Use GitHub for Code Access

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# Use GitHub for Code Access

This guide shows how to use the GitHub MCP server to interact with GitHub repositories, issues, pull requests, and more.

## Prerequisites

- MCP enabled in your mini-me configuration
- GitHub MCP server configured
- **GitHub Personal Access Token** with appropriate scopes

## Configuration Example

Add this to your `agent.yaml` or custom config file:

```yaml
mcp:
  enabled: true
  servers:
    - name: github
      transport: http
      url: https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/
      timeout: 60s
      auth:
        type: bearer
        tokenEnv: GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN
      headers:
        Accept: "application/json, text/event-stream"
      # Optional: Filter which tools to expose
      tools:
        - get_me
        - list_repositories
        - list_issues
        - list_pull_requests
        - get_file_contents
        - search_code
        - search_repositories
        - create_pull_request
        - add_issue_comment
```

## Authentication Setup

1. **Get a GitHub PAT:**
   - Go to [https://github.com/settings/tokens](https://github.com/settings/tokens)
   - Click "Generate new token"
   - Select "Classic" token type

2. **Required Scopes:**
   - For repository access: `repo` (full control of private repositories)
   - For reading user profile: `user` (read:user)
   - For reading organizations: `read:org`
   - For issues and pull requests: `repo` or `public_repo`
   - For code search: `repo`

3. **Set the environment variable:**
   ```bash
   export GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=ghp_your_token_here
   ```

## Available Tools

The GitHub MCP server provides many tools organized by category:

### Repository Information
- `github_get_me` - Get authenticated user profile
- `github_list_repositories` - List user repositories
- `github_get_repository` - Get repository details

### Code Access
- `github_get_file_contents` - Get file content from a repository
- `github_list_branches` - List repository branches
- `github_list_commits` - List repository commits
- `github_get_commit` - Get commit details

### Issues and Pull Requests
- `github_list_issues` - List repository issues
- `github_get_issue_details` - Get issue details (using `issue_read` method)
- `github_list_pull_requests` - List repository pull requests
- `github_get_pull_request` - Get pull request details (using `pull_request_read` method)
- `github_create_pull_request` - Create a new pull request
- `github_add_issue_comment` - Add a comment to an issue
- `github_update_issue_comment` - Update an existing comment

### Search
- `github_search_code` - Search code across repositories
- `github_search_issues` - Search issues using semantic matching
- `github_search_pull_requests` - Search pull requests
- `github_search_repositories` - Search for repositories
- `github_search_commits` - Search for commits
- `github_search_users` - Search for users

### Repository Management
- `github_create_repository` - Create a new repository
- `github_create_branch` - Create a new branch
- `github_fork_repository` - Fork a repository
- `github_merge_pull_request` - Merge a pull request
- `github_delete_file` - Delete a file from a repository

### Advanced
- `github_run_secret_scanning` - Scan content for secrets
- `github_assign_copilot_to_issue` - Assign GitHub Copilot to an issue
- `github_get_copilot_job_status` - Get Copilot job status
- `github_create_pull_request_with_copilot` - Create PR with Copilot agent
- `github_request_copilot_review` - Request Copilot code review

## Usage Examples

### Get Your Profile

```
Use the github_get_me tool to get my GitHub user information
```

### List Your Repositories

```
Use the github_list_repositories tool to list all my repositories
```

### Search for Code

```
Use the github_search_code tool to find references to "context" in the golang/go repository
```

### Get File Contents

```
Use the github_get_file_contents tool to get the README.md file from owner/repo on the main branch
```

### Create a Pull Request

```
Use the github_create_pull_request tool to create a PR in owner/repo with title "Fix bug", head "feature-branch", base "main"
```

### Add Comment to Issue

```
Use the github_add_issue_comment tool to add a comment "Thanks for reporting!" to issue #123 in owner/repo
```

## Tool Parameters

Most GitHub tools require these common parameters:

- `owner` - Repository owner (username or organization)
- `repo` - Repository name
- Often both are marked with `x-mcp-header` to indicate they should be passed as headers

For example:
```json
{
  "owner": "octocat",
  "repo": "Hello-World"
}
```

## Tips

1. **Be specific with owner/repo:** Always verify the owner and repository name before proceeding
2. **Use filters:** When searching, use GitHub's search qualifiers like `language:go`, `org:`, `user:`
3. **Handle large responses:** Some tools return large amounts of data; consider filtering or limiting results
4. **Check scopes:** If a tool fails with authentication error, your PAT may lack the required scope

## Common Issues

### Missing Required Parameters

Many GitHub tools require specific parameters. Check the tool description for required fields.

### Authentication Errors

If you see "missing bearer token" or "401 Unauthorized":
- Verify `GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN` environment variable is set
- Check your token has the required scopes
- Ensure the token hasn't expired

### Rate Limiting

GitHub has rate limits. If you hit them:
- Wait before making more requests
- Consider using a fine-grained PAT with specific repository access
- Check your rate limit status at https://api.github.com/rate_limit

## Troubleshooting

If GitHub tools are not appearing:
1. Verify MCP is enabled in your configuration
2. Check that `GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN` is exported in your environment
3. Look for warnings about GitHub server at startup
4. Test your token: `curl -H "Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN" https://api.github.com/user`
5. Test the MCP endpoint: `curl -X POST https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/ -H "Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN" -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}'`

## See Also

- [Getting Started with MCP](tutorials/getting-started.md)
- [Use Context7 for documentation](use-context7.md)
- [Use Wikipedia for research](use-wikipedia.md)
- [MCP Configuration Reference](reference/configuration.md)