GitHub MCP Remote Server Tools Report - 2026-02-15

[github-actions[bot]]

Generated: 2026-02-15
MCP Mode: Remote
Toolsets: All
Previous Report: None (first run)

Executive Summary

• Total Tools Discovered: 56
• Toolset Categories: 19
• Report Date: 2026-02-15
• Changes Since Last Report: N/A (first report)

Key Highlights

✅ JSON mapping is 100% accurate - All tools match the MCP server implementation
✅ Well-organized toolsets - Clear categorization with logical groupings
⚠️ Minor inconsistencies identified - Non-critical naming and empty toolset issues
📋 Recommended defaults updated - New default toolsets based on usage analysis

JSON Mapping Comparison

Discrepancies Between MCP Server and JSON Mapping

Summary:

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

✅ JSON mapping is accurate and matches the MCP server.

Action: No updates needed to pkg/workflow/data/github_toolsets_permissions.json.

Changes Since Last Report

This is the first report. No previous data available for comparison.

Future reports will include:

• New tools added since last report
• Removed tools
• Tools that moved between toolsets

Inconsistency Detection

Toolset Integrity Checks

View Detailed Inconsistency Analysis

1. Duplicate Tools Across Toolsets

Intentional Duplicates (by design):

• search_issues: Found in both issues and search toolsets
• search_pull_requests: Found in both pull_requests and search toolsets

Rationale: These duplications are intentional design patterns to provide:

• Domain-specific convenience when working within issues/pull_requests
• Centralized search access via the search toolset

✅ Status: This is intentional design, not a problem.

2. Naming Consistency

Minor Inconsistency Found:

• list_label: Should be list_labels (plural) to match naming convention
• All other list_* tools use plural forms (list_branches, list_commits, list_issues, etc.)

Pattern Analysis:

• get_* prefix: Single-item retrieval (get_commit, get_file_contents, etc.)
• list_* prefix: Multiple items (list_branches, list_commits, etc.)
• search_* prefix: Search operations (search_issues, search_code, etc.)
• *_read suffix: Reading operations (issue_read, pull_request_read)

⚠️ Status: Minor naming inconsistency that doesn't affect functionality.

3. Toolset Categorization

All tools are appropriately categorized. Each toolset contains relevant, related tools with clear purpose alignment:

• ✅ context: Copilot and support documentation tools
• ✅ repos: Repository operations (commits, releases, branches, tags, files)
• ✅ issues: Issue management
• ✅ pull_requests: Pull request operations
• ✅ actions: GitHub Actions workflows
• ✅ code_security: Code scanning alerts
• ✅ dependabot: Dependabot alerts
• ✅ discussions: GitHub Discussions
• ✅ gists: Gist operations
• ✅ labels: Label management
• ✅ notifications: User notifications
• ✅ orgs: Organization operations
• ✅ projects: GitHub Projects (v2)
• ✅ secret_protection: Secret scanning alerts
• ✅ security_advisories: Security advisories
• ✅ stargazers: Repository star tracking
• ✅ search: Centralized search functionality

4. Empty Toolsets

experiments: No tools (expected - reserved for future features)
users: No tools (unexpected)

⚠️ Status: The users toolset is defined but empty. This may be:

• Reserved for future user management features
• User-related features scattered across other toolsets
• Overlooked during implementation

5. Orphaned Tools

✅ No orphaned tools found. All 56 tools are properly categorized.

Overall Assessment

✅ The GitHub MCP toolset organization is well-structured with only minor naming inconsistencies. All tools are appropriately categorized with clear, logical groupings.

Recommended Default Toolsets

Based on analysis of usage patterns, frequency, and security impact:

Recommended Defaults

default_toolsets: [context, repos, issues, pull_requests, actions, discussions, search]

Rationale

View Detailed Rationale

Why these toolsets are included in defaults:

1. context (3 tools)

   • Environment and documentation access
   • High frequency usage across workflows
   • Low security impact

2. repos (10 tools)

   • Core repository operations
   • Essential for most GitHub workflows
   • Medium security impact (requires contents permissions)

3. issues (4 tools)

   • Issue management is central to GitHub collaboration
   • High frequency usage
   • Low-medium security impact

4. pull_requests (3 tools)

   • Essential for code review workflows
   • High frequency usage
   • Low-medium security impact

5. actions (3 tools)

   • Workflow monitoring and CI/CD integration
   • Medium-high frequency usage
   • Low security impact (read-only)

6. discussions (4 tools)

   • Community engagement features
   • Medium frequency in public repositories
   • Low-medium security impact

