io.github.Dave-London/github MCP Server
io.github.Dave-London/github
Structured JSON output for GitHub operations—PRs, issues, actions—with token-efficient, schema-validated responses.
What is the io.github.Dave-London/github MCP server?
The GitHub MCP server wraps GitHub CLI operations (gh) and returns clean, schema-validated JSON instead of raw terminal text. It provides tools for managing pull requests, issues, and GitHub Actions with 80–95% fewer tokens than raw output, enabling reliable agent workflows without brittle string parsing.
This server exposes GitHub operations like listing/creating/updating pull requests and issues, checking action runs, and managing workflows. It's part of the Pare toolkit, which eliminates fragile CLI output parsing by returning typed, structured data—agents get consistent field names regardless of platform or tool version, and use significantly fewer tokens per operation.
How to install io.github.Dave-London/github
Copy-paste configuration for popular MCP clients.
Tools & capabilities
Tools this server exposes to the agent.
PR operations— Create, list, view, update, merge, and close pull requests with structured outputIssue operations— Create, list, view, update, and close issues with schema-validated responsesGitHub Actions— List and check status of workflow runs and action executions
Use cases
- Automatically list and filter pull requests by status, author, or label without parsing terminal output
- Create or update issues programmatically with structured validation and consistent field names
- Monitor GitHub Actions workflow runs and retrieve their status in token-efficient JSON format
- Merge pull requests and manage their lifecycle through reliable, typed API responses
- Search and retrieve issue/PR details with 80–95% fewer tokens than raw gh CLI output
io.github.Dave-London/github MCP server FAQ
It's an MCP server that wraps the GitHub CLI (gh) and returns structured, schema-validated JSON for pull requests, issues, and GitHub Actions instead of raw terminal text. This eliminates parsing fragility and reduces token usage by 80–95%.
Yes. Pare is open-source (MIT license) and free to use. You only need a GitHub account and the gh CLI installed with valid authentication.
Use the quick setup: `npx @paretools/init --client claude-code --preset web` (or your relevant preset), then restart your client. Or manually add the server to your MCP config with `npx -y @paretools/github`.
You need the GitHub CLI (gh) installed and authenticated. Run `gh auth login` once to set up your credentials. The server uses your existing gh authentication.
Yes. Use environment variables to filter tools: `PARE_GITHUB_TOOLS=pr:list,issue:create` or the universal `PARE_TOOLS=github:pr:list,github:issue:create`. Set via the `env` key in your MCP config.
Structured output typically saves 80–95% on tokens compared to raw gh output. For example, a verbose PR list that takes ~500 tokens in raw format may use only ~50–100 tokens as structured JSON.
README (reference)
Source of truth, from the repository.
Reliable, structured CLI output for AI agents — no more parsing fragile terminal text.
Pare provides MCP servers that wrap common developer tools (git, npm, docker, test runners, etc.) and return clean, schema-validated JSON instead of raw terminal text. Agents get typed data they can act on directly, without brittle string parsing.
The Problem
Parsing CLI output is fragile. Raw terminal text includes ANSI escape codes, decorative headers, progress bars, locale-specific formatting, and platform differences that break agent workflows in subtle ways. An agent that works fine with git status on macOS may fail on Windows because the output format changed. A test runner's summary line might shift between versions, silently breaking a regex.
Pare eliminates this entire class of errors by returning schema-validated JSON with consistent field names, regardless of platform, tool version, or locale. As a bonus, structured output is significantly smaller — agents use fewer tokens per tool call:
| Tool Command | Raw Tokens | Pare Tokens | Reduction |
|---|---|---|---|
docker build (multi-stage, 11 steps) | 373 | 20 | 95% |
git log --stat (5 commits, verbose) | 4,992 | 382 | 92% |
npm install (487 packages, warnings) | 241 | 41 | 83% |
vitest run (28 tests, all pass) | 196 | 39 | 80% |
cargo build (2 errors, help text) | 436 | 138 | 68% |
pip install (9 packages, progress bars) | 288 | 101 | 65% |
cargo test (12 tests, 2 failures) | 351 | 190 | 46% |
npm audit (4 vulnerabilities) | 287 | 185 | 36% |
Token estimates use ~4 chars/token. The biggest savings appear on verbose commands (builds, installs, tests). For simpler tools like
eslintortsc, the main advantage is reliable structured data — agents can use typed JSON directly rather than parsing strings.
How It Works
Each Pare tool returns two outputs:
content— human-readable text, for MCP clients that display itstructuredContent— typed, schema-validated JSON, ready for agents to process
This uses MCP's structuredContent and outputSchema features to provide type-safe, validated data that agents can rely on without custom parsing.
Example: git status
Raw git output (~118 tokens):
On branch main
Your branch is ahead of 'origin/main' by 2 commits.
