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

It is especially useful for coding agents running inside GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor, and OpenAI Codex, where reliable Git inspection and safe mutation matter more than vibes and shell roulette.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20 or later
• Git installed and available on PATH
• An MCP-compatible AI agent or coding agent host (Claude Desktop, GitHub Copilot in VS Code, Cursor, OpenAI Codex, 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 agent:

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

or

"Show me the last 5 commits."

The AI agent 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