7. search (6 tools)

   • Discovery and research capabilities
   • Medium frequency for exploration
   • Low security impact (read-only)

Specialized Toolsets (Enable Explicitly)

The following toolsets should be enabled explicitly when needed:

Security Toolsets (require security-events permissions):

• code_security: Code scanning alerts
• dependabot: Dependabot alerts
• secret_protection: Secret scanning alerts
• security_advisories: Security advisory management

Niche/Specialized Features:

• gists: Snippet management (low frequency)
• labels: Label management (metadata-focused)
• notifications: User notifications (user-specific)
• orgs: Organization operations (org-specific)
• projects: GitHub Projects v2 (requires PAT token)
• stargazers: Repository star tracking (analytics)

Empty Toolsets:

• users: Currently no tools available
• experiments: Reserved for experimental features

Tools by Toolset

View Complete Tool Reference

Context Toolset

GitHub Actions context, Copilot spaces, and support documentation access.

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_copilot_space	Get details about a specific Copilot space	space_id
github_support_docs_search	Search GitHub support documentation	query
list_copilot_spaces	List available Copilot spaces	-

Repos Toolset

Repository operations including commits, releases, branches, tags, and file access.

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_commit	Get details of a specific commit	owner, repo, commit_sha
get_file_contents	Read file contents from a repository	owner, repo, path, ref
get_latest_release	Get the latest published release	owner, repo
get_release_by_tag	Get a release by its tag name	owner, repo, tag
get_repository_tree	Get the tree structure of a repository	owner, repo, tree_sha, recursive
get_tag	Get details of a specific tag	owner, repo, tag
list_branches	List all branches in a repository	owner, repo
list_commits	List commits in a repository	owner, repo, sha, path
list_releases	List all releases in a repository	owner, repo
list_tags	List all tags in a repository	owner, repo

Issues Toolset

Issue management including reading, listing, and searching issues.

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
issue_read	Read a specific issue with all comments	owner, repo, issue_number
list_issue_types	List available issue types/templates	owner, repo
list_issues	List issues in a repository	owner, repo, state, labels
search_issues	Search for issues across GitHub	query, sort, order

Pull Requests Toolset

Pull request operations including listing, reading, and searching PRs.

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
list_pull_requests	List pull requests in a repository	owner, repo, state, head, base
pull_request_read	Read a specific PR with reviews and comments	owner, repo, pull_number
search_pull_requests	Search for pull requests across GitHub	query, sort, order

Actions Toolset

GitHub Actions workflow information and logs.

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
actions_get	Get details of a specific workflow run	owner, repo, run_id
actions_list	List workflow runs in a repository	owner, repo, workflow_id, status
get_job_logs	Get logs for a specific job in a workflow run	owner, repo, job_id

Code Security Toolset

Code scanning alerts for security vulnerabilities.

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_code_scanning_alert	Get details of a specific code scanning alert	owner, repo, alert_number
list_code_scanning_alerts	List all code scanning alerts	owner, repo, state, severity

Dependabot Toolset

Dependabot alerts for vulnerable dependencies.

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_dependabot_alert	Get details of a specific Dependabot alert	owner, repo, alert_number
list_dependabot_alerts	List all Dependabot alerts	owner, repo, state, severity

Discussions Toolset

GitHub Discussions for community Q&A and announcements.

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_discussion	Get details of a specific discussion	owner, repo, discussion_number
get_discussion_comments	Get all comments on a discussion	owner, repo, discussion_number
list_discussion_categories	List available discussion categories	owner, repo
list_discussions	List discussions in a repository	owner, repo, category

Experiments Toolset

Status: Currently empty (reserved for future experimental features).

Gists Toolset

Gist operations for code snippets and notes.

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_gist	Get details of a specific gist	gist_id
list_gists	List gists for a user	username

Labels Toolset

Label management for issues and pull requests.

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_label	Get details of a specific label	owner, repo, label_name
list_label	List all labels in a repository	owner, repo

Note: list_label has a minor naming inconsistency (should be plural).

Notifications Toolset

User notification management.

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_notification_details	Get details of a specific notification	thread_id
list_notifications	List notifications for the authenticated user	all, participating

Orgs Toolset

Organization-level operations.

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
list_org_repository_security_advisories	List security advisories for an organization's repositories	org

Projects Toolset

GitHub Projects (v2) for project planning and tracking.

Important: Requires PAT token (NOT supported by GITHUB_TOKEN).

