Github MCP tools Doesn't work for write operations with Autogen

[Sujith-Srinivas]

What happened?

Issue: MCP Server Not Working with Autogen

Description:

I have been trying to use the MCP server with autogen. I have setup this project and also tried using the latest autogen release for using the tools in the Github server with autogen

But it seems that the server is not working correctly when attempting to use it with autogen only for write operations. It seems to work perfectly fine for the tools performing read operations like (list_issues, get_file_content), but throws an error for tools like (push_tool, create_repository, fork_repository).

Error

[FunctionExecutionResult(content='Error: unhandled errors in a TaskGroup (1 sub-exception)', call_id='call_m9AeqiLyBeaCtLdRH4X0OExg')]
---------- mcp_tools_agent ----------
Error: unhandled errors in a TaskGroup (1 sub-exception)

The error message I receive is frequent and repeats the same error each time. I have verified that the configuration is set correctly and my Github token has all the required permissions.

Configuration:

github_mcp_server = StdioServerParams(
command=npx_command,
args=[
"-y",
"@modelcontextprotocol/server-github",
"--token=***********",
"--debug"
],
)

I have also given the github token in the .env file as well

Which packages was the bug in?

Python AgentChat (autogen-agentchat>=0.4.0)

AutoGen library version.

Python dev (main branch)

Other library version.

No response

Model used

gpt-4o-mini

Model provider

OpenAI

Other model provider

No response

Python version

3.11

.NET version

None

Operating system

Ubuntu

[Sujith-Srinivas]

System Information

• Autogen Version: 0.8.2
• Python Version: 3.11.0rc1

User Input

user_input = """
use the create_repository tool to create a new GitHub repository using exactly these parameters:
name: ngx-charts
description: A repository for ngx-charts library, including installation and usage instructions
private: false
autoInit: true
"""
await run_task(user_input, team)

run_task Function

import asyncio

from autogen_agentchat.agents import AssistantAgent
from autogen_agentchat.ui import Console
from autogen_ext.models.openai import OpenAIChatCompletionClient
from autogen_agentchat.teams import RoundRobinGroupChat
from autogen_agentchat.conditions import TextMentionTermination

async def run_task(user_input, team):
    print("Starting task execution...")
    await Console(
        team.run_stream(task=user_input, cancellation_token=CancellationToken())
    )
    print("Task completed.")

async def main():
    print("Starting MCP tool loading...")
    
    try:
        # Load tools concurrently with individual timeouts
        file_system_tools, fetch_tools, github_tools = await asyncio.gather(
            load_tool_with_timeout(file_system_mcp_server, "file system"),
            load_tool_with_timeout(fetch_mcp_server, "fetch"),
            load_tool_with_timeout(github_mcp_server, "github")
        )

        print("All tools loaded. Printing tool information...")
        
        # Check if we got any tools
        if not any([file_system_tools, fetch_tools, github_tools]):
            raise Exception("No tools were successfully loaded!")

        print("\nPrinting file system tools...")
        print_tools(file_system_tools)
        print("\nPrinting fetch tools...")
        print_tools(fetch_tools)
        print("\nPrinting github tools...")
        print_tools(github_tools)
        print(github_tools[0])

        print("Initializing OpenAI chat client...")
        
        model_client = OpenAIChatCompletionClient(
            model="gpt-4o-mini",
            api_key="",  # Replace with your actual API key
            base_url="https://api.openai.com/v1"
        )

        print("Creating assistant agent...")
        agent = AssistantAgent(
            name="mcp_tools_agent",
            model_client=model_client,
            tools=fetch_tools + file_system_tools + github_tools,
            system_message="You are a helpful AI assistant. Respond with 'TERMINATE' when you have fulfilled the user task.",
        )


        team = RoundRobinGroupChat(
            participants=[agent],
            max_turns=10,
            termination_condition=TextMentionTermination("TERMINATE"),
        )

        return team

    except Exception as e:
        print(f"An error occurred in main: {str(e)}")
        raise


print("Starting execution...")
team = await main()

@ekzhu Can you please help me out with this one

[Sujith-Srinivas]

@ekzhu Can you please help me out with this one

[ekzhu]

Autogen Version: 0.8.2

Our latest release is 0.5.1.

Please check

[Sujith-Srinivas]

Our latest release is 0.5.1.

Apologies, I mentioned the wrong version of a different package. After cross-checking with my setup, it uses Autogen version 0.5.1 and Python 3.11.

@ekzhu

[ekzhu]

Python Version: 3.11.0rc1

Could you use 3.12 or 3.11 not rc version? The error message means the Python version you are using doesn't have ExceptionGroup and the error message is not visible.

[Sujith-Srinivas]

@ekzhu My bad, I have updated to the stable version of 3.11

Issue Response: Compatibility Issues with Autogen and GitHub MCP Server

I have updated the Python version to 3.11.0 and the autogen version to 0.5.1

What Happened?

The branch creation task failed while attempting to use the create_branch tool with the following parameters:

• Owner: Sujith-Srinivas
• Repository Name: Blockchain-Project
• Branch Name: test
• From Branch: main

The error encountered was:
Error: unhandled errors in a TaskGroup (1 sub-exception)
Exception type: <class 'mcp.shared.exceptions.McpError'>

Error log

---------- mcp_tools_agent ----------
[FunctionCall(id='call_c82TNcLejMp2f84oJwQ6ISFW', arguments='{"owner":"Sujith-Srinivas","repo":"Blockchain-Project","branch":"test","from_branch":"main"}', name='create_branch')]
Calling MCP tool 'create_branch' with session: ClientSession
MCP tool execution failed with exception: Not Found: Resource not found: Not Found
Exception type: <class 'mcp.shared.exceptions.McpError'>
---------- mcp_tools_agent ----------
[FunctionExecutionResult(content='Error: unhandled errors in a TaskGroup (1 sub-exception)', name='create_branch', call_id='call_c82TNcLejMp2f84oJwQ6ISFW', is_error=True)]
---------- mcp_tools_agent ----------
Error: unhandled errors in a TaskGroup (1 sub-exception)
---------- mcp_tools_agent ----------
It seems there was an error while trying to create the branch. This could be due to the repository not existing or permission issues.

Please verify the repository name and ensure that it is accessible. If you would like to try again or need assistance with something else, let me know! 

TERMINATE
Task completed.

---

Analysis

1. Python Version: The issue is not related to Python versioning as Python 3.11.0 is compatible with autogen and has the required ExceptionGroup
2. Root Cause: The error seems to stem from compatibility issues between autogen and the GitHub MCP server, particularly for write operations. Read operations like list_issues and get_file_content function correctly, but tools such as push_tool, create_repository, and fork_repository fail consistently.

---

Configuration Details

The GitHub MCP server was configured as follows:
github_mcp_server = StdioServerParams(
command=npx_command,
args=[
"-y",
"@modelcontextprotocol/server-github",
"--token=****",
"--debug"
],
)

Additionally, the GitHub token was provided in the .env file with all required permissions.