read-github
am-will/codex-skills
Read and search GitHub repository documentation via gitmcp.io MCP service.
What is read-github?
Access GitHub repository documentation and code through the gitmcp.io MCP service. Use this when you need to understand what a repository does, search its documentation, or find specific code implementations.
- Fetch complete repository documentation (README, docs, etc.)
- Semantically search within repository documentation
- Search code using GitHub Search API for exact matches
- Fetch content from URLs referenced in documentation
- List available MCP tools for any repository
- Call MCP tools directly with custom arguments
How to install read-github
npx skills add https://github.com/am-will/codex-skills --skill read-github- Python 3 installed
- Access to gitmcp.io MCP service
- GitHub repository URL in owner/repo format
How to use read-github
- 1.Convert the GitHub URL to gitmcp.io format (github.com/owner/repo → gitmcp.io/owner/repo)
- 2.Run `python3 scripts/gitmcp.py fetch-docs owner/repo` to retrieve full documentation
- 3.Use `python3 scripts/gitmcp.py search-docs owner/repo "query"` for specific questions
- 4.Use `python3 scripts/gitmcp.py search-code owner/repo "function_name"` to find code implementations
- 5.Use `python3 scripts/gitmcp.py fetch-url owner/repo "https://example.com"` to retrieve referenced external content
Use cases
- User provides a GitHub URL and asks what the repository does
- Search for specific features or usage patterns within a repo's documentation
- Find implementations of particular functions or classes in a codebase
- Retrieve external documentation links referenced in a repository
- Understand project structure and capabilities before diving into code
- Developers exploring unfamiliar repositories
- Code reviewers needing quick documentation lookup
- Engineers integrating third-party libraries
- Researchers analyzing open-source projects
read-github FAQ
Use `python3 scripts/gitmcp.py search-code owner/repo "function_name"` to search code via GitHub Search API for exact matches.
search-docs performs semantic search within repository documentation, while search-code searches the actual codebase using GitHub's Search API for exact matches.
Yes, use `python3 scripts/gitmcp.py fetch-url owner/repo "https://example.com/doc"` to fetch content from URLs referenced in the documentation.
Tool names are dynamically prefixed with the repo name in underscore format: `karpathy/llm-council` becomes `fetch_llm_council_documentation`.
Start by fetching the full documentation with `fetch-docs` to understand the project, then use search-docs for specific questions or search-code to find implementations.
Full instructions (SKILL.md)
Source of truth, from am-will/codex-skills.
name: read-github description: | Read and search GitHub repository documentation via gitmcp.io MCP service.
WHEN TO USE:
- User provides a GitHub URL
- User mentions a specific repo in owner/repo format
- User asks "what does this repo do?", "read the docs for X repo", or similar
- User wants to search code or docs within a repo
Read GitHub Docs
Access GitHub repository documentation and code via the gitmcp.io MCP service.
URL Conversion
Convert GitHub URLs to gitmcp.io:
github.com/owner/repo→gitmcp.io/owner/repohttps://github.com/karpathy/llm-council→https://gitmcp.io/karpathy/llm-council
CLI Usage
The scripts/gitmcp.py script provides CLI access to repository docs.
List Available Tools
python3 scripts/gitmcp.py list-tools owner/repo
Fetch Documentation
Retrieves the full documentation file (README, docs, etc.):
python3 scripts/gitmcp.py fetch-docs owner/repo
Search Documentation
Semantic search within repository documentation:
python3 scripts/gitmcp.py search-docs owner/repo "query"
Search Code
Search code using GitHub Search API (exact match):
python3 scripts/gitmcp.py search-code owner/repo "function_name"
Fetch Referenced URL
Fetch content from URLs mentioned in documentation:
python3 scripts/gitmcp.py fetch-url owner/repo "https://example.com/doc"
Direct Tool Call
Call any MCP tool directly:
python3 scripts/gitmcp.py call owner/repo tool_name '{"arg": "value"}'
Tool Names
Tool names are dynamically prefixed with the repo name (underscored):
karpathy/llm-council→fetch_llm_council_documentationfacebook/react→fetch_react_documentationmy-org/my-repo→fetch_my_repo_documentation
Available MCP Tools
For any repository, these tools are available:
- fetch_{repo}_documentation - Fetch entire documentation. Call first for general questions.
- search_{repo}_documentation - Semantic search within docs. Use for specific queries.
- search_{repo}_code - Search code via GitHub API (exact match). Returns matching files.
- fetch_generic_url_content - Fetch any URL referenced in docs, respecting robots.txt.
Workflow
- When given a GitHub repo, first fetch documentation to understand the project
- Use search-docs for specific questions about usage or features
- Use search-code to find implementations or specific functions
- Use fetch-url to retrieve external references mentioned in docs
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