git-mcp is configured exclusively through environment variables. No config file is required.

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
GIT_REPO_PATH	—	Default repository path. Used when repo_path is omitted from tool calls. Also settable via --repo-path CLI flag.
GIT_ALLOW_NO_VERIFY	false	Set to true to permit no_verify: true on git_commit and git_push. When false, the option is silently ignored.
GIT_ALLOW_FORCE_PUSH	false	Set to true to permit force: true on git_push. Without it, only force_with_lease is available.
GIT_AUTO_SIGN_COMMITS	false	Set to true to automatically sign every commit, even when sign: false is passed.
GIT_AUTO_SIGN_TAGS	false	Set to true to automatically sign every annotated tag.
GIT_SIGNING_KEY	—	Default signing key — a GPG key ID (e.g. A1B2C3D4) or path to an SSH key (e.g. /home/user/.ssh/id_ed25519).
GIT_SIGNING_FORMAT	—	Signing format: openpgp, ssh, or x509.

Setting Variables

MCP client config (recommended)

Pass variables in the env block of your MCP server config. This scopes them to git-mcp only:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "git": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@selfagency/git-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GIT_REPO_PATH": "/home/user/myproject",
        "GIT_ALLOW_FORCE_PUSH": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Shell environment

Export variables before starting the server:

export GIT_REPO_PATH=/home/user/myproject
export GIT_AUTO_SIGN_COMMITS=true
export GIT_SIGNING_KEY=A1B2C3D4
export GIT_SIGNING_FORMAT=openpgp
npx @selfagency/git-mcp

CLI flag

The --repo-path flag is equivalent to GIT_REPO_PATH:

npx @selfagency/git-mcp --repo-path /home/user/myproject

Signing Configuration

To enable commit and tag signing:

1. Ensure your Git signing setup works locally (git config --global user.signingkey etc.)
2. Set GIT_SIGNING_KEY to your key ID or SSH key path
3. Set GIT_SIGNING_FORMAT to openpgp, ssh, or x509
4. Optionally set GIT_AUTO_SIGN_COMMITS=true and/or GIT_AUTO_SIGN_TAGS=true

Per-request signing can also be enabled by passing sign: true (and optionally signing_key) to git_commit or git_tag.

Security Flags

GIT_ALLOW_FORCE_PUSH and GIT_ALLOW_NO_VERIFY are opt-in only.

• Without GIT_ALLOW_FORCE_PUSH=true, calling git_push with force: true falls back to a safe push (the force field is ignored).
• Without GIT_ALLOW_NO_VERIFY=true, no_verify: true on git_commit / git_push is ignored and hooks always run.

This ensures that even if an AI assistant requests a dangerous operation, it cannot succeed unless you have explicitly permitted it at the server level.

See also: Safety model