Tiger GitHub MCP Server

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

Development

Cloning and running the server locally.

git clone git@github.com:timescale/tiger-gh-mcp-server.git

Building

This project uses bun as its runtime and package manager. A wrapper script (./bun) is included that downloads a pinned version of bun on first use, so you don't need to install it globally.

Run ./bun install to install dependencies. Use ./bun run watch http to run the server in HTTP mode and reload 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.

VS Code Debugging

The project includes a VS Code debug profile called "Debug Github MCP" that launches the server in HTTP mode with full debugging support, running the TypeScript source directly via bun.

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.

Testing

The MCP Inspector is a very handy to exercise the MCP server from a web-based UI.

./bun run inspector

Testing in Claude Desktop

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": "/absolute/path/to/tiger-gh-mcp-server/bun",
      "args": [
        "/absolute/path/to/tiger-gh-mcp-server/src/index.ts",
        "stdio"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "ghp_whatever",
        "GITHUB_ORG": "timescale"
      }
    }
  }
}