GitHub MCP Server on Render

A self-hosted deployment of GitHub's official MCP server on Render, giving Claude.ai persistent remote access to GitHub from any device — including mobile. One deployment covers any repository the Personal Access Token has permission to reach.

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Prerequisites

• A Render account
• A GitHub Personal Access Token (PAT) — fine-grained recommended
• A GitHub repository to host this config (public or private)

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Required PAT Scopes

Fine-grained PATs scoped to specific repositories are strongly preferred over classic tokens.

Minimum for read-only Claude access:

Permission	Access
contents	Read
metadata	Read
pull_requests	Read

Optional for write access (issues, PRs, code):

Permission	Access
contents	Write
pull_requests	Write
issues	Write

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Deploy to Render

1. Fork or clone this repo to your GitHub account.

2. Connect the repo to Render:

   • Go to dashboard.render.com → New → Web Service
   • Select "Connect a repository" and pick this repo
   • Render detects render.yaml automatically and pre-fills the settings

3. Set the secret environment variable:

   • In the Render dashboard go to your service → Environment
   • Add GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN with your PAT value
   • Never commit the real token to this file

4. Deploy — click "Create Web Service" and wait for the build to complete.

5. Note your service URL:

   https://github-mcp-server.onrender.com
   

   (The exact subdomain is assigned by Render; find it in the service dashboard.)

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Connector URL

The server runs in Streamable HTTP mode (MCP transport spec 2025-03-26). The MCP endpoint is served at the root path.

Paste this URL into Claude.ai:

https://your-service-name.onrender.com/

Replace your-service-name with your actual Render subdomain.

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Add to Claude.ai

1. Open claude.ai → Settings → Integrations
2. Click Add custom connector (or "Add MCP server" depending on your plan)
3. Paste your connector URL: https://your-service-name.onrender.com/
4. Claude will connect and list available GitHub tools

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Transport Details

Note: This server uses the newer Streamable HTTP transport (not the older SSE/stdio transports). If Claude.ai reports a connection error, verify your Claude plan supports remote MCP connectors and that the service is awake (first request after a cold start may take ~30 seconds).

The server registers MCP routes at these paths:

Path	Description
/	Default MCP endpoint
/readonly	Read-only tool subset
/insiders	Experimental tools
/x/{toolset}	Specific toolset only

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Security Notes

• The PAT is stored only as a Render environment secret — never committed to this repo
• Use a fine-grained PAT scoped to only the repositories Claude needs
• Rotate the PAT periodically; update the value in Render → Environment
• The Render service URL is effectively a credential — anyone with the URL can invoke GitHub actions on your behalf. Treat it like a secret and do not share it publicly

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Updating the Server Version

To update to a newer release of the GitHub MCP server:

1. Edit render.yaml and change the image tag:

   url: ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server:vX.Y.Z

2. Commit and push — Render redeploys automatically.

Available tags: ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server

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Cost

The render.yaml uses the Starter plan (~$7/month as of writing). The free plan is not suitable because Render free web services sleep after inactivity, causing Claude.ai connection timeouts.

Verify current pricing at render.com/pricing.

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Local Testing

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env and set your real GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN

docker run -i --rm \
  --env-file .env \
  -p 8080:8080 \
  ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server:v0.33.1 \
  http --port 8080

The server will be available at http://localhost:8080/.