Which integrations are available for this server?

Enables authentication using GitHub Apps instead of Personal Access Tokens (PATs) for GitHub MCP servers, supporting secure, short-lived access tokens and fine-grained permissions for interacting with repositories and organizational data.

How do I use GitHub MCP App Shim?

1. Click on "Install Server". 2. Wait a few minutes for the server to deploy. Once ready, it will show a "Started" state. 3. In the chat, type @ followed by the MCP server name and your instructions, e.g., "@GitHub MCP App Shim Summarize the changes in the latest pull request for the 'api' repo" That's it! The server will respond to your query, and you can continue using it as needed. Here is a step-by-step guide with screenshots.

GitHub MCP App Shim

A lightweight stdio-to-http relay that enables the GitHub MCP Server to authenticate using a GitHub App instead of a Personal Access Token (PAT).

Why use this?

The official GitHub MCP server typically requires a static PAT. This shim allows your AI agent to use a GitHub App's fine-grained permissions and short-lived tokens, which is more secure for organizational use and avoids the 1-year expiration limit of standard tokens.

Features

Auto-Refresh: Automatically exchanges your App's Private Key for a fresh Installation Access Token every 50 minutes.
Stdio Bridge: Acts as a local stdio server for AI clients (like Claude Desktop) while communicating with GitHub's remote MCP endpoint over https.
Environment Driven: No secrets are hardcoded; all identifiers are passed via environment variables.

Prerequisites

Python 3.9+
A GitHub App registered in your organization with the necessary permissions (e.g., Contents: Read/Write, Metadata: Read-only).
The App must be installed on the target organization or repositories.

Installation

Clone or copy the github_shim.py and pyproject.toml into a folder.
Install the dependencies:
```
pip install .
```

Finding Your Credentials

Identifier	Where to find it
Client ID	Found on the General settings page of your GitHub App (e.g., `Iv23liABC123`).
Private Key	Generate and download the `.pem` file from the General settings page.
Installation ID	Navigate to your Org Settings > Installed GitHub Apps > Click Configure next to your app. The ID is the numeric string at the end of the URL (e.g., `.../installations/12345678`).

Configuration

Claude Desktop

Add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json (found at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github-app-agent": {
      "command": "github-mcp-shim",
      "env": {
        "GH_CLIENT_ID": "YOUR_CLIENT_ID",
        "GH_INSTALLATION_ID": "YOUR_INSTALL_ID",
        "GH_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH": "/absolute/path/to/your-app.private-key.pem",
        "GH_REMOTE_MCP_URL": "https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp"  // optional
      }
    }
  }
}

Security Note

Keep your .pem private key file secure. Anyone with access to this file and your Client ID can impersonate your agent and access the repositories authorized during the app installation.