🚀 OpenCollab MCP

Land your first open source PR this weekend.

Stop scrolling GitHub. Let AI find you a mergeable issue in 30 seconds — matched to your actual skills, in a repo that's actually alive.

Works with Claude Desktop · Cursor · VS Code · any MCP client

Install in 60 seconds · See it in action · All 22 tools

The problem

You want to contribute to open source. So you:

1. Scroll through hundreds of GitHub repos 😩

2. Find a "good first issue" — already taken 😤

3. Spend an hour understanding a dead repo 💀

4. Discover someone already opened a PR 😭

5. Give up, go back to tutorials 📺

This loop is broken. OpenCollab fixes it in one sentence to your AI assistant.

The fix

"Find me a good first issue I can contribute to this weekend."

Claude calls OpenCollab → scans your GitHub profile → picks your strongest language → finds beginner-friendly issues in active repos with no existing PR → hands you the issue + full context to draft the fix.

One sentence. 30 seconds. A real mergeable issue.

📦 Install in 60 seconds

1. Get a free GitHub token

github.com/settings/tokens → Generate new token (classic) → check public_repo → copy.

2. Add to your AI tool

Edit your config file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add this:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "opencollab": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["opencollab-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "your_github_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. Done.

Add to .cursor/mcp.json or your VS Code MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "opencollab": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["opencollab-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "your_github_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

pip install opencollab-mcp

Then in your MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "opencollab": {
      "command": "opencollab-mcp",
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "your_github_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

🎬 See it in action

The killer demo — 3 prompts to go from zero to a drafted PR

1️⃣ Analyze me

"My GitHub username is prakhar1605. Am I ready to contribute to open source?"

Readiness: 72/100. You know 4 languages, 15 public repos, haven't opened PRs yet. Tips: start with a docs fix, try a repo you already use.

2️⃣ Find me a mergeable issue

"Find me a Python good-first-issue I can finish in 1–2 hours. Make sure nobody's working on it."

Returns 5 issues · filters out ones with assignees or linked PRs · sorts by "quickness score" (short body, few comments, easy label).

3️⃣ Plan the PR

"Plan a PR for issue #456 in owner/repo."

Pulls the issue body, comments, CONTRIBUTING.md, the repo's directory structure, and the default branch — hands Claude everything needed to draft the actual code.

That's the whole loop: Analyze → Find → Plan → Ship.

More things you can just say

🛠️ All 22 tools

⚡ Why it's different

You ask Claude → Claude calls OpenCollab tools → Tools hit GitHub's free API → Data flows back → Claude reasons over it → You get a real, specific answer

OpenCollab is a data bridge, not an AI. Your AI assistant does the thinking. That means:

• 🆓 Zero AI costs — pure GitHub API, no paid services

• 🔑 No secrets besides a free GitHub token

• 💻 Runs locally on your machine (STDIO transport)

• 🔒 Private — your GitHub data never leaves your computer

• ⚡ Fast — direct API calls, no middleware, no telemetry

🏗️ Develop / Contribute

This project is itself a great first contribution target.

git clone https://github.com/prakhar1605/Opencollab-mcp.git
cd Opencollab-mcp
pip install -e .
export GITHUB_TOKEN="your_token_here"
python -m opencollab_mcp.server

# Or test with the MCP Inspector:
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector python -m opencollab_mcp.server

Check open issues labelled good first issue.

🗺️ Roadmap

• 22 tools shipped

• Published on PyPI — uvx opencollab-mcp works out of the box

• In-memory caching layer (fewer API calls, less rate-limit friction)

• first_pr_generator — one-shot "find + plan + draft my first PR"

• track_my_prs — dashboard of your open PRs with staleness nudges

• skill_gap — compare your skills vs a target repo's stack

• GitHub Actions CI

• SSE/remote deployment

Got an idea? Open an issue — that's the fastest path in.

📄 License

MIT — see LICENSE.

Built with ❤️ by Prakhar Pandey · IIT Guwahati

⭐ Star this repo if OpenCollab helps you land a PR. ⭐
It's the single biggest thing you can do to help other devs discover it.

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