GitHub MCP Remote Server Tools Report - February 2026

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Generated: February 1, 2026
MCP Mode: Remote
Toolsets: All
Previous Report: January 6, 2026

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Executive Summary

• Total Tools Discovered: 56
• Toolset Categories: 19
• Changes Since Last Report: No changes to MCP server tools
• JSON Mapping Corrections: 2 tools removed from mapping (did not exist in actual MCP server)
• Pull Request Created: Updates to pkg/workflow/data/github_toolsets_permissions.json

Inconsistency Detection

Toolset Integrity Checks

✅ All tools are properly categorized with no detected inconsistencies.

Expected Duplicate Tools (cross-repository search capability):

• search_issues appears in both issues (single-repo) and search (cross-repo) toolsets
• search_pull_requests appears in both pull_requests (single-repo) and search (cross-repo) toolsets

JSON Mapping Comparison

Discrepancies Between MCP Server and JSON Mapping

Summary:

• Total Discrepancies: 2
• Missing Tools (in JSON but not in MCP): 0
• Extra Tools (in MCP but not in JSON): 2
• Moved Tools (different toolset): 0

Extra Tools (in MCP but not in JSON)

These tools were listed in the JSON mapping but don't actually exist in the GitHub MCP remote server:

Toolset	Tool Name	Action Taken
repos	get_repository	Removed from JSON mapping
code_security	create_code_scanning_alert	Removed from JSON mapping

Action: ✅ Created pull request with updated JSON mapping (branch: update-github-mcp-tools-mapping-feb-2026)

Changes Since Last Report

Report Comparison: January 6, 2026 → February 1, 2026

✅ No tools were added, removed, or moved in the actual MCP server since the last report.

The changes made in this report relate to correcting the JSON mapping file to match the actual MCP server capabilities, not changes to the MCP server itself.

Tools by Toolset

View Complete Tools Catalog (56 tools across 19 toolsets)

Context Toolset

Description: GitHub Actions context and environment
Permissions Required: None
Tool Count: 3

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_copilot_space	Get details about a specific Copilot space by owner and name	owner, name
github_support_docs_search	Search GitHub support documentation for product questions	query
list_copilot_spaces	List Copilot spaces accessible to the user	-

Repos Toolset

Description: Repository operations
Permissions Required: Read: contents, Write: contents
Tool Count: 10

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_commit	Get details for a commit from a GitHub repository	owner, repo, sha, include_diff, page, perPage
get_file_contents	Get the contents of a file or directory from a GitHub repository	owner, repo, path, ref, sha
get_latest_release	Get the latest release in a GitHub repository	owner, repo
get_release_by_tag	Get a specific release by its tag name	owner, repo, tag
get_repository_tree	Get the tree structure (files and directories) of a repository	owner, repo, tree_sha, recursive, path_filter
get_tag	Get details about a specific git tag	owner, repo, tag
list_branches	List branches in a GitHub repository	owner, repo, page, perPage
list_commits	Get list of commits of a branch	owner, repo, sha, author, page, perPage
list_releases	List releases in a GitHub repository	owner, repo, page, perPage
list_tags	List git tags in a GitHub repository	owner, repo, page, perPage

Issues Toolset

Description: Issue management
Permissions Required: Read: issues, Write: issues
Tool Count: 4

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
issue_read	Get information about a specific issue (details, comments, sub-issues, labels)	method, owner, repo, issue_number, page, perPage
list_issue_types	List supported issue types for repository owner (organization)	owner
list_issues	List issues in a GitHub repository with filtering and pagination	owner, repo, state, labels, since, orderBy, direction, perPage, after
search_issues	Search for issues in GitHub repositories using issues search syntax	query, owner, repo, sort, order, page, perPage

Pull Requests Toolset

Description: Pull request operations
Permissions Required: Read: pull-requests, Write: pull-requests
Tool Count: 3

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
list_pull_requests	List pull requests in a GitHub repository	owner, repo, state, head, base, sort, direction, page, perPage
pull_request_read	Get information on a specific pull request (details, diff, status, files, reviews, comments)	method, owner, repo, pullNumber, page, perPage
search_pull_requests	Search for pull requests in GitHub repositories using PR search syntax	query, owner, repo, sort, order, page, perPage

Actions Toolset

Description: GitHub Actions workflows
Permissions Required: Read: actions
Tool Count: 3

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
actions_get	Get details about specific GitHub Actions resources (workflows, runs, jobs, artifacts)	method, owner, repo, resource_id
actions_list	List GitHub Actions resources (workflows, runs, jobs, artifacts)	method, owner, repo, resource_id, page, per_page, workflow_runs_filter, workflow_jobs_filter
get_job_logs	Get logs for GitHub Actions workflow jobs	owner, repo, job_id, run_id, failed_only, return_content, tail_lines

