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

Tool	Description
get_repository	Repository metadata
list_branches	Branch list
get_file_content	Read a file (or list a directory)
list_commits	Recent commits
list_issues	Issues (excludes PRs)
get_issue	Issue details + comments
create_issue	Create an issue
list_pull_requests	Pull request list
get_pull_request	PR details, reviews, and files
search_repositories	Repository search
search_code	Code search
get_user_info	User profile

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	git CLI	gh CLI
Purpose	AI ↔ GitHub via MCP	Local repo operations	GitHub from terminal
Used by	Cursor agent automatically	You in terminal	You in terminal
Good for	Issues, PRs, search, remote files	Commit, push, branch locally	GitHub workflows from shell

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