How to Connect Claude Code to GitHub With the Official MCP Server

Connect Claude Code to GitHub by registering GitHub's own official remote MCP server, hosted at api.githubcopilot.com/mcp, using a GitHub personal access token for authentication. Generate a fine-grained token scoped to the specific repos you're working in, then run one command to register it: claude mcp add-json github with the token passed as a Bearer header. That's the whole setup, and it works the same way whether you're building inside the Claude Code desktop app or the CLI.

Once it's connected, Claude Code can read a repository's files and structure, search and browse open issues and pull requests, check the status of CI runs, and open or update issues and PRs as part of the same conversation you're already having about a build. It's a server GitHub built and runs themselves against their own API, the same pattern as [connecting Claude Code to Linear](/blog/connect-claude-code-to-linear) or Notion, not a community package reverse-engineered against endpoints that can change without notice.

GitHub's remote server authenticates with a personal access token rather than a full browser OAuth login, so this step happens before you touch Claude Code at all. Go to github.com/settings/personal-access-tokens/new and create a fine-grained token, not a classic one. Fine-grained tokens let you pick exactly which repositories the token can see and exactly which permissions it has inside them, instead of handing over blanket access to everything in your account.

This is the same instinct as the Linear API key's read-only option, applied one step earlier: the access decision happens when you generate the token, not as a separate setting inside Claude Code. A token scoped to two repos with read and issue access can't reach a third repo or push a commit, no matter what you ask it to do.

With the token copied, register the server from a terminal window, the same one-time step whether you build inside the desktop app or the CLI day to day.

Don't hardcode the token into a file you might commit. Store it in a .env file, add that file to .gitignore, and reference it as an environment variable when you run the command, the same habit covered in [Claude Code environment variables: how to keep your API keys safe](/blog/claude-code-environment-variables).

The obvious use is starting work from the real issue instead of retyping it, the same pattern as the Linear connection, but with the added value of GitHub also being where the code and the CI results already live. Claude Code can read an issue, look at the actual file it references, check whether the last CI run on a branch is green, and open a pull request when the change is ready, all without you narrating any of that context by hand.

It doesn't replace reviewing the diff yourself before you merge anything, that habit is covered in [how I review Claude Code's output before I ship it](/blog/review-claude-code-output-before-you-ship). What it removes is the manual copy-paste tax between where the issue, the code, and the CI status already live and the session where you're actually building.

Slack, Notion, and Linear's hosted MCP servers all support a one-click browser OAuth login the first time you connect, no token to generate. GitHub's remote server doesn't offer that yet inside Claude Code, in the desktop app or the CLI, which is why a personal access token is the standard route here rather than a fallback for people who'd rather skip the browser flow.

If you'd rather log in with your GitHub account instead of managing a token, GitHub also ships a local version of the server that runs through Docker and supports a real OAuth browser login on first use. It's a heavier setup, since it needs Docker installed and running, so I'd only reach for it if avoiding a token specifically matters to you, most builders are fine with the scoped token above.

Skip the setup for a throwaway script or a repo you're not going back to. It earns its place the moment there's a real, actively-updated repo on the other end, open issues, a review process, CI checks that actually gate a merge, the kind of project where you'd otherwise be tabbing over to github.com every few minutes anyway.