Claude Desktop GitHub get_file_contents

Add GitHub to Claude Desktop

1. 01

   Open ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json and merge this in. Keep any servers already there.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github-mcp-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/"
      ]
    }
  }
}

2. 02

   Save the file and restart Claude Desktop.

3. 03

   Ask for something get_file_contents does. Claude Desktop lists the server's tools on connect and calls get_file_contents itself — you do not invoke it by name.

4. 04

   If nothing happens, check the server is running and that GitHub's identifier in your config matches the one above exactly.

Claude Desktop has no remote transport in its config file, so this bridges through mcp-remote. Restart the app after saving. Claude Desktop docs

Same tool, other clients

• Claude Code
• Cursor
• VS Code
• Zed
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