GitHub Actions Utils CLI

MCP server for GitHub Actions utilities

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides tools for working with GitHub Actions. This allows AI agents and MCP clients to programmatically fetch and parse GitHub Action definitions.

Features

• get_action_parameters: Fetch and parse any GitHub Action's action.yml file
• Returns complete action metadata including inputs, outputs, runs configuration, and description
• Works with any public GitHub Action repository
• Compatible with all MCP clients (Claude Desktop, Cline, etc.)

Installation

Download Pre-built Binary (Recommended)

Download the latest release for your platform as described in the latest release notes.

Build from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/techprimate/github-actions-utils-cli.git
cd github-actions-utils-cli

# Build
make build

# Binary will be at ./dist/github-actions-utils-cli

Usage

MCP Server

The primary use case is running as an MCP server:

github-actions-utils-cli mcp

MCP Client Configuration

Claude CLI

Add to your Claude CLI configuration using the claude mcp command:

claude mcp add --transport stdio github-actions-utils-cli github-actions-utils-cli mcp

Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop configuration (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github-actions-utils": {
      "command": "/usr/local/bin/github-actions-utils-cli",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cline (VS Code Extension)

Add to your Cline MCP settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github-actions-utils": {
      "command": "/usr/local/bin/github-actions-utils-cli",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

get_action_parameters

Fetches and parses a GitHub Action's action.yml file.

Parameters:

• actionRef (string, required): GitHub Action reference in the format owner/repo@version
  • Example: actions/checkout@v5
  • Example: actions/setup-node@v4

Returns: Complete action.yml structure as JSON, including:

• name: Action name
• description: Action description
• inputs: All input parameters with descriptions, defaults, and whether they're required
• outputs: All output parameters with descriptions
• runs: Runtime configuration (node version, main entry point, etc.)
• branding: Icon and color information

Example Usage in Claude:

Can you show me the parameters for the actions/checkout@v5 action?

Claude will use the get_action_parameters tool and return structured information about all inputs and outputs.

Example Response:

{
  "name": "Checkout",
  "description": "Checkout a Git repository at a particular version",
  "inputs": {
    "repository": {
      "description": "Repository name with owner. For example, actions/checkout",
      "default": "${{ github.repository }}"
    },
    "ref": {
      "description": "The branch, tag or SHA to checkout...",
      "default": ""
    },
    "token": {
      "description": "Personal access token (PAT) used to fetch the repository...",
      "default": "${{ github.token }}"
    }
    // ... more inputs
  },
  "runs": {
    "using": "node24",
    "main": "dist/index.js"
  }
}

Use Cases

• Building CI/CD Tools: Get accurate information about available GitHub Actions
• Documentation: Automatically document which actions your workflows use
• Validation: Verify action parameters before using them in workflows
• Discovery: Explore available inputs and outputs for actions
• Migration: Understand action changes when updating versions

Development

Prerequisites

• Go 1.25 or later
• Make

Setup

# Initialize project (installs dependencies)
make init

# Build
make build

# Run tests
make test

# Format code
make format

# Run static analysis
make analyze

Project Structure

.
├── cmd/cli/              # CLI entry point
├── internal/
│   ├── cli/
│   │   ├── cmd/          # Cobra commands
│   │   └── mcp/          # MCP server and tools
│   ├── github/           # GitHub Actions service
│   └── logging/          # Logging utilities
├── .github/workflows/    # CI/CD pipelines
├── Makefile             # Development commands
└── README.md            # This file

Testing the MCP Server

# Build the CLI
make build

# Test that MCP server responds
echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list"}' | ./dist/github-actions-utils-cli mcp

# Test get_action_parameters tool
echo '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"get_action_parameters","arguments":{"actionRef":"actions/checkout@v5"}}}' | ./dist/github-actions-utils-cli mcp | jq

Telemetry

This project uses Sentry for error tracking and monitoring. You can disable telemetry by setting the environment variable:

export TELEMETRY_ENABLED=false

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

Related Projects

• Model Context Protocol - The MCP specification
• GitHub Actions - GitHub's CI/CD platform