Which integrations are available for this server?

Provides comprehensive management of GitHub repositories, issues, pull requests, and search operations, enabling actions such as creating branches, merging pull requests, managing issue comments, and searching for code or users.

GitHub MCP Server — Java / Spring AI

Spring Boot Spring AI Java Lombok License: MIT

A production-ready MCP server that connects any MCP-compatible AI agent to the GitHub API. Manage repositories, issues, pull requests, and search — all through natural language.

Transport: HTTP/SSE on port 8080, compatible with Cursor and Claude Desktop out of the box.

Why this server?

Capability	This server	GitHub REST API
Repository management	✅	✅
Issue & PR operations	✅	✅
Branch & commit control	✅	✅
Code & user search	✅	✅
Natural language interface	✅	❌
MCP protocol (SSE)	✅	❌
Java / Spring AI	✅	❌
GitHub Enterprise support	✅	✅

Tools (38 total)

Category	Count	Tools
Repository	11	`create_repository`, `fork_repository`, `get_repository`, `list_commits`, `get_commit`, `get_file_contents`, `create_or_update_file`, `delete_file`, `create_branch`, `list_branches`, `merge_branch`
Issues	11	`create_issue`, `update_issue`, `add_issue_comment`, `list_issues`, `get_issue`, `close_issue`, `reopen_issue`, `assign_issue`, `unassign_issue`, `add_issue_labels`, `remove_issue_label`
Pull Requests	10	`create_pull_request`, `update_pull_request`, `list_pull_requests`, `get_pull_request`, `merge_pull_request`, `close_pull_request`, `reopen_pull_request`, `add_pull_request_comment`, `create_pull_request_review`, `submit_pull_request_review`
Search	4	`search_code`, `search_issues`, `search_repositories`, `search_users`
Users	3	`get_authenticated_user`, `get_user`, `list_user_repositories`

Quick start

# 1. Build
mvn clean package

# 2. Set credentials
export GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=ghp_...

# 3. Run (SSE transport — port 8080)
java -jar target/github-mcp-server-1.0.0.jar

# 4. Verify
curl http://localhost:8080/health

# 5. Inspect all tools
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector http://localhost:8080/sse

Get your token from GitHub Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens. For GitHub Enterprise, set GITHUB_HOST to your instance URL.

Architecture

MCP Client (Cursor / Claude Desktop / other)
    │   HTTP/SSE transport (/sse + /mcp/message)
    ▼
Tool class  (@McpTool — thin delegation layer, validates required params)
    ▼
Service interface + impl  (business logic, error mapping, pagination)
    ▼
GitHubRestClient  (typed HTTP gateway, PAT auth, exception handling)
    ▼
GitHub REST API

The architecture is strictly layered:

client/ — GitHub integration boundary (HTTP, Bearer-Auth, error handling)
service/ — domain logic (filtering, mapping, pagination)
tools/ — MCP-facing surface (descriptions, param validation, delegation)
Spring Boot — runtime and transport wrapper only

Every tool returns a consistent ApiResponse<T> envelope:

{ "success": true,  "data": { ... } }
{ "success": false, "errorCode": "REPO_NOT_FOUND", "errorMessage": "..." }

Configuration

Property	Env var	Required	Default	Description
—	`GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN`	✅	—	GitHub Personal Access Token
—	`GITHUB_HOST`	❌	`github.com`	GitHub hostname (for GitHub Enterprise)
—	`GITHUB_READ_ONLY`	❌	`false`	Restrict to read-only operations
—	`GITHUB_TOOLSETS`	❌	all	Comma-separated list of toolsets to enable
—	`GITHUB_TOOLS`	❌	all	Comma-separated list of specific tools to enable
—	`GITHUB_EXCLUDE_TOOLS`	❌	none	Comma-separated list of tools to exclude

Creating a GitHub Personal Access Token

Go to GitHub Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens
Click "Generate new token (classic)"
Select the following scopes:
- repo — Full control of private repositories
- workflow — Update GitHub Action workflows
- read:org — Read org and team membership
- gist — Create gists
- notifications — Access notifications
- read:user — Read user profile data
Generate and copy the token

