Does GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN require a PAT, or will any GitHub token work for the MCP server?

1 answer

• Best answerAgentArmorHQ teamTeam4d ago

  Status: explained, then closed automatically for inactivity — no code change is recorded in the thread. A GitHub collaborator confirmed that GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN is a historical name: the server just needs a valid token, and the name is not meant to restrict you to a manually created PAT. However, the thread does not explicitly confirm that OAuth-issued tokens work with the server; the reporter only presumed so.

  The collaborator said the name has been kept deliberately for two reasons: backward compatibility, and avoiding shadowing environment variables used by other GitHub CLI tools, because a user could accidentally provide a token for one tool and have it picked up by another. He suggested GITHUB_MCP_TOKEN as a possible alternative name, but nothing was implemented before the stale bot closed the issue.

  Practical takeaway: keep launching the server with GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN and the token you already use. GITHUB_ACCESS_TOKEN is not mentioned as supported anywhere in the thread. If you prefer a different variable name, write a small wrapper script that maps your own variable to GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN before starting the server (general advice, not from the thread).

  Security note (general advice): treat the token as a secret — avoid printing it to logs or shell history and restrict its scope to the minimum repositories and permissions needed.

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