[mcp-tools-report] GitHub MCP Remote Server Tools Report — 2026-10-04

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GitHub MCP Remote Server Tools Report

Generated: 2026-10-04
MCP Mode: Remote (read-only gateway for this workflow)
Toolsets: All (as configured) — note: context, copilot, and copilot_issue_intents toolsets exposed zero tools in this session; see Notes
Previous Report: None (first run — no cache found at /tmp/gh-aw/cache-memory/github-mcp-tools.json)

Executive Summary

• Total Tools Discovered (this session): 65
• Toolset Categories Observed: 22 of 25 mapped toolsets (no tools observed for context, copilot, copilot_issue_intents — all-write or identity-gated)
• Report Date: 2026-10-04
• Source: pkg/workflow/data/github_toolsets_permissions.json
• Instructions File: .github/aw/github-mcp-server.md
• Changes Since Last Report: N/A (first run)

A pull request was opened with the JSON mapping and documentation updates below: adds governance and automations toolsets, and fixes a stale toolsets: schema enum that silently blocked 6 already-supported toolsets.

Inconsistency Detection

Toolset Integrity Checks

• Duplicate Tools: get_label is intentionally dual-registered in both issues and labels (confirmed upstream: GetLabel(t) and GetLabelForLabelsToolset(t) are separate registrations in pkg/github/tools.go). Not a bug.
• Naming ambiguity: semantic_issues_search is listed in the JSON mapping and in github-mcp-server-tools.md, but was not observed in this session's self-inspection — only search_issues and semantic_issue_similarity_search were present. search_issues's own description already covers natural-language/semantic matching, so semantic_issues_search may have been consolidated into it rather than being a genuinely separate, still-missing tool. Flagged in docs; left in the JSON mapping pending confirmation (removing it risks being wrong in the other direction).
• Orphaned/undocumented tools found: custom_properties_read and repository_ruleset_read had no toolset entry at all in the JSON mapping before this run. Confirmed upstream they both belong to a toolset ID governance (pkg/github/tools.go, ToolsetMetadataGovernance) — now added.
• Unverifiable tool family: get_automation, get_automation_revision, list_automation_revisions, list_automations, list_available_automation_tools, list_available_automation_triggers were available this session but are absent from the upstream github/github-mcp-server main branch source fetched during this audit (pkg/github/tools.go AllTools() has no matching constructors, and RemoteOnlyToolsets() only lists copilot_spaces and github_support_docs_search as remote-only extras). The remote server's self-reported build SHA differs from the main-branch HEAD SHA fetched. Added to the JSON mapping as a new, explicitly provisional automations toolset.
• Missing expected tools: get_file_blame (documented under repos in the JSON mapping and upstream source) and semantic_issues_search were not present this session — most likely read-only-gateway/version skew rather than removal. Not deleted from the JSON mapping.
• Toolset absent entirely this session: context (get_me, get_teams, get_team_members), copilot, copilot_issue_intents — all write-only or identity tools. Consistent with the explicit platform instruction "Do not call get_me — it returns 403 under the integration token" and this gateway's read-only configuration.

JSON Mapping Comparison

Summary:

• Total Discrepancies: 2 toolsets added (4 tools in governance, 6 tools in automations); 1 tool flagged as unconfirmed (semantic_issues_search)
• Missing Tools (in JSON but not confirmed in MCP this session): get_file_blame, semantic_issues_search — not removed, flagged only
• Extra Tools (in MCP, previously absent from JSON): repository_ruleset_read, custom_properties_read, get_automation, get_automation_revision, list_automation_revisions, list_automations, list_available_automation_tools, list_available_automation_triggers
• Moved Tools: 0 (the previously-noted list_org_repository_security_advisories orgs→security_advisories move was already applied in the JSON before this run)

Extra Tools (in MCP but not in JSON) — now added

Toolset	Tool Name	Action Taken
governance	repository_ruleset_read	Added to JSON mapping (upstream-confirmed)
governance	custom_properties_read	Added to JSON mapping (upstream-confirmed)
governance	create_repository_ruleset	Added to JSON mapping (upstream-confirmed; write, not self-inspected)
governance	custom_properties_write	Added to JSON mapping (upstream-confirmed; write, not self-inspected)
automations	get_automation	Added to JSON mapping (provisional — not found upstream)
automations	get_automation_revision	Added to JSON mapping (provisional — not found upstream)
automations	list_automation_revisions	Added to JSON mapping (provisional — not found upstream)
automations	list_automations	Added to JSON mapping (provisional — not found upstream)
automations	list_available_automation_tools	Added to JSON mapping (provisional — not found upstream)
automations	list_available_automation_triggers	Added to JSON mapping (provisional — not found upstream)

Action: Created a pull request with the updated JSON mapping, schema fix, and documentation (branch update-github-mcp-tools-mapping-20261004).

