Public Remote MCP Server Endpoint Accessible to Third-Party Tools like Claude Desktop

[vishnun]

Describe the feature or problem you’d like to solve

Currently, the remote GitHub MCP server (https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/) is restricted to GitHub Copilot integrations (VS Code, JetBrains, etc.) and rejects connections from third-party MCP clients like Claude Desktop with errors like "bad request: unknown integration," even with valid OAuth/PAT authentication. Users without Copilot must self-host the GitHub MCP server locally or on VPS, which adds maintenance overhead, security risks, and complexity for simple GitHub access (repos, issues, PRs)

Proposed solution

Expose a public remote MCP server endpoint (or allowlist third-party MCP clients) that works with Claude Desktop, Cursor, and other MCP-compatible AI tools via standard OAuth/PAT flows. This would mirror the one-click Copilot setup but without Copilot subscription gating. Benefits GitHub MCP Server and users by:

• Driving broader MCP adoption across AI ecosystems (not just Copilot).
• Reducing friction for millions of developers using alternative AI tools.
• Centralizing secure, scalable GitHub data access without per-user hosting.
• Aligning with MCP's open protocol goals for interoperability.

Example prompts or workflows (for tools/toolsets only)

With public remote access in Claude Desktop:

1. "List open issues in my org's mycompany/backend repo and suggest priorities." → Claude queries MCP for issues, analyzes with context.
2. "Review this PR diff in mycompany/frontend#123 and draft approval comments." → Fetches PR, files, comments via MCP.
3. "Create a new issue in mycompany/mobile for iOS build failure with these logs." → Posts issue with attachments.
4. "Search my repos for functions using deprecated lodash.get and suggest migrations." → Repo/code search across org.
5. "Summarize recent PR activity in mycompany/api for standup." → Aggregates PRs/issues in real-time.

Additional context

• GitHub Enterprise users (like myself, without Copilot) are forced to self-host despite having paid accounts.
• Community Reddit threads show demand/frustration from Claude users.
• ​Repo issues discuss org access but not third-party compatibility (Getting access to orgs using the Remote MCP #722)

[SamMorrowDrums]

@vishnun thank you for report but we support all MCP compliant clients. We even have docs for most major clients in this repository.

We don't support DCR, so if you want to log in via Oauth you need to provide GitHub Oauth App credentials.