A wrapper around the GitHub API to provide some focused tools to LLMs via the Model Context Protocol.

Cloning and running the server locally.

git clone --recurse-submodules [email protected]:timescale/tiger-gh-mcp-server.git

This project uses git submodules to include the mcp boilerplate code. If you cloned the repo without the --recurse-submodules flag, run the following command to initialize and update the submodules:

git submodule update --init --recursive

You may also need to run this command if you pull changes that update a submodule. You can simplify this process by changing you git configuration to automatically update submodules when you pull:

git config --global submodule.recurse true

Run npm i to install dependencies and build the project. Use npm run watch to rebuild on changes.

You will need a GitHub token with the correct scopes. Here is a direct link to create such a new token.

Create a .env file based on the .env.sample file.

cp .env.sample .env

Then update the GITHUB_TOKEN value in .env.

The project includes a VS Code debug profile called "Debug Github MCP" that:

1. Installs dependencies (npm i)
2. Builds the project (npm run build)
3. Launches the server in HTTP mode with full debugging support

To use it:

• Open the project in VS Code
• Go to the Debug panel (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + D)
• Select "Debug Github MCP" from the dropdown
• Press F5 or click the play button

Breakpoints will work properly in TypeScript source files thanks to source map support.

The MCP Inspector is very handy.

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector

Create/edit the file ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json to add an entry like the following, making sure to use the absolute path to your local tiger-gh-mcp-server project, and use a valid GitHub token.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tiger-gh": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/tiger-gh-mcp-server/dist/index.js", "stdio"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "ghp_whatever",
        "GITHUB_ORG": "timescale"
      }
    }
  }
}

We use a Helm chart to deploy to Kubernetes. See the chart/ directory for details.

Run the following to create a sealed secret for the GitHub credentials. Be sure to fill in the correct values.

kubectl -n savannah-system create secret generic tiger-gh-mcp-server-github \
  --dry-run=client \
  --from-literal=token="ghp_abc123" \
  -o yaml | kubeseal -o yaml

kubectl -n savannah-system create secret generic tiger-gh-mcp-server-logfire \
  --dry-run=client \
  --from-literal=token="pylf_v1_us_" \
  -o yaml | kubeseal -o yaml

kubectl -n savannah-system create secret generic tiger-gh-mcp-server-tailscale \
  --dry-run=client \
  --from-literal=authkey="tskey-auth-" \
  -o yaml | kubeseal -o yaml

Update ./chart/values/dev.yaml with the output.