MCP & Connectors

How do you connect Claude to GitHub via MCP?

Last verified: July 2026 · 2 min read
QUICK ANSWER

To connect Claude to GitHub, generate a Personal Access Token (Classic or Fine-Grained) on GitHub with access to your target repositories, and add the official GitHub MCP server configuration to your local Claude Desktop config file.

Step-by-step Connection

  1. Log in to GitHub and go to Settings > Developer settings > Personal access tokens > Tokens (classic).
  2. Click Generate new token. Set the scope permissions for repo (full control of private repositories), read:org, and gist.
  3. Copy the generated token immediately.
  4. Add the GitHub server block to your claude_desktop_config.json file: 
    {
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "ghp_yourGitHubTokenHere"
      }
    }
  }
}
  5. Restart Claude Desktop. Claude can now search issues, read code files, commit changes, and interact with PRs on GitHub.
Verified against: GitHub MCP Server v1.0.1

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