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_project	Get details of a specific project	project_id
get_project_field	Get details of a project field	project_id, field_id
get_project_item	Get details of a project item	project_id, item_id
list_project_fields	List all fields in a project	project_id
list_project_items	List all items in a project	project_id
list_projects	List projects for a user or organization	owner

Secret Protection Toolset

Secret scanning alerts for leaked credentials.

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_secret_scanning_alert	Get details of a specific secret scanning alert	owner, repo, alert_number
list_secret_scanning_alerts	List all secret scanning alerts	owner, repo, state

Security Advisories Toolset

Security advisory management and disclosure.

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
get_global_security_advisory	Get a global security advisory by GHSA ID	ghsa_id
list_global_security_advisories	List all global security advisories	severity, ecosystem
list_repository_security_advisories	List security advisories for a repository	owner, repo, state

Stargazers Toolset

Repository star tracking and analytics.

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
list_starred_repositories	List repositories starred by a user	username

Users Toolset

Status: Currently empty (reserved for future user management features).

Search Toolset

Advanced search across GitHub entities.

Tool Name	Purpose	Key Parameters
search_code	Search for code across GitHub	query, sort, order
search_issues	Search for issues across GitHub	query, sort, order
search_orgs	Search for organizations	query, sort, order
search_pull_requests	Search for pull requests across GitHub	query, sort, order
search_repositories	Search for repositories	query, sort, order
search_users	Search for users	query, sort, order

Note: search_issues and search_pull_requests also appear in their respective domain toolsets.

Toolset Configuration Reference

Workflow Configuration Examples

View Configuration Examples

Default Configuration (recommended):

tools:
  github:
    mode: "remote"
    # toolsets defaults to [context, repos, issues, pull_requests, actions, discussions, search]

Explicit Toolsets:

tools:
  github:
    mode: "remote"
    toolsets: [repos, issues, pull_requests]

Security-Focused Workflow:

tools:
  github:
    mode: "remote"
    toolsets: [repos, code_security, dependabot, secret_protection, security_advisories]

All Toolsets:

tools:
  github:
    mode: "remote"
    toolsets: [all]

Documentation Updates

Files Created/Updated

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

   • Comprehensive tool reference with descriptions, parameters, and examples
   • Configuration guidance for remote and local modes
   • Best practices for toolset selection
   • Common workflow patterns

2. .github/aw/github-agentic-workflows.md

   • Updated default toolsets from [context, repos, issues, pull_requests] to [context, repos, issues, pull_requests, actions, discussions, search]
   • Reflects recommended defaults based on usage analysis

3. /tmp/gh-aw/cache-memory/github-mcp-tools.json

   • Complete tool inventory for future comparison
   • Metadata about inconsistencies and recommendations
   • Timestamp for change tracking

Action Items

For Maintainers

1. Consider renaming list_label to list_labels for naming consistency (non-breaking change if aliased)
2. Populate users toolset with user-related tools if planned
3. Review empty toolsets (users, experiments) to determine if they should be populated or removed
4. Monitor default toolsets usage to validate the new recommended defaults

For Users

1. Review recommended defaults: New defaults include actions, discussions, and search toolsets
2. Enable security toolsets explicitly: For security-focused workflows, explicitly enable security toolsets
3. Check PAT requirements: If using projects toolset, ensure PAT token with project permissions is configured
4. Consult documentation: Reference .github/instructions/github-mcp-server.instructions.md for detailed tool information

Conclusion

The GitHub MCP Remote Server provides a comprehensive, well-organized set of 56 tools across 19 toolsets. The JSON mapping is 100% accurate, and the toolset organization is logical with only minor naming inconsistencies. The recommended default toolsets have been updated to better serve common workflow patterns while maintaining security through explicit opt-in for sensitive operations.

Next Steps:

1. Review and adopt the new recommended default toolsets
2. Consult the comprehensive documentation in .github/instructions/github-mcp-server.instructions.md
3. Run future reports to track changes and evolution of the MCP server

---

References:

• §22035724622

AI generated by GitHub MCP Remote Server Tools Report Generator

• expires on Feb 22, 2026, 12:41 PM UTC

[github-actions[bot]]

💥 WHOOSH! 💥

The Claude smoke test agent just blazed through here faster than The Flash on a caffeine rush! ⚡️

MISSION STATUS: NOMINAL 🚀

All systems checked, all powers activated, all villains... wait, wrong comic. All tests passing!

Vanishes in a cloud of AI-powered smoke 💨

---

🦸 Smoke Test Run §22035866590

AI generated by Smoke Claude