Mode: Cognitive/Prompt-Driven — No standalone utility script; use via agent context.

GitHub Skill

Overview

This skill provides access to the official GitHub MCP server with progressive disclosure for optimal context usage.

Context Savings: ~95% reduction

MCP Mode: ~50,000 tokens always loaded (80+ tools)
Skill Mode: ~500 tokens metadata + on-demand loading

Requirements

Docker installed and running
```
GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN
```
environment variable set

Toolsets

The server provides 80+ tools across 19 toolsets:

Toolset	Description
`actions`	Workflow management, runs, jobs, artifacts
`code_security`	Scanning alerts, code analysis
`discussions`	Forum interactions
`gists`	Code snippets management
`issues`	Issue creation, updates, commenting
`labels`	Label management and filtering
`projects`	GitHub Projects board management
`pull_requests`	PR creation, review, merging
`repos`	Code search, commits, releases, branches
`users`	User search and management
`orgs`	Organization and team management
`notifications`	Notification management
`secret_scanning`	Secret scanning alerts
`context`	Context about the user

Quick Reference

Use the

gh

CLI for GitHub operations:

bash

# Get repository info
gh repo view anthropics/claude-code

# List issues
gh issue list --repo anthropics/claude-code

# Search code
gh search code "language:python MCP"

# Create issue
gh issue create --repo me/myrepo --title "Bug" --body "Description"

# List pull requests
gh pr list --repo anthropics/claude-code

Common Tools (Default Toolsets: 40 tools)

Repository Operations

```
search_repositories
```
- Search for repositories
```
create_repository
```
- Create a new repository
```
fork_repository
```
- Fork a repository
```
list_commits
```
- List repository commits
```
get_commit
```
- Get commit details
```
get_file_contents
```
- Get file contents from a repository
```
create_or_update_file
```
- Create or update a file
```
delete_file
```
- Delete a file
```
push_files
```
- Push multiple files
```
search_code
```
- Search for code across GitHub
```
list_branches
```
- List repository branches
```
create_branch
```
- Create a new branch
```
list_tags
```
- List repository tags
```
get_tag
```
- Get tag details
```
list_releases
```
- List releases
```
get_latest_release
```
- Get latest release
```
get_release_by_tag
```
- Get release by tag

Issue Operations

```
list_issues
```
- List repository issues
```
issue_read
```
- Read issue details
```
issue_write
```
- Create/update issues
```
add_issue_comment
```
- Add a comment to an issue
```
search_issues
```
- Search for issues
```
list_issue_types
```
- List issue types (for organizations)
```
get_label
```
- Get label details
```
sub_issue_write
```
- Manage sub-issues
```
assign_copilot_to_issue
```
- Assign Copilot to an issue

Pull Request Operations

```
list_pull_requests
```
- List repository pull requests
```
pull_request_read
```
- Read PR details
```
create_pull_request
```
- Create a new PR
```
update_pull_request
```
- Update a PR
```
update_pull_request_branch
```
- Update PR branch
```
merge_pull_request
```
- Merge a PR
```
search_pull_requests
```
- Search for pull requests
```
pull_request_review_write
```
- Create/submit PR reviews
```
add_comment_to_pending_review
```
- Add comments to pending review
```
request_copilot_review
```
- Request Copilot review

User & Team Operations

```
get_me
```
- Get current authenticated user
```
search_users
```
- Search for users
```
get_teams
```
- Get organization teams
```
get_team_members
```
- Get team members

Configuration

The skill uses Docker to run the official GitHub MCP server:

Image:
```
ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server
```
Auth:
```
GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN
```
environment variable

Environment Variables

Variable	Required	Description
`GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN`	Yes	GitHub PAT for authentication
`GITHUB_HOST`	No	For GitHub Enterprise (default: github.com)
`GITHUB_TOOLSETS`	No	Comma-separated toolsets to enable
`GITHUB_READ_ONLY`	No	Set to 1 for read-only mode

Limiting Toolsets

When using MCP, configure toolsets via environment variables:

bash

# Only repos and issues
GITHUB_TOOLSETS=repos,issues

# Only pull requests and code security
GITHUB_TOOLSETS=pull_requests,code_security

Error Handling

If operations fail:

Verify Docker is running:
```
docker ps
```
Check GitHub token is set:
```
echo $GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN
```
Ensure token has required permissions for the operation
Use
```
gh auth status
```
to verify authentication

Official GitHub MCP Server: https://github.com/github/github-mcp-server
GitHub API Documentation: https://docs.github.com/en/rest

Memory Protocol (MANDATORY)

Before starting: Read

.claude/context/memory/learnings.md

After completing:

New pattern ->
```
.claude/context/memory/learnings.md
```
Issue found ->
```
.claude/context/memory/issues.md
```
Decision made ->
```
.claude/context/memory/decisions.md
```

ASSUME INTERRUPTION: If it's not in memory, it didn't happen.

github-mcp

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content