The GitHub MCP Server allows AI tools like GitHub Copilot in VS Code and Visual Studio, Claude Desktop, and others to seamlessly access live GitHub context and tools—like issues, pull requests and code files—to power smarter, more dynamic agent workflows.

With the Remote GitHub MCP server, you don’t need to install or run it locally, and new updates are applied automatically. Just install to VS Code with one click or paste the server URL into your remote MCP-compatible host, authenticate, and you’re ready to go.

👉 Check out the repository.

🔍 What is the Remote GitHub MCP Server?

The GitHub MCP Server (remote and local) surfaces GitHub context and functionality to any AI host that supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP). It lets tools like GitHub Copilot query and operate on GitHub data securely and in real time, enabling more context-aware and actionable agent workflows across environments.

Alongside our local server, the hosted Remote GitHub MCP Server now offers:

  • Frictionless setup: No local install or runtime needed. Just one-click install into VS Code. Or paste the remote server URL into your MCP host.
  • Secure authentication: OAuth 2.0 with SAML enforcement (PKCE support coming soon). You can also use Personal Access Tokens (PATs), but OAuth is recommended for scoped access and a faster sign-in experience.
  • Auto-updates: The remote server runs the same code as the local OSS version today, so you get all improvements with less maintenance.

The remote server offers the smoothest experience, but both remote and local share the same codebase. If your host doesn’t yet support remote servers, you can fall back to the local one. We’ll continue to support the local server and community.