Best GitHub MCP servers for Cursor and Claude

The best GitHub MCP depends on the job. For issues, pull requests, repositories, Actions, and code search, GitHub's official server wins. It is hosted at https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/, ships as github/github-mcp-server v2.0.3 (published 21 Oct 2026), and had 33,958 GitHub stars on 26 Oct 2026. Cursor still wants a personal access token on that remote host. Official tools include search_repositories and list_starred_repositories. None of them is a trending board. For live GitHub trending without scraping github.com/trending, Trends MCP wins with get_top_trends type GitHub. hetaoBackend/mcp-github-trending still wins language, daily/weekly/monthly, and trending-developer filters, through the gtrending HTML scraper.

Which GitHub MCP should an agent actually use?

Pick the server that matches the action. Platform writes go through GitHub's own MCP. Public trending ranks do not.

Trends MCP sits in the last row on purpose. It does not open issues, merge pull requests, or search a private tree. The GitHub trending MCP for Cursor page is explicit: type GitHub is a board, and official GitHub MCP stays in mcp.json for PRs.

The official server is the honest first-row pick for GitHub as a product. GitHub Docs (accessed 26 Oct 2026) says the MCP server is available to all GitHub users regardless of plan type, while tools that map onto a paid GitHub or Copilot feature inherit that same requirement. Copilot Cloud Agent tools need a paid Copilot license. Trending ranks are a different product.

Does official GitHub MCP return trending repositories?

No. The README automated Tools list on 26 Oct 2026 names 92 unique tools. None contains "trend". Closest reads are search_repositories (GitHub Search) and list_starred_repositories (stars on an account). Those are not github.com/trending.

Default toolsets, if the client sends none, are context, repos, issues, pull_requests, and users. The full table lists 22 toolsets, including actions, code_security, discussions, projects, secret_protection, and stargazers. Remote-only extras documented in docs/remote-server.md include copilot_spaces and github_support_docs_search. The remote host also documents create_pull_request_with_copilot as a remote-only Copilot coding-agent tool.

A GET to https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/ with no Authorization header returned HTTP 401 and the body bad request: missing required Authorization header on 26 Oct 2026. The host is live. It is not a public trending endpoint.

GitHub REST still sits under every official tool call. Authenticated personal access tokens share a primary REST budget of 5,000 requests per hour (60 unauthenticated per IP). Those figures are from GitHub's REST rate-limit page, accessed 26 Oct 2026. They are not Trends MCP monthly credits.

What does Cursor need to talk to GitHub's hosted MCP?

A personal access token, Cursor v0.48.0 or later for Streamable HTTP, and this JSON from GitHub's Cursor install guide (accessed 26 Oct 2026):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "url": "https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_GITHUB_PAT"
      }
    }
  }
}

GitHub's own note on that page: Cursor supports OAuth for some MCP servers, and the GitHub server currently requires a PAT. VS Code 1.101+ can use OAuth against the same URL with no header. Do not copy the VS Code servers block into Cursor's mcpServers file.

Remote toolsets can be narrowed without a local binary. docs/remote-server.md documents X-MCP-Toolsets (example repos,issues), X-MCP-Readonly, X-MCP-Lockdown, and X-MCP-Insiders. Path forms include /readonly, /x/all, and /x/{toolset}. {toolset} is one name. Combine several with the header, not a comma in the path.

Local install, if the host cannot do remote MCP, is the public image ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server. The Cursor guide still offers a Docker PAT config and a Docker OAuth config that publishes 127.0.0.1:8085. The npm package @modelcontextprotocol/server-github is documented as unsupported as of April 2025. Skip it.

Verify after a full Cursor restart: green dot under MCP tools, then a prompt such as "List my GitHub repositories." A trending prompt against this server will search or star-list instead of returning a daily board.

When does a github.com/trending scrape still win?

When the agent needs a language filter, a weekly or monthly window, spoken-language filtering, or trending developers. Trends MCP type GitHub does not take language=rust. Official GitHub MCP has no trending tool at all.

hetaoBackend/mcp-github-trending is the directory-cited scrape server for that job. GitHub on 26 Oct 2026: 62 stars, 15 forks, 2 open issues, last push 18 Mar 2026, MIT, not archived. PyPI package mcp-github-trending is still 0.1.0, uploaded 1 Apr 2025, requires-python >=3.12. pypistats on 26 Oct 2026 reported 9 downloads the previous day, 51 the previous week, and 595 the previous month.