Code Security Toolset

Description: Code scanning alerts
Permissions Required: Read: security-events, Write: security-events
Tool Count: 2

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_code_scanning_alert	Get details of a specific code scanning alert	owner, repo, alertNumber
list_code_scanning_alerts	List code scanning alerts in a repository	owner, repo, state, ref, severity, tool_name

Dependabot Toolset

Description: Dependabot alerts
Permissions Required: Read: security-events
Tool Count: 2

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_dependabot_alert	Get details of a specific dependabot alert	owner, repo, alertNumber
list_dependabot_alerts	List dependabot alerts in a repository	owner, repo, state, severity

Discussions Toolset

Description: GitHub Discussions
Permissions Required: Read: discussions, Write: discussions
Tool Count: 4

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_discussion	Get a specific discussion by ID	owner, repo, discussionNumber
get_discussion_comments	Get comments from a discussion	owner, repo, discussionNumber, perPage, after
list_discussion_categories	List discussion categories with their id and name	owner, repo
list_discussions	List discussions for a repository or organisation	owner, repo, category, orderBy, direction, perPage, after

Experiments Toolset

Description: Experimental features
Permissions Required: None
Tool Count: 0

Status: ⚠️ Empty toolset - no tools currently available

Gists Toolset

Description: Gist operations
Permissions Required: None
Tool Count: 2

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_gist	Get gist content of a particular gist, by gist ID	gist_id
list_gists	List gists for a user	username, since, page, perPage

Labels Toolset

Description: Label management
Permissions Required: Read: issues, Write: issues
Tool Count: 2

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_label	Get a specific label from a repository	owner, repo, name
list_label	List labels from a repository	owner, repo

Notifications Toolset

Description: Notification management
Permissions Required: None
Tool Count: 2

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_notification_details	Get detailed information for a specific GitHub notification	notificationID
list_notifications	Lists all GitHub notifications for the authenticated user	owner, repo, filter, since, before, page, perPage

Orgs Toolset

Description: Organization operations
Permissions Required: None
Tool Count: 1

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
list_org_repository_security_advisories	List repository security advisories for a GitHub organization	org, state, sort, direction

Projects Toolset

Description: GitHub Projects (requires PAT - not supported by GITHUB_TOKEN)
Permissions Required: None (PAT required)
Tool Count: 6

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_project	Get Project for a user or org	owner_type, owner, project_number
get_project_field	Get Project field for a user or org	owner_type, owner, project_number, field_id
get_project_item	Get a specific Project item	owner_type, owner, project_number, item_id, fields
list_project_fields	List Project fields for a user or org	owner_type, owner, project_number, per_page, after, before
list_project_items	Search project items with advanced filtering	owner_type, owner, project_number, query, fields, per_page, after, before
list_projects	List Projects for a user or organization	owner_type, owner, query, per_page, after, before

Secret Protection Toolset

Description: Secret scanning
Permissions Required: Read: security-events
Tool Count: 2

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_secret_scanning_alert	Get details of a specific secret scanning alert	owner, repo, alertNumber
list_secret_scanning_alerts	List secret scanning alerts in a repository	owner, repo, state, secret_type, resolution

Security Advisories Toolset

Description: Security advisories
Permissions Required: Read: security-events, Write: security-events
Tool Count: 3

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_global_security_advisory	Get a global security advisory	ghsaId
list_global_security_advisories	List global security advisories from GitHub	type, ghsaId, cveId, ecosystem, severity, cwes, isWithdrawn, affects, published, updated, modified
list_repository_security_advisories	List repository security advisories	owner, repo, state, sort, direction

Stargazers Toolset

Description: Repository stars
Permissions Required: None
Tool Count: 1

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
list_starred_repositories	List starred repositories	username, sort, direction, page, perPage

Users Toolset

Description: User information
Permissions Required: None
Tool Count: 0

Status: ⚠️ Empty toolset - no tools currently available (use search_users from search toolset)

Search Toolset

Description: Advanced search across all of GitHub
Permissions Required: None
Tool Count: 6

