HTTP Server

[toby]

Implement a HTTP based MCP server that matches the functionality of the CLI server. It should require OAuth to access. We can reference the Anthropic docs on authorization but be flexible to implement our own best practices.

[jngiam]

We're have a HTTP based client that supports the latest specs; right now our AI agent connects to Github via APIs, would be interested to try this out / test whenever you have it ready.

[mathiasschopmans]

I want to second @toby‘s request.

Having a global GitHub.com/mcp / Streamable HTTP Transport would be awesome.

Now that the latest MCP spec was released in the end of march, the link is broken and the auth docs can be found here: https://spec.modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-03-26/basic/authorization/

It may not fit into GitHubs Server-Stack or this Golang implementation, but Cloudflare created a great abstraction with their agents/mcp Typescript Library. Worth a read: https://developers.cloudflare.com/agents/guides/remote-mcp-server/

[SamMorrowDrums]

Reposting the comment from @elizabetht 's issue, as I closed it as a dupe:

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Describe the feature or problem you’d like to solve

As part of building interactive and responsive developer tools on top of the MCP server, we have a need to expose HTTP endpoints that can stream data incrementally to clients using Server-Sent Events (SSE). This is particularly useful for use cases like:

• Real-time progress updates for long-running tool executions
• Streaming logs or partial results as they become available
• Event-driven workflows triggered by tools or models

However, the current MCP server does not appear to support SSE-style HTTP streaming out of the box. Since SSE relies on keeping an HTTP connection open and continuously pushing updates using the text/event-stream content type, it requires explicit support at the server level to manage connection lifecycle and event formatting.

Without native support, it's challenging to build streaming, real-time experiences using MCP — which limits the kind of rich developer tools and UIs that can be built on top of it.

Proposed solution

Adding SSE support would unlock:

• Real-time user experiences (e.g., showing partial results or live updates)
• Streaming logs or status updates for tool execution
• Lower latency responses without requiring polling
• Simplified client-side implementations using native browser support (vs. websockets)

Additional context

SSE support would:

• Enhance Developer Experience: Provide users with more flexibility to build real-time tools or dashboards powered by MCP.
• Broaden Adoption: Many organizations have frontends or APIs that rely on streaming capabilities — this would make MCP compatible with those out-of-the-box.
• Improve Integration with AI/LLM Tooling: LLM-related use cases often benefit from streamed outputs (like token-by-token streaming) — SSE is ideal for that.
• Align with Open Standards: SSE is supported in most browsers and backend frameworks, making it easier to integrate across diverse ecosystems.
• Encourage Community Contributions: Clear extensibility via streaming would likely attract more usage and contributions in tool/plugin scenarios.

[scott-clare1]

Based on the example in the Go MCP SDK it looks like something like this should be doable to support SSE? https://github.com/mark3labs/mcp-go/blob/f3fef81032fde6519525abf64a9f67afdb0b3e38/examples/everything/main.go#L457

Am happy to create a PR if this looks like an appropriate solution?

[yasonk]

This would be really helpful for a production use case where I want to keep GitHub MCP running as own server.

[bhrutledge]

This seems even more useful with the announcement of "Integrations" for Claude.ai and Claude Desktop. It'd be great to see GitHub in this list:

To start, you can choose from Integrations for 10 popular services, including Atlassian’s Jira and Confluence, Zapier, Cloudflare, Intercom, Asana, Square, Sentry, PayPal, Linear, and Plaid—with more to follow from companies like Stripe and GitLab.

I just replaced my local third-party Atlassian MCP server with the Atlassian's remote MCP server.

[yasonk]

Based on the example in the Go MCP SDK it looks like something like this should be doable to support SSE? https://github.com/mark3labs/mcp-go/blob/f3fef81032fde6519525abf64a9f67afdb0b3e38/examples/everything/main.go#L457

Am happy to create a PR if this looks like an appropriate solution?

It looks right. The key is that you can connect to it via HTTP client (SSE in this case) and not stdio.

[williammartin]

Copying from #388

Describe the feature or problem you’d like to solve

Currently, the GitHub MCP Server Dockerfile supports execution only through the stdio interface. This limitation restricts its use with clients expecting an SSE (Server-Sent Events) endpoint, which is useful for long-lived, real-time communication patterns such as streaming model context updates

Proposed solution

Add a new entry point or configuration in the Dockerfile to allow the GitHub MCP Server to run as an SSE server out-of-the-box. This could include:

Exposing an HTTP server that serves SSE responses on a configurable port (e.g., /sse).

Allowing the user to select between stdio or sse mode via environment variable or command argument.

This feature would simplify deployments, improve integration with SSE-compatible MCP clients, and make it easier for users to run the server without custom infrastructure.

Additional context

Many MCP clients and tools support SSE mode by default. Enabling this in the Dockerfile will enhance compatibility and usability, especially in containerized or orchestration environments like Kubernetes.