git-mcp

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server in Python that connects to GitHub via the REST API.

git-mcp lets Cursor (or any MCP-compatible AI client) talk to GitHub directly — search repos, read files, list issues, inspect pull requests, and more — without copying data into chat manually.

How it works

1. Cursor starts the server as a background process via your MCP config.

2. The server communicates over stdio (standard input/output).

3. When you ask something like “show open issues in my repo”, Cursor calls a tool on the server.

4. The server uses PyGithub and your GitHub token to call the GitHub REST API and returns JSON to the AI.

Cursor / AI  ──stdio MCP──▶  git-mcp server  ──REST API──▶  GitHub
                                    │
                                    └── GITHUB_TOKEN (.env)

Tools are actions the AI can take. Resources (github://user, github://repos) are read-only context the AI can pull in automatically.

Features

Tools

Resources

• github://user — authenticated user profile

• github://repos — repositories you can access

Setup

1. Create a GitHub token

Create a Personal Access Token with scopes needed for your workflow (typically repo for private repos, or public_repo for public-only).

2. Install

cd git-mcp
python -m venv .venv
pip install -e .

Activate the venv if you prefer (optional on Windows):

# Windows
.venv\Scripts\activate

# macOS/Linux
source .venv/bin/activate

On Windows, if Activate.ps1 is blocked by execution policy, skip activation and use the venv Python directly:

.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m git_mcp.server

Copy .env.example to .env and set your token:

cp .env.example .env

3. Run locally

git-mcp
# or
python -m git_mcp.server

Cursor configuration

Add to your Cursor MCP settings (Settings → MCP → Add new MCP server, or edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "E:\\mission-x\\cursorWork\\git-mcp\\.venv\\Scripts\\python.exe",
      "args": ["-m", "git_mcp.server"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "ghp_your_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Adjust the Python path to your virtual environment. You can also rely on a .env file in the project root instead of putting the token in mcp.json.

Example tool calls

list_issues(owner="octocat", repo="Hello-World", state="open", limit=5)
get_pull_request(owner="octocat", repo="Hello-World", pr_number=1)
search_code(query="FastMCP in:file language:python")

Ask in Cursor:

List the 5 most recent open issues in myorg/myrepo and summarize them.

Cursor calls list_issues, gets structured JSON back, and summarizes — no manual tab switching.

git-mcp vs git vs GitHub CLI

git-mcp is GitHub API integration for AI, not a replacement for local git commands like commit or push.

Requirements

• Python 3.10+

• mcp (Python SDK, v1.x)

• PyGithub

• python-dotenv