GitHub

GitHub is a remote MCP server: there is nothing to install. Its endpoint is https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/, served over Streamable HTTP. In an assistant that accepts remote MCP servers (often under a setting named connectors, integrations or tools), add a new server and give it this URL; in a client configured by file, add it as a remote (HTTP) server with the same URL.

The registry entry declares an HTTP header for the connection: Authorization (secret). A secret header usually carries an API key or token issued by the service; clients that accept custom headers set it with the server's URL.

It can also run locally from a container image in an OCI registry such as Docker Hub or GitHub Container Registry: ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server:1.13.0. It speaks MCP over stdio, so the client starts it as a program and talks to it through standard input and output. It needs Docker or another OCI container runtime; started with docker run — the usual command is docker run -i --rm ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server:1.13.0.

In the mcpServers JSON format that many desktop and editor MCP clients read, the entry looks like this (placeholders in angle brackets):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github-mcp-server": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server:1.13.0"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Derived from the registry entry, not tested here. What the server does, and on what terms, is set by its publisher; check its repository or website before giving it access to your accounts or files. How to add an MCP server to an assistant · Before you connect