How to Create MCP Server for GitHub

Before building your own GitHub MCP integration, know that GitHub already ships an official one. It entered public preview in April 2025, and notably, GitHub worked directly with Anthropic to rewrite what had originally been a community/reference implementation into a first-party Go server — retaining 100% of the original functionality while adding code-scanning support and a new get_me function for identity lookups.

What the Official Server Covers

The official server (github.com/github/github-mcp-server) exposes tools across issues, pull requests, repository search, code scanning results, and more — running locally and authenticating with your own GitHub token. For most use cases — an agent that needs to search issues, read PR status, or file a new issue — reaching for the official server first is simpler than reinventing it.

When You'd Still Build Your Own

A custom server still makes sense if you need tools scoped to a very specific internal workflow the general-purpose official server doesn't model directly — for example, a tool that combines "get PR diff stats" with your own internal code-review policy check in a single call, rather than the agent making two separate calls and reasoning about the combination itself. If you do build your own, a minimal core tool set typically looks like:

• search_issues(repo, query, state)
• get_pull_request(repo, pr_number) — diff stats, review status, checks
• create_issue(repo, title, body, labels)

Token Scoping Matters Regardless of Which Server You Use

Whether you're running GitHub's official server or your own, use a fine-grained personal access token or a GitHub App installation token scoped to the specific repositories the agent actually needs — avoid classic tokens with org-wide write access. An agent that only needs to read issues in one repo shouldn't be authenticated with a token that could push to every repo in your organization.