get_file_contents
Retrieve file or directory contents from a GitHub repository by specifying owner, repo, and path parameters.
Instructions
Get the contents of a file or directory from a GitHub repository
Input Schema
TableJSON Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| owner | Yes | Repository owner (username or organization) | |
| repo | Yes | Repository name | |
| path | Yes | Path to the file or directory | |
| encoded | No | Whether to return the content encoded in base64 (default = true) | |
| branch | No | Branch to get contents from |
Implementation Reference
- src/operations/files.ts:85-105 (handler)Core handler function that fetches file or directory contents from GitHub repository using the Contents API, optionally decoding base64 content to UTF-8.
export async function getFileContents( { github_pat, owner, repo, path, encoded = false, branch }: z.infer< typeof _GetFileContentsSchema >, ) { let url = `https://api.github.com/repos/${owner}/${repo}/contents/${path}`; if (branch) { url += `?ref=${branch}`; } const response = await githubRequest(github_pat, url); const data = GitHubContentSchema.parse(response); // If it's a file, decode the content? if (!Array.isArray(data) && data.content && !encoded) { data.content = Buffer.from(data.content, "base64").toString("utf8"); data.encoding = "utf8"; } return data; } - src/index.ts:375-403 (handler)MCP server dispatch handler for 'get_file_contents' tool: validates input, invokes the core getFileContents function, and formats a user-friendly text response.
case "get_file_contents": { const args = files._GetFileContentsSchema.parse(params.arguments); const contents = await files.getFileContents(args); let text = ''; if (Array.isArray(contents)) { // this means it's a directory text = `Directory Contents:\n${contents.map(c => `- ${c.path} (${c.type}, ${c.type === 'file' ? c.size.toString() + ' bytes' : ''})`).join('\n')}` } else { // this means it's a singular file text = `File Name: ${contents.name} File Path: ${contents.path} File SHA: ${contents.sha} File Size: ${contents.size} File URL: ${contents.url} File HTML URL: ${contents.html_url} File Download URL: ${contents.download_url} File Type: ${contents.type} File Encoding: ${contents.encoding} File Content: \`\`\` ${contents.content} \`\`\` ` } return { content: [{ type: "text", text }], }; } - src/operations/files.ts:32-42 (schema)Zod input schemas for the get_file_contents tool: public schema (GetFileContentsSchema) used in registration and internal schema (_GetFileContentsSchema) with GitHub PAT used in handler.
export const GetFileContentsSchema = z.object({ owner: z.string().describe("Repository owner (username or organization)"), repo: z.string().describe("Repository name"), path: z.string().describe("Path to the file or directory"), encoded: z.boolean().optional().describe("Whether to return the content encoded in base64 (default = true)"), branch: z.string().optional().describe("Branch to get contents from"), }); export const _GetFileContentsSchema = GetFileContentsSchema.extend({ github_pat: z.string().describe("GitHub Personal Access Token"), }); - src/index.ts:94-97 (registration)Registration of the 'get_file_contents' tool in the MCP server's listTools response, specifying name, description, and input schema.
name: "get_file_contents", description: "Get the contents of a file or directory from a GitHub repository", inputSchema: zodToJsonSchema(files.GetFileContentsSchema), },