Client config

Cursor (`.cursor/mcp.json`)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "url": "http://localhost:8080/sse"
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop (`claude_desktop_config.json`)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "url": "http://localhost:8080/sse"
    }
  }
}

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

VS Code / GitHub Copilot

URL mode (if your client supports it):

{
  "github.copilot.chat.mcp.servers": {
    "github": {
      "url": "http://localhost:8080/sse"
    }
  }
}

Command mode (stdio-only clients):

{
  "github.copilot.chat.mcp.servers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "java",
      "args": ["-jar", "/path/to/github-mcp-server-1.0.0.jar"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "ghp_..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Docker

# Build image
docker build -t github-mcp-server:latest .

# Run
docker run --rm -p 8080:8080 \
  -e GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=ghp_... \
  github-mcp-server:latest

If GitHub Enterprise runs in Docker on the same host, use host.docker.internal:

-e GITHUB_HOST=http://host.docker.internal:3000

Running tests

mvn test

Package structure

com.github.mcp
├── GithubMcpApplication.java              @SpringBootApplication
├── config/
│   ├── GitHubProperties.java              @ConfigurationProperties — token, host, readOnly, toolsets
│   └── WebConfig.java                     Web configuration
├── client/
│   ├── GitHubRestClient.java              GET/POST/PATCH/DELETE HTTP gateway; typed exceptions
│   └── GitHubGraphqlClient.java           GraphQL client
├── controller/
│   └── HealthController.java              Health check endpoint (GET /health)
├── exception/
│   ├── GitHubMcpException.java            Base exception
│   └── GlobalExceptionHandler.java        Global error handler
├── dto/
│   ├── common/   ApiResponse · PagedResponse
│   ├── request/  *Request DTOs
│   └── response/ *Response DTOs
├── service/      Interfaces + impl — business logic, error mapping, pagination
└── tools/
    ├── RepositoryTools.java   (11 tools)
    ├── IssueTools.java        (11 tools)
    ├── PullRequestTools.java  (10 tools)
    ├── SearchTools.java       (4 tools)
    └── UserTools.java         (3 tools)

Troubleshooting

`401 Unauthorized`

Token issue. Check:

GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN is set correctly
The token has not expired
The token has the required scopes (see Configuration)
For GitHub Enterprise: confirm GITHUB_HOST is set to your instance URL

`REPO_NOT_FOUND` / `404 Not Found`

The repository may be private and the token lacks repo scope, or the owner/name is incorrect.

Connection timeouts

The server connects to api.github.com (or your GITHUB_HOST). Ensure the JVM process has outbound network access.

Copilot / Claude can't see the server

Confirm the server is running: curl http://localhost:8080/health
Confirm the MCP SSE endpoint is alive: curl http://localhost:8080/sse
Check that the URL in the client config points to http://localhost:8080/sse

Acknowledgments

This project is a Java / Spring AI port of the official GitHub MCP Server written in Go.

License

License: MIT

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.

Github MCP Server Java

GitHub MCP Server — Java / Spring AI

Why this server?

Tools (38 total)

Quick start

Architecture

Configuration

Creating a GitHub Personal Access Token

Client config

Cursor (`.cursor/mcp.json`)

Claude Desktop (`claude_desktop_config.json`)

VS Code / GitHub Copilot

Docker

Running tests

Package structure

Troubleshooting

`401 Unauthorized`

`REPO_NOT_FOUND` / `404 Not Found`

Connection timeouts

Copilot / Claude can't see the server

Acknowledgments

License

Resources

Latest Blog Posts

MCP directory API

GitHub MCP Server — Java / Spring AI

Why this server?

Tools (38 total)

Quick start

Architecture

Configuration

Creating a GitHub Personal Access Token

Client config

Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json)

Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json)

VS Code / GitHub Copilot

Docker

Running tests

Package structure

Troubleshooting

401 Unauthorized

REPO_NOT_FOUND / 404 Not Found

Connection timeouts

Copilot / Claude can't see the server

Acknowledgments

License

Resources

Latest Blog Posts

MCP directory API

Cursor (`.cursor/mcp.json`)

Claude Desktop (`claude_desktop_config.json`)

`401 Unauthorized`

`REPO_NOT_FOUND` / `404 Not Found`