Bonus Fix: Stale Workflow-Frontmatter Schema Enum

Independent of the toolset additions above, cross-referencing the JSON mapping against pkg/parser/schemas/main_workflow_schema.json (the schema that validates a workflow's tools.github.toolsets: frontmatter) turned up a real, pre-existing bug:

• The Go compiler loads valid toolsets dynamically from the embedded JSON (pkg/workflow/github_toolsets.go / permissions_toolset_data.go — no hardcoded list), so .github/aw/syntax-tools-imports.md already (correctly) documented code_quality, copilot, copilot_issue_intents, copilot_spaces, git, and github_support_docs_search as usable toolsets.
• But the JSON schema's github_toolset_name enum never included those six — so any workflow author who actually wrote toolsets: [copilot] (for example) would fail compile-time schema validation despite the docs and the compiler both supporting it.
• The enum also still listed experiments and search, two toolset names the JSON mapping's own changelog says were removed/redistributed.

Fixed by syncing the enum to the JSON mapping's toolset keys (now including automations/governance) and dropping the two stale entries.

Tools by Toolset

governance (new)

Source: pkg/github/tools.go (ToolsetMetadataGovernance, ID governance)

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
repository_ruleset_read	Read rulesets and rule suites at repo/org/enterprise level	level, method, owner, repo, ruleset_id, branch
custom_properties_read	Read custom properties at repo/org/enterprise level	level, owner, repo, org, enterprise
create_repository_ruleset (write, not self-inspected)	Create a ruleset	owner, repo, name, target, rules
custom_properties_write (write, not self-inspected)	Set custom property values	owner, repo, properties

automations (new, provisional)

Source: observed via live remote-server self-inspection only; not found in upstream main branch at time of audit.

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_automation	Get a Copilot Automation in a repository	owner, repo, automation_id
get_automation_revision	Get a revision of a Copilot Automation	owner, repo, automation_id, revision_id
list_automation_revisions	List revisions for a Copilot Automation	owner, repo, automation_id
list_automations	List Copilot Automations for a repository	owner, repo, ownership
list_available_automation_tools	List available tools for Copilot Automations	(none)
list_available_automation_triggers	List available triggers for Copilot Automations	(none)

Full per-toolset tables for all 25 toolsets (including the 23 unchanged ones) are maintained in github-mcp-server-tools.md rather than repeated here — see that file for repos, issues, pull_requests, actions, code_security, dependabot, discussions, gists, labels, notifications, orgs, projects, secret_protection, security_advisories, stargazers, users, code_quality, copilot, copilot_issue_intents, copilot_spaces, context, git, github_support_docs_search.

All available toolsets (25): actions, automations, code_quality, code_security, context, copilot, copilot_issue_intents, copilot_spaces, dependabot, discussions, gists, git, github_support_docs_search, governance, issues, labels, notifications, orgs, projects, pull_requests, repos, secret_protection, security_advisories, stargazers, users

Recommended Default Toolsets

No change recommended. gh-aw's current defaults (context, repos, issues, pull_requests) remain appropriate:

• Upstream marks 6 toolsets Default: true (context, repos, issues, pull_requests, users, copilot), but gh-aw deliberately excludes users (GitHub Actions tokens don't support user operations) and copilot (avoids granting issue/PR write scope by default). Both exclusions are already documented and look like sound, deliberate security choices — keep as-is.
• governance and automations should not be added to defaults: governance writes require a PAT (no GITHUB_TOKEN support), and automations's toolset identity/permissions are still unconfirmed upstream.

Notes and Observations

• This session's GitHub MCP connection exposed zero tools for context, copilot, and copilot_issue_intents toolsets even though toolsets were configured as "all" — consistent with the explicit platform rule against calling get_me (403 under the integration token) and with running in read-only mode. Treat this report's "tools observed" data as a read-only, identity-stripped subset of the full remote surface, cross-checked against upstream source for completeness where possible.
• Could not run make fmt / go test in this sandbox: go.mod requires Go ≥1.26.8, only 1.24.13 is installed, and there is no network access to fetch the newer toolchain. Both edited JSON files were validated with python3 json.load (well-formed). Recommend CI confirms TestToolsetPermissionsLoadedFromJSON and related schema tests still pass.
• search_code against github/github-mcp-server hit a secondary-rate-limit (429, ~10 minute cooldown) after the first query; subsequent cross-referencing used targeted get_file_contents reads of small source files instead (inventory.go, tools.go, tool_scopes.go, toolset_instructions.go), respecting the large-file guard.

Methodology

• Discovery Method: Self-inspection of available tools in this session's GitHub MCP remote server connection, cross-referenced against targeted reads of github/github-mcp-server source files (pkg/github/tools.go, inventory.go) rather than guesswork.
• MCP Configuration: Remote mode, read-only gateway, toolsets configured as "all"
• JSON Mapping: pkg/workflow/data/github_toolsets_permissions.json
• Instructions: .github/aw/github-mcp-server.md
• MCP Server Source: github/github-mcp-server

Generated by 📊 GitHub MCP Remote Server Tools Report Generator · claude · agent · 379.7 AIC · ⌖ 17.9 AIC · ⊞ 8.6K · ◷

• expires on Oct 7, 2026, 6:31 AM UTC-08:00

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This discussion was automatically closed because it expired on 2026-10-07T14:31:25.804Z.

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