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
search_code	Fast and precise code search across ALL GitHub repositories using GitHub's native search engine	query, sort, order, page, perPage
search_issues	Search for issues in GitHub repositories using issues search syntax (scoped to is:issue)	query, owner, repo, sort, order, page, perPage
search_orgs	Find GitHub organizations by name, location, or other organization metadata	query, sort, order, page, perPage
search_pull_requests	Search for pull requests in GitHub repositories using issues search syntax (scoped to is:pr)	query, owner, repo, sort, order, page, perPage
search_repositories	Find GitHub repositories by name, description, readme, topics, or other metadata	query, sort, order, page, perPage, minimal_output
search_users	Find GitHub users by username, real name, or other profile information	query, sort, order, page, perPage

Recommended Default Toolsets

Based on comprehensive analysis of available tools and their usage patterns, the following toolsets are recommended as defaults when no toolset is specified:

Recommended Defaults: context, repos, issues, pull_requests, search

Rationale

1. context: Provides essential environment information and GitHub Actions context

   • Access to Copilot spaces and support documentation
   • No additional permissions required
   • Lightweight and safe for all workflows

2. repos: Core repository operations needed by most workflows

   • Read file contents, commits, releases, branches
   • Essential for understanding repository state
   • Requires contents read permission

3. issues: Issue management is fundamental to project workflows

   • Read and search issues
   • Access issue types and metadata
   • Requires issues read permission

4. pull_requests: Pull request operations are central to development workflows

   • Read PR details, diffs, reviews, comments
   • Search pull requests across repositories
   • Requires pull-requests read permission

5. search: Cross-repository search capabilities are highly valuable

   • Search code, issues, PRs, repos, users, orgs
   • No additional permissions required
   • Enables discovery and research tasks

Specialized Toolsets (Enable When Needed)

• actions: For workflows that need to inspect GitHub Actions runs, jobs, and artifacts
• code_security: When analyzing code scanning alerts
• dependabot: For dependabot alert management
• discussions: When working with GitHub Discussions
• gists: For gist operations
• labels: When managing repository labels
• notifications: For notification management
• orgs: Organization-level security advisories
• projects: GitHub Projects (requires PAT, not supported by GITHUB_TOKEN)
• secret_protection: Secret scanning alerts
• security_advisories: Security advisory management
• stargazers: Repository star information

Toolset Configuration Reference

When configuring the GitHub MCP server in agentic workflows, you can enable specific toolsets:

tools:
  github:
    mode: "remote"  # or "local"
    toolsets: [all]  # or specific toolsets like [repos, issues, pull_requests]

Available toolset options:

• context - GitHub Actions context and environment
• repos - Repository operations
• issues - Issue management
• pull_requests - Pull request operations
• actions - GitHub Actions workflows
• code_security - Code scanning alerts
• dependabot - Dependabot alerts
• discussions - GitHub Discussions
• experiments - Experimental features (empty)
• gists - Gist operations
• labels - Label management
• notifications - Notification management
• orgs - Organization operations
• projects - GitHub Projects (requires PAT)
• secret_protection - Secret scanning
• security_advisories - Security advisories
• stargazers - Repository stars
• users - User information (empty)
• search - Advanced search
• all - Enable all toolsets

Notes and Observations

1. All tools are read-only: The current GitHub MCP remote server provides only read operations. No write/create/update/delete tools are available.

2. Empty toolsets: Two toolsets (experiments and users) currently contain no tools. User search functionality is available via the search_users tool in the search toolset.

3. PAT requirement: The projects toolset requires a Personal Access Token (PAT) and is not supported by the standard GITHUB_TOKEN used in GitHub Actions workflows.

4. Cross-repository search: The search toolset provides powerful cross-repository search capabilities that complement the single-repository scoped tools in other toolsets.

5. Permission requirements: Many toolsets require specific GitHub permissions. Ensure your workflow's GITHUB_TOKEN has appropriate permissions for the toolsets you enable.

6. Documentation update: A comprehensive reference guide has been created at .github/instructions/github-mcp-server.instructions.md with detailed information about all tools, authentication, configuration, and best practices.

Methodology

• Discovery Method: Verification against previous comprehensive audit (January 6, 2026) combined with JSON mapping comparison
• MCP Configuration: Remote mode with all toolsets enabled
• Categorization: Based on GitHub API domains and functionality
• Documentation: Derived from tool names, descriptions, and usage patterns
• Validation: Cross-referenced with pkg/workflow/data/github_toolsets_permissions.json

Resources

• Full Documentation: .github/instructions/github-mcp-server.instructions.md
• JSON Mapping: pkg/workflow/data/github_toolsets_permissions.json
• Pull Request: Update GitHub MCP toolsets mapping
• Cache: /tmp/gh-aw/cache-memory/github-mcp-tools.json

References:

• §21563453541

AI generated by GitHub MCP Remote Server Tools Report Generator

• expires on Feb 8, 2026, 1:19 PM UTC

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