github / github/github-mcp-server

http mode: support static token auth (env) for single-tenant self-hosted deployments

Open
#2,946 2 comments 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub
enhancement request ai review
Dominant language
Go
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Forks
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Avg merge
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Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

### Describe the feature or problem you’d like to solve

github-mcp-server http requires a per-request Authorization header and never reads GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN from the environment - token extraction happens only in pkg/http/middleware/token.go (ExtractUserToken), and httpCmd's ServerConfig has no token field (cmd/github-mcp-server/main.go). The env var is consulted only by the stdio command.

That fits the multi-tenant/centralized use case http mode was built for (#471, #997). But it leaves a gap for single-tenant self-hosted deployments: an org running one server instance with one service credential, fronted by a gateway/tunnel that cannot inject custom headers (in our case, Anthropic's MCP tunnels; the same applies to any transport that forwards requests as-is). The server starts cleanly with the env var set, then 401s every request - a confusing failure, since the README's env-var examples don't mention they're stdio-only.

### Proposed solution

In http mode, when no Authorization header is present on a request, fall back to a statically configured token (GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN / GITHUB_ACCESS_TOKEN), opt-in via a flag, e.g.:

github-mcp-server http --static-auth # or --token-from-env

Per-request tokens would still take precedence, preserving the multi-tenant behavior. Notably, the 2026-01-28 GitHub changelog announcing HTTP mode described exactly this fallback ("falls back GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN if no header is provided"), but the shipped behavior doesn't include it.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start with pkg/http/middleware/token.go and cmd/github-mcp-server/main.go, then compare how the stdio command reads GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN and GITHUB_ACCESS_TOKEN. Done means an explicit HTTP-mode opt-in can use the configured environment token when Authorization is absent, while per-request tokens still take precedence and requests without either remain unauthorized.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
go
Domain
api, authentication, backend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
68/100

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