github server fail to request list_issues

[kzmszk]

Describe the bug
The github mcp server should have supported list_issues command (which is documented) but list_tools doesn't return this tool entry and we can't call it actually.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. setup claude desktop with server-github
2. request claude to get issues from any repo

or

1. create mcp-client which support github mcp server
2. call list_tools() after connecting github server
3. tools list doesn't contain list_issues tool

or

1. create mcp-client which support github mcp server
2. call session.call_tool("list_issues",...) fail

Expected behavior
list_issues should be available for github_server.

Logs
error log from my mcp-client sample bellow:
| Traceback (most recent call last):
| File "/workspace/tachikoma/infra/mcp/github.py", line 34, in list_issues
| result = await session.call_tool("list_issues", arguments={"owner": owner, "repo": repo})
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| File "/opt/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/mcp/client/session.py", line 163, in call_tool
| return await self.send_request(
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| File "/opt/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/mcp/shared/session.py", line 175, in send_request
| raise McpError(response_or_error.error)
| mcp.shared.exceptions.McpError: code=-32603 message='Unknown tool: list_issues' data=None

conversation with claude desktop:

The original response is in Japanese. I translated into English.
Claude responded available github related commands.

I'm sorry `list_issues` function seems to be not included in github features.

Availabe GitHub related function is bellow：
- create_or_update_file
- search_repositories
- create_repository
- get_file_contents
- push_files
- create_issue
- create_pull_request
- fork_repository
- create_branch

Additional context
Other than list_issues, many features seems to be disabled.
It looks like first 10 features only available in list_tools()?

[0xRaduan]

@kzmszk - I do think, that you are not on the latest version of Github MCP server.

@jspahrsummers - just curious, how often do you update the officially maintained servers?

I did try to reproduce this error on my Claude Desktop, with local build and got next error though(here is a fix PR: #305):

Error executing code: MCP error -32603: Invalid arguments: 6.body: Expected string, received null

[kzmszk]

I don't know how to check the server-github version.

I tried with the modified mcp-client.py (https://modelcontextprotocol.io/tutorials/building-a-client).
I modified the code only to use official server-github by setting the following info.

server_params = StdioServerParameters(
            command="npx",
            args=["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
            env={
                "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "my_token",
                "PATH": "/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/bin:/bin"
            }
        )

I got the following response:
no list_issues here.

GitHub MCP Server running on stdio

Connected to server with tools: ['create_or_update_file', 'search_repositories', 'create_repository', 'get_file_contents', 'push_files', 'create_issue', 'create_pull_request', 'fork_repository', 'create_branch']

MCP Client Started!
Type your queries or 'quit' to exit.

The problem is in python_sdk client library? We need to get next pages or something?

[jspahrsummers]

just curious, how often do you update the officially maintained servers?

At the moment, this is basically "whenever we remember to." Agree we need to improve this! See, e.g., #330

[jspahrsummers]

Are you still having the original issue on the latest main and with #305 merged in?

[dazzaji]

Update on tool availability after testing both npm package and local build:

Current Status:

1. Local build (with fix(github): Allow body to be nullable in GithubIssueSchema #305 merged):

   • Successfully exposes 16 GitHub functions
   • Can see previously unavailable tools like add_issue_comment
   • Issue list/search functionality now visible to Claude Desktop

2. Published npm package (via npx):

   • Still limited to original 9 tools
   • Issue list/search functionality not available
   • Appears to need updating to include recent fixes

Remaining Issues:
Even with local build, some functionality is still problematic:

• add_issue_comment: Visible but unable to add comments
• create_or_update_file: Can create but not update files
  • Error when updating: "MCP error -32603: Invalid arguments: content.encoding: Required, content.content: Required"

Suggestion:
Consider updating the published npm package to include recent fixes. Also, the remaining errors with file updates suggest possible schema validation issues that might need investigation. I also had errors when attempting to add a comment to an existing GitHub issue.

[mikhailshilkov]

Got the same problem with npx, the docker-based server works fine. It looks like the NPM package is not up-to-date.