GitHub MCP Remote Server Tools Report - 2025-10-20

[dsyme]

GitHub MCP Remote Server Tools Report

Generated: 2025-10-20
MCP Mode: Remote
Toolsets: All
Previous Report: 2025-10-20

Executive Summary

• Total Tools Discovered: 107
• Toolset Categories: 18 (17 active, 1 empty)
• Report Date: 2025-10-20
• Changes Since Last Report:
  • New Tools: 58
  • Removed Tools: 0
  • Unchanged Tools: 49
  • New Toolsets: 13

Inconsistency Detection

Toolset Integrity Checks

✅ All tools are properly categorized with no detected inconsistencies.

Detailed Analysis:

1. Duplicate Tools: None detected. Each tool appears in exactly one toolset.

2. Miscategorized Tools: None detected. All tools are appropriately categorized based on their functionality:

   • Repository operations are in repos
   • Issue operations are in issues
   • Pull request operations are in pull_requests
   • Security features are appropriately split across code_security, dependabot, secret_protection, and security_advisories

3. Naming Inconsistencies: None detected. All tools follow consistent naming patterns:

   • get_* - Get details of a specific resource
   • list_* - List multiple resources
   • create_* - Create a new resource
   • update_* - Update an existing resource
   • delete_* - Delete a resource
   • add_* - Add something
   • search_* - Search for resources

4. Orphaned Tools: None detected. All 107 tools are properly categorized into the 17 active toolsets.

5. Empty Toolsets: The context toolset is empty (not yet implemented). This is expected and not an inconsistency.

Changes Since Last Report

Summary

This represents a major expansion of the GitHub MCP server capabilities:

• Tool Growth: From 49 to 107 tools (118% increase)
• Toolset Expansion: From 5 to 17 active toolsets (240% increase)
• Stability: No tools were removed or moved, indicating stable API design

New Tools Added ✨

New Toolsets (13)

The following major toolsets were added since the last report:

1. actions (14 tools) - GitHub Actions workflows, runs, jobs, logs, artifacts
2. code_security (2 tools) - Code scanning alerts
3. dependabot (2 tools) - Dependency alerts
4. discussions (4 tools) - GitHub Discussions
5. experiments (5 tools) - Experimental features (Copilot spaces, web search, package search)
6. gists (3 tools) - Gist operations
7. notifications (6 tools) - Notification management
8. orgs (2 tools) - Organization operations
9. projects (9 tools) - GitHub Projects
10. secret_protection (2 tools) - Secret scanning
11. security_advisories (3 tools) - Security advisories
12. stargazers (3 tools) - Repository stars
13. context (0 tools) - GitHub Actions context (empty, not yet implemented)

Enhanced Existing Toolsets

repos (+1 tool):

• semantic_code_search - Search for code using natural language queries within a repository

pull_requests (+1 tool):

• create_pull_request_with_copilot - Delegate PR creation to GitHub Copilot coding agent

labels (+1 tool):

• label_write - Consolidated tool for create/update/delete label operations

Removed Tools 🗑️

None - No tools were removed since the last report.

Tools Moved Between Toolsets 🔄

None - No tools changed their toolset categorization.

Recommended Default Toolsets

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

Recommended Defaults: repos, issues, pull_requests, labels, users

Rationale

These toolsets are recommended as defaults because they:

• Provide core GitHub functionality used in most workflows
• Cover repository operations, issue management, and pull request workflows
• Include label management (frequently used with issues/PRs)
• Provide user context and authentication information
• Have minimal security exposure (no workflow execution)
• Total: 52 tools (48.6% of all available tools)

Why Each Default

1. repos (18 tools)

   • Repository operations are fundamental to all GitHub work
   • Includes file operations, branch management, search
   • Essential for code-related workflows

2. issues (13 tools)

   • Issue management is a primary GitHub workflow
   • Most agentic workflows involve reading or creating issues
   • Core collaboration feature

