GitHub PR Control MCP

A focused, production-ready Model Context Protocol server for triaging and reviewing GitHub pull requests. It uses the GitHub REST API directly—there is no gh CLI wrapper and no shell execution.

What it does

The server exposes eight typed tools:

Large repositories and pull requests are first-class:

• list_prs and list_pr_comments fetch up to 20 GitHub API pages per call.

• get_pr_diff returns an offset, next_offset, and total_lines, so clients can process a huge diff in bounded chunks.

• Every response includes the last observed GitHub rate-limit budget.

• GitHub failures surface the remaining budget and reset time when GitHub provides them.

Related MCP server: tai-mcp-github

Install

Requires Node.js 20 or newer.

npx github-pr-control-mcp

Or install it globally:

npm install --global github-pr-control-mcp
github-pr-control-mcp

Authentication and permission model

Read-only mode is the default. Choose either a personal access token (PAT) or a GitHub App installation.

PAT: read-only

GITHUB_READ_TOKEN=github_pat_read_only npx github-pr-control-mcp

GITHUB_TOKEN is accepted as an alias for GITHUB_READ_TOKEN.

PAT: separate read and write tokens

GITHUB_READ_TOKEN=github_pat_read_only \
GITHUB_WRITE_TOKEN=github_pat_write_scoped \
npx github-pr-control-mcp

The server will not run a write tool unless GITHUB_WRITE_TOKEN is present. For a single-token setup, set GITHUB_WRITE_ENABLED=true; the configured read token will then also handle writes.

Recommended fine-grained PAT permissions:

• Read tools: Pull requests: Read, Contents: Read, Metadata: Read

• Review tools: Pull requests: Read and write

• Label tool: Issues: Read and write

GitHub App

GITHUB_APP_ID=123456 \
GITHUB_INSTALLATION_ID=9876543 \
GITHUB_APP_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH=/secure/path/app-private-key.pem \
npx github-pr-control-mcp

You can pass the key inline through GITHUB_APP_PRIVATE_KEY instead. Escaped \n sequences are normalized automatically.

GitHub App installations are also read-only by default. To enable their write tools:

GITHUB_WRITE_ENABLED=true

This explicit gate prevents an AI client from turning a broadly scoped credential into write access by accident.

Claude Desktop

Add the server to your Claude Desktop configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github-pr-control": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "github-pr-control-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_READ_TOKEN": "github_pat_read_only"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. Try:

List open PRs in owner/repo, inspect the newest one's diff and comments, then summarize the highest-risk changes. Do not write to GitHub.

To enable reviews, add a tightly scoped GITHUB_WRITE_TOKEN to env.

Cursor

Create .cursor/mcp.json in your project:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github-pr-control": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "github-pr-control-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_READ_TOKEN": "${env:GITHUB_READ_TOKEN}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Reload Cursor after saving the file.

Opt-in review prompts

The server exposes two built-in MCP prompts. They appear in clients that support MCP prompts and run only when a user selects them:

• triage_pull_request gathers metadata, the relevant diff, and existing comments, then returns a read-only risk and next-action summary.

• review_pull_request performs an evidence-first review and drafts line-specific findings without publishing anything.

Both prompts accept owner, repo, pull_number, and an optional focus. Neither prompt authorizes write tools. Publishing comments, labels, approvals, or change requests always requires a separate explicit instruction and enabled write credentials.

Tool examples

Paginate a repository with more than 50 PRs

{
  "owner": "microsoft",
  "repo": "vscode",
  "state": "open",
  "per_page": 50,
  "max_pages": 3
}

Read a large diff in chunks

First call:

{
  "owner": "owner",
  "repo": "repo",
  "pull_number": 42,
  "offset": 0,
  "limit": 2000
}

Pass the returned next_offset into the next call until it is null.

Post a multi-line inline comment

{
  "owner": "owner",
  "repo": "repo",
  "pull_number": 42,
  "body": "This branch can return a stale value when the cache is empty.",
  "path": "src/cache.ts",
  "start_line": 18,
  "start_side": "RIGHT",
  "line": 23,
  "side": "RIGHT"
}

If commit_id is omitted, the server resolves the current PR head SHA just before posting.

Development

git clone https://github.com/nexicturbo/github-pr-control-mcp.git
cd github-pr-control-mcp
npm install
npm run ci

The test suite covers multi-page pagination, bounded diff traversal, read/write separation, opt-in prompt registration, review submission, label preservation, configuration validation, and rate-limit error messages.

Security notes

• Tokens and private keys are read only from environment variables or an explicitly configured private-key path.

• Credentials are never returned through MCP tool results.

• No subprocess or shell command is invoked by the server.

• Write tools are disabled unless the operator explicitly opts in.

• Use the narrowest repository and permission scope possible.

License

MIT