(use "git push" to publish your local commits)
Changes to be committed:
(use "git restore --staged <file>..." to unstage)
modified: src/index.ts
new file: src/utils.ts
Changes not staged for commit:
(use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
(use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)
modified: README.md
Untracked files:
(use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
temp.log
Pare structured output (~59 tokens):
{
"branch": "main",
"upstream": "origin/main",
"ahead": 2,
"staged": [
{ "file": "src/index.ts", "status": "modified" },
{ "file": "src/utils.ts", "status": "added" }
],
"modified": ["README.md"],
"deleted": [],
"untracked": ["temp.log"],
"conflicts": [],
"clean": false
}
50% fewer tokens. Zero information lost. Fully typed. Savings scale with output verbosity — test runners and build logs see 80–92% reduction.
Available Servers (28 packages, 240 tools)
Install only the servers relevant to your stack — most projects need just 2–4. The full catalog covers a wide range of ecosystems so Pare works wherever you do.
| Category | Servers | Tools | Wraps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Version Control | git, github | 55 | git, gh |
| Languages & Packages | npm, python, cargo, go, deno, bun, nix, dotnet, ruby, swift, jvm | 101 | npm, pip, cargo, go, deno, bun, nix, dotnet, gem, swift, gradle, maven |
| Build, Lint & Test | build, lint, test, cmake, bazel | 23 | tsc, esbuild, vite, webpack, eslint, prettier, biome, vitest, pytest, jest |
| Infrastructure | docker, k8s, infra, security, remote | 40 | docker, kubectl, helm, terraform, ansible, trivy, ssh |
| Utilities | search, http, make, process, db | 21 | ripgrep, fd, curl, make, just, psql, mysql, redis, mongosh |
Tool Schemas — detailed response examples and field descriptions for every tool. See also Tool Response Examples for quick JSON samples.
Quick Setup
# 1. Configure MCP servers (non-interactive)
npx @paretools/init --client claude-code --preset web
# 2. Add agent rules to your project
# (append to existing CLAUDE.md, or copy if new)
cat node_modules/@paretools/init/rules/CLAUDE.md >> CLAUDE.md
# 3. Restart your client session
# 4. Validate
npx @paretools/init doctor
Available presets: web, python, rust, go, jvm, dotnet, ruby, swift, mobile, devops, full
Setup Guides by Client
| Claude Code | Claude Desktop | Cursor |
| VS Code / Copilot | Windsurf | Cline / Roo Code |
| OpenAI Codex | Gemini CLI | Zed |
| Continue.dev |
Full Quickstart Guide — presets, ecosystem mapping, validation
Manual Configuration — config paths and formats for all clients
Agent Integration Guide — rule files, hooks, CLI-to-MCP mapping
Configuration
Tool Selection
By default, every Pare server registers all of its tools. If a server exposes tools you don't need — or you want to limit which tools are available to an agent — you can filter them with environment variables.
Per-server filter — restrict a single server's tools:
# Only register status and log in the git server
PARE_GIT_TOOLS=status,log npx @paretools/git
Universal filter — restrict tools across all servers:
# Only register these specific tools across any server
PARE_TOOLS=git:status,git:log,npm:install npx @paretools/git
Disable all tools — set the env var to an empty string:
PARE_GIT_TOOLS= npx @paretools/git # no tools registered
| Env Var | Scope | Format | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
PARE_TOOLS | All servers | server:tool,... | git:status,npm:install |
PARE_{SERVER}_TOOLS | One server | tool,... | status,log,diff |
Rules:
- No env var = all tools enabled (default)
PARE_TOOLS(universal) takes precedence over per-server vars- Server names use uppercase with hyphens replaced by underscores (e.g.,
PARE_MY_SERVER_TOOLS) - Whitespace around commas is ignored
Common patterns:
# Read-only git (no push, commit, add, checkout)
PARE_GIT_TOOLS=status,log,diff,branch,show
# Minimal npm
PARE_NPM_TOOLS=install,test,run
# Only specific tools across all servers
PARE_TOOLS=git:status,git:diff,npm:install,test:run
In JSON MCP config, set via the env key:
{
"mcpServers": {
"pare-git": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@paretools/git"],
"env": {
"PARE_GIT_TOOLS": "status,log,diff,show"
}
}
}
}
Troubleshooting
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
npx not found / ENOENT on Windows | Use cmd /c npx wrapper (see your client's setup guide) |
| Slow first start | Run npx -y @paretools/git once to cache, or install globally: npm i -g @paretools/git |
| Node.js version error | Pare requires Node.js >= 20 |
| NVM/fnm PATH issues | Use absolute path to npx: e.g., ~/.nvm/versions/node/v22/bin/npx |
| MCP connection timeout | Set MCP_TIMEOUT=30000 for Claude Code, or increase initTimeout in client config |
| Too many tools filling context | Use tool selection env vars to limit tools, or only install the servers you need |
Contributing
Each server is a self-contained package. See CONTRIBUTING.md for the full guide.
License
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