GitHub Chat MCP

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) for analyzing and querying GitHub repositories using the GitHub Chat API. Official Site: https://github-chat.com

Installation

# Install with pip
pip install github-chat-mcp

# Or install with the newer uv package manager
uv install github-chat-mcp

1. Start using it with Claude!

Example prompts:

• "Use github-chat-mcp to analyze the React repository"
• "Index the TypeScript repository with github-chat-mcp and ask about its architecture"

GitHub Chat MCP server

Setup Instructions

Before anything, ensure you have a GitHub Chat API key. This is required to use the service.

Install uv first.

MacOS/Linux:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Windows:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

Setup with Cursor (Recommended)

In mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github-chat": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "github-chat-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

With above, no envs required since it's a freemium release.

Setup with Claude Desktop

# claude_desktop_config.json
# Can find location through:
# Hamburger Menu -> File -> Settings -> Developer -> Edit Config
# Must perform: brew install uv
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github-chat": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["github-chat-mcp"],
      "env": {
      }
    }
  }
}

Installing via Smithery

You can install GitHub Chat for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install github-chat-mcp --client claude

Using GitHub Chat with Claude

1. Index a GitHub repository first: "Index the GitHub repository at https://github.com/username/repo"

2. Then ask questions about the repository: "What is the core tech stack used in this repository?"

Debugging

Run:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uvx github-chat-mcp

Local/Dev Setup Instructions

Clone repo

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/github-chat-mcp.git

Install dependencies

Install uv first.

MacOS/Linux:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

Windows:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy ByPass -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"

Then install MCP server dependencies:

cd github-chat-mcp

# Create virtual environment and activate it
uv venv

source .venv/bin/activate # MacOS/Linux
# OR
.venv/Scripts/activate # Windows

# Install dependencies
uv sync

Setup with Claude Desktop

Using MCP CLI SDK

# `pip install mcp[cli]` if you haven't
mcp install /ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/PARENT/FOLDER/github-chat-mcp/src/github_chat_mcp/server.py -v "GITHUB_API_KEY=API_KEY_HERE"

Manually

# claude_desktop_config.json
# Can find location through:
# Hamburger Menu -> File -> Settings -> Developer -> Edit Config
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github-chat": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/PARENT/FOLDER/github-chat-mcp",
        "run",
        "github-chat-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
      }
    }
  }
}

Using GitHub Chat with Claude

1. Index a GitHub repository first: "Index the GitHub repository at https://github.com/username/repo"

2. Then ask questions about the repository: "What is the core tech stack used in this repository?"

Debugging

Run:

# If mcp cli installed (`pip install mcp[cli]`)
mcp dev /ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/PARENT/FOLDER/github-chat-mcp/src/github_chat_mcp/server.py

# If not
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector \
      uv \
      --directory /ABSOLUTE/PATH/TO/PARENT/FOLDER/github-chat-mcp \
      run \
      github-chat-mcp

Then access MCP Inspector at http://localhost:5173. You may need to add your GitHub API key in the environment variables in the inspector under GITHUB_API_KEY.

Notes

• Level of logging is adjustable through the FASTMCP_LOG_LEVEL environment variable (e.g. FASTMCP_LOG_LEVEL="ERROR")
• This MCP server provides two main tools:
  1. Repository Indexing - Index and analyze a GitHub repository
  2. Repository Querying - Ask questions about the indexed repository