The published Claude / Cursor config is stdio through uvx:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-github-trending": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-github-trending"
      ]
    }
  }
}

src/mcp_server_github_trending/server.py calls gtrending.fetch_repos and gtrending.fetch_developers. since enums are daily, weekly, monthly, default daily. Repository rows include fullname, stars, forks, and current_period_stars. Developer rows include a nested repo. PyPI gtrending 0.5.1 (last release 13 Jun 2023) lists beautifulsoup4 and documents scraping github.com/trending. Frontend changes on that HTML page break this class of server. Last push on the MCP wrapper was seven months before this check. Treat it as a thin, language-aware scraper, not a hosted index.

Air-gapped laptops that must stay GitHub-HTML-only still have a reason to run it. Hosted Trends MCP is the other job: a managed board plus npm and Google Search on the same key.

What does Trends MCP type GitHub actually return?

A ranked list of trending repositories, no keyword, with canonical type GitHub (one word, capital G). llms.txt Last updated 2026-10-26 describes that feed as daily trending repositories across all languages. Live MCP accepts GitHub. An older alias GitHub Trending Repos has been observed to return "type": "GitHub" on the same board; send GitHub.

Default limit is 25. Max limit is 200. offset pages. sort rank_change needs a baseline snapshot (window 1d, 3d, 7d, 14d, or 30d). There is no language argument on this tool. limit is a ceiling. Prior documented pulls closed early (12 rows on 1 Aug 2026, 16 rows on 27 Aug 2026) even when limit was 25 or 50. Read count. Do not invent filler repos.

There is no github source on get_growth. Star history is not in the payload. Follow-up is get_growth with source npm and the exact package name (zod, not colinhacks/zod), or source google search with a public product phrase. Two comparison packages are two npm calls. Details of a GitHub-versus-Google join, including complete turnover on longer rank_change windows, live on GitHub Trending vs Google Trends.

Cursor JSON from llms.txt (Last updated 2026-10-26):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "trends-mcp": {
      "url": "https://api.trendsmcp.ai/mcp",
      "transport": "http",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Keep official GitHub MCP next to it. One Agent turn can open an issue on GitHub MCP, then ask Trends MCP for type GitHub and grow-check two npm names. Cursor setup lives on the MCP server for Cursor page. Quit Cursor after saving. Do not paste VS Code type into this file.

Request math from the same llms.txt: successful 2xx calls count; failures are free. get_top_trends on MCP costs 1 credit per 10 requested rows, capped at 10 credits per call. REST is 1 request per call. get_growth is 1 request per source plus keyword, all percent_growth windows included. Free is 100 requests per month, no card. Starter is $19 / 1,000, Pro $49 / 5,000, Business $199 / 25,000. Yearly billing is 2 months free. The public pricing FAQ (accessed 26 Oct 2026) also says Free boards lag by 24 hours, while Starter, Pro, and Business are real-time.

A sequence that stays cheap: one GitHub board at limit 25, then get_growth on npm for one or two exact package names. Two or three requests. A sequence that burns the free plan: limit 200, npm on every name that "looks like a package," then a browser open of github.com/trending "to confirm."

FAQ

Is official GitHub MCP free?

The MCP server itself has no separate SKU. GitHub Docs (accessed 26 Oct 2026) says it is available to all GitHub users regardless of plan type. Tools that wrap a paid GitHub or Copilot feature still need that feature. REST calls underneath still share the authenticated 5,000 requests per hour primary budget.

Can one MCP do issues and trending?

Not today. Official GitHub MCP owns issues and PRs. Trends MCP owns the hosted GitHub board. hetaoBackend owns language-filtered github.com/trending HTML. Pair the first two in Cursor. Do not uninstall GitHub MCP because a trending board appeared.

Why not install @modelcontextprotocol/server-github?

GitHub's Cursor install guide marks that npm package unsupported as of April 2025 and points at ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server or the hosted URL instead. Directories still copy the old package name. The hosted URL is the current remote path.

Does Trends MCP replace GitHub MCP?

No. Trends MCP does not create issues, review PRs, or read private file contents. Official GitHub MCP does not return type GitHub trending ranks. Both stay in mcp.json.

How many requests does a GitHub board cost on Trends MCP?

On MCP, every 10 requested rows is 1 credit, capped at 10 credits per call, so limit 25 is 3 credits if the call succeeds. On REST, that same call is 1 request. A later npm get_growth is a second REST request, or a fourth MCP credit if it is a separate call. Free is 100 requests per month.

Accessed 26 Oct 2026: GitHub MCP Server repository, v2.0.3 release, Cursor install guide, remote server docs, GitHub Docs: set up the GitHub MCP Server, GitHub REST rate limits, hetaoBackend/mcp-github-trending, PyPI mcp-github-trending, gtrending 0.5.1.