git-mcp is a production-grade Model Context Protocol server that gives AI assistants full access to Git workflows. It uses simple-git under the hood and requires only a system Git installation — no other dependencies.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20 or later
• Git installed and available on PATH
• An MCP-compatible client (Claude Desktop, VS Code Copilot, etc.)

Installation

npx (no install required)

Run git-mcp on demand without installing anything globally:

npx @selfagency/git-mcp

Global install

npm install -g @selfagency/git-mcp
git-mcp

From source

git clone https://github.com/selfagency/git-mcp.git
cd git-mcp
pnpm install
pnpm build
pnpm start

Connecting to Claude Desktop

Edit your Claude Desktop configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "git": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@selfagency/git-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GIT_REPO_PATH": "/path/to/your/repo"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after saving the file. You should see a hammer icon in the chat toolbar indicating MCP tools are available.

Connecting to VS Code (GitHub Copilot)

User settings

Add to your VS Code settings.json (Cmd+Shift+P → "Open User Settings (JSON)"):

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "git": {
        "type": "stdio",
        "command": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "@selfagency/git-mcp"],
        "env": {
          "GIT_REPO_PATH": "${workspaceFolder}"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Workspace .vscode/mcp.json

For per-project configuration, create .vscode/mcp.json in the root of your repository:

{
  "servers": {
    "git": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@selfagency/git-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "GIT_REPO_PATH": "${workspaceFolder}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Setting a Default Repository

The GIT_REPO_PATH environment variable sets the default repository path used by all tools when repo_path is not provided in the tool call:

GIT_REPO_PATH=/home/user/myproject git-mcp

You can also pass it on the command line:

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

If neither is set, the AI must provide repo_path explicitly in every tool call.

Verifying the Installation

Ask your AI assistant:

"What's the git status of this repo?"

or

"Show me the last 5 commits."

The AI will call git_status or git_log and stream results back. If you see an error about repo_path, set GIT_REPO_PATH in the server configuration.

Next Steps

• Configuration reference — all environment variables
• MCP Resources — URI-addressable read-only data
• Tool reference — complete parameter documentation for every tool
• Safety model — how git-mcp protects against destructive operations