3. pull_requests (14 tools)

   • Pull requests are central to GitHub's collaboration model
   • Code review and merge workflows
   • Essential for code contribution workflows

4. labels (3 tools)

   • Small toolset with high utility
   • Labels are used extensively with issues and PRs
   • Natural complement to issues/PRs toolsets
   • Minimal overhead (only 3 tools)

5. users (4 tools)

   • User context and authentication information
   • Team management
   • Small toolset with essential functionality

Changes from Previous Defaults

Before: context, repos, issues, pull_requests, users

After: repos, issues, pull_requests, labels, users

Changes:

• ❌ Removed: context (empty toolset, not implemented)
• ✅ Added: labels (frequently used, minimal overhead, high utility)
• ✅ Kept: repos, issues, pull_requests, users

Impact:

• Removes non-functional toolset (context)
• Adds label management capabilities by default
• No breaking changes to existing functionality
• Users gain label management without explicit configuration

Complete Tool Inventory

For a detailed breakdown of all 107 tools organized by toolset, see the comprehensive documentation at:

.github/instructions/github-mcp-server.instructions.md

This includes:

• Complete tool listings for all 18 toolsets
• Tool descriptions and key parameters
• Configuration examples
• Best practices for toolset selection
• Authentication details for remote and local modes
• Troubleshooting guidance

Toolset Configuration Reference

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

tools:
  github:
    mode: "remote"  # or "local"
    toolset: [repos, issues, pull_requests, labels, users]  # or [all]

Available toolset options:

• context - GitHub Actions context and environment (not yet implemented)
• 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
• gists - Gist operations
• labels - Label management
• notifications - Notification management
• orgs - Organization operations
• projects - GitHub Projects
• secret_protection - Secret scanning
• security_advisories - Security advisories
• stargazers - Repository stars
• users - User information
• all - Enable all toolsets

Key Findings

1. Major Expansion: The GitHub MCP server has grown significantly, adding 58 new tools across 13 new toolsets.

2. Comprehensive Coverage: The server now provides comprehensive coverage of GitHub's API surface, including:

   • Core operations (repos, issues, PRs)
   • CI/CD (Actions workflows)
   • Security (code scanning, Dependabot, secret scanning, advisories)
   • Community (Discussions, notifications)
   • Project management (Projects)
   • Experimental features (Copilot spaces, web search)

3. Stable API: No tools were removed or moved between toolsets, indicating a stable and well-designed API.

4. Naming Consistency: All tools follow consistent naming conventions, making the API predictable and easy to use.

5. Toolset Organization: Tools are logically organized into toolsets by functionality, allowing users to enable only what they need.

Recommendations

1. Use Recommended Defaults: For most workflows, the recommended default toolsets (repos, issues, pull_requests, labels, users) provide sufficient functionality.

2. Enable Specialized Toolsets When Needed: Only enable additional toolsets when you need their specific functionality to reduce initialization time and memory usage.

3. Consider Security Implications: Be mindful of toolsets that enable write operations or workflow execution. Consider using read-only mode when appropriate.

4. Monitor Context Toolset: The context toolset is currently empty. When implemented, it may provide valuable GitHub Actions context information.

5. Explore Experiments: The experiments toolset includes innovative features like Copilot spaces and web search that may be useful for advanced workflows.

Methodology

• Discovery Method: Self-inspection of available tools in the GitHub MCP remote server
• 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
• Change Tracking: Comparison with previous tool inventory from cache
• Inconsistency Detection: Systematic analysis of tool categorization, naming, and organization

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Report Generated By: GitHub MCP Remote Server Tools Report Generator
Repository: githubnext/gh-aw
Workflow: github-mcp-tools-report.md
Date: 2025-10-20

AI generated by GitHub MCP Remote Server Tools Report Generator

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This discussion was automatically closed because it was created by an agentic workflow more than 1 month ago.