GitHub Issue Manager - Custom MCP Server

A custom Model Context Protocol (MCP) server written in Node.js and TypeScript that integrates with the GitHub REST API to allow LLM agents (such as Cursor, Claude Desktop, and other MCP clients) to manage repository issues directly.

🛠️ Expose Tools & Features

This MCP server exposes the following tools to the AI assistant:

1. list_issues: Retrieves a clean, formatted list of open, closed, or all issues in any specific GitHub repository. It handles parsing and filters out unnecessary noise to optimize the AI's token usage.

2. create_issue: Opens a new issue in a repository with custom titles, descriptions, and labels.

Related MCP server: GitHub MCP Server

⚙️ How it Works under the Hood

[ User Prompt ]
      │
      ▼ (Stdin/Stdout streams)
[ MCP Client (e.g. Cursor / Claude) ]
      │
      ▼ (Stdio Transport)
[ index.js (This Server) ] ──► Routes requests to handlers.ts
      │
      ▼ (GitHub API Client / Octokit)
[ GitHub Platform ] ──► Performs operations using Personal Access Token

• Communication transport: Uses standard input/output streams (stdio) to send and receive JSON-RPC messages between the AI client and this server.

• Authentication: Authenticates securely using a Personal Access Token (PAT) configured via environment variables.

🚀 Setup & Installation

1. Prerequisites

Make sure you have Node.js (v18+) and npm installed.

2. Install Dependencies

Navigate to the project directory and install the packages:

npm install

3. Configure Credentials

Create a .env file in the root folder of the project:

GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=your_github_personal_access_token_here

4. Build the Server

Compile the TypeScript code to runnable JavaScript:

npm run build

🔌 Connecting to AI Clients

Claude Desktop

Add the following block to your %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github-issue-manager": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "C:/Users/HP/Desktop/mcp-server/dist/index.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Go to Settings -> Features -> MCP -> Add New MCP Server:

• Name: github-issue-manager

• Type: stdio

• Command: node C:/Users/HP/Desktop/mcp-server/dist/index.js