Optional parameters:

• state: Issue state (open|closed)
• title: Updated issue title
• body: Updated issue body (read from Markdown file: body="$(cat file.md)")

Add Issue Comment

mcporter call github.add_issue_comment --help

Add comment to issue:

mcporter call github.add_issue_comment owner="facebook" repo="react" issue_number=123 body="This looks great!"

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name
• issue_number: Issue number
• body: Comment text

Search Issues

mcporter call github.search_issues --help

Search for issues:

mcporter call github.search_issues query="is:issue is:open label:bug repo:facebook/react"

Required parameters:

• query: Search query (see GitHub search syntax)

Search Code

mcporter call github.search_code --help

Search for code:

mcporter call github.search_code query="useState repo:facebook/react"

Required parameters:

• query: Search query (see GitHub search syntax)

Search Users

mcporter call github.search_users --help

Search for users:

mcporter call github.search_users query="john"

Required parameters:

• query: Search query

🔀 Pull Request Management

Create Pull Request

mcporter call github.create_pull_request --help

Create a new PR:

mcporter call github.create_pull_request owner="facebook" repo="react" title="Add new feature" head="feature-branch" base="main" body="Description of changes" draft=false

Create PR with body from Markdown file (Recommended):

mcporter call github.create_pull_request owner="facebook" repo="react" title="Add new feature" head="feature-branch" base="main" body="$(cat path/to/pr.md)" draft=false

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name
• title: Pull request title
• head: Branch where your changes are implemented
• base: Branch you want changes pulled into

Optional parameters:

• body: Pull request body/description (read from Markdown file: body="$(cat file.md)")
• draft: Create as draft (true|false)
• maintainer_can_modify: Whether maintainers can modify PR (true|false)

Get Pull Request

mcporter call github.get_pull_request --help

Get PR details:

mcporter call github.get_pull_request owner="facebook" repo="react" pull_number=123

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name
• pull_number: Pull request number

List Pull Requests

mcporter call github.list_pull_requests --help

List all PRs:

mcporter call github.list_pull_requests owner="facebook" repo="react"

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name

Get Pull Request Files

mcporter call github.get_pull_request_files --help

Get files changed in PR:

mcporter call github.get_pull_request_files owner="facebook" repo="react" pull_number=123

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name
• pull_number: Pull request number

Get Pull Request Status

mcporter call github.get_pull_request_status --help

Get PR status checks:

mcporter call github.get_pull_request_status owner="facebook" repo="react" pull_number=123

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name
• pull_number: Pull request number

Update Pull Request Branch

mcporter call github.update_pull_request_branch --help

Update PR with latest changes:

mcporter call github.update_pull_request_branch owner="facebook" repo="react" pull_number=123 expected_head_sha="abc123def456"

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name
• pull_number: Pull request number

Optional parameters:

• expected_head_sha: Expected SHA of PR's HEAD ref

Merge Pull Request

mcporter call github.merge_pull_request --help

Merge a PR:

mcporter call github.merge_pull_request owner="facebook" repo="react" pull_number=123 commit_title="Merge feature" commit_message="Fixes #123" merge_method="merge"

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name
• pull_number: Pull request number

Optional parameters:

• commit_title: Title for automatic commit message
• commit_message: Extra detail to append to commit message
• merge_method: Merge method (merge|squash|rebase)

Create Pull Request Review

mcporter call github.create_pull_request_review --help

Create a PR review:

mcporter call github.create_pull_request_review owner="facebook" repo="react" pull_number=123 body="LGTM!" event="APPROVE" comments='[{"path":"src/app.js","position":10,"body":"Great code!"}]'

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name
• pull_number: Pull request number
• body: Review body text
• event: Review action (APPROVE|REQUEST_CHANGES|COMMENT)

Optional parameters:

• comments: Array of review comments (specify either position or line, not both)

Get Pull Request Comments

mcporter call github.get_pull_request_comments --help

Get PR comments:

mcporter call github.get_pull_request_comments owner="facebook" repo="react" pull_number=123

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name
• pull_number: Pull request number

Get Pull Request Reviews

mcporter call github.get_pull_request_reviews --help

Get PR reviews:

mcporter call github.get_pull_request_reviews owner="facebook" repo="react" pull_number=123

Required parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name
• pull_number: Pull request number

💡 Common Patterns

Authentication

All GitHub MCP tools require authentication via GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN environment variable.

Setup:

# Set environment variable
$env:GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN = "ghp_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

# Or add to mcporter config with empty string
mcporter config add github --command "npx" --arg "-y" --arg "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github" --env GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=""

Common Parameters

Owner and Repo: Most tools require owner and repo parameters:

• owner: Repository owner (username or organization)
• repo: Repository name

Example:

mcporter call github.create_issue owner="facebook" repo="react" title="Bug"

JSON Payloads

For complex parameters, use JSON payload:

mcporter call github.push_files --args '{
  "owner": "facebook",
  "repo": "react",
  "branch": "main",
  "files": [
    {"path": "README.md", "content": "# My Repo"},
    {"path": "src/index.js", "content": "console.log(\"hello\")"}
  ],
  "message": "Add files"
}'

Output Formats

Control output format:

# JSON output (machine-readable)
mcporter call github.search_repositories query="mcporter" --output json

# Markdown output
mcporter call github.search_repositories query="mcporter" --output markdown

🔍 Getting Help

# List all tools
mcporter list github --schema

# Get help for specific tool
mcporter call github.<tool_name> --help

# Get help with all parameters
mcporter call github.<tool_name> --help

📖 Full Documentation

For complete GitHub MCP server documentation, visit: https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/server-github

🎯 Tool Categories

Repository Management

• create_repository - Create a new repository
• search_repositories - Search for repositories
• fork_repository - Fork a repository

File Operations

• create_or_update_file - Create or update a file
• get_file_contents - Get file contents
• push_files - Push multiple files

Branch Management

• create_branch - Create a new branch
• list_commits - List commits

Issue Management

• create_issue - Create a new issue
• list_issues - List all issues
• get_issue - Get specific issue
• update_issue - Update an issue
• add_issue_comment - Add comment to issue
• search_issues - Search for issues
• search_code - Search for code
• search_users - Search for users

Pull Request Management

• create_pull_request - Create a new PR
• get_pull_request - Get PR details
• list_pull_requests - List all PRs
• get_pull_request_files - Get files changed in PR
• get_pull_request_status - Get PR status checks
• update_pull_request_branch - Update PR with latest changes
• merge_pull_request - Merge a PR
• create_pull_request_review - Create a PR review
• get_pull_request_comments - Get PR comments
• get_pull_request_reviews - Get PR reviews