RelayOrb

The GitHub MCP server: set it up locally and record what it does

Updated

GitHub's official MCP server gives agents tools for repositories, issues, pull requests, and more. You can run it locally over stdio with Docker. Because it acts on real repositories, it's worth recording exactly what your agent asks it to do.

Run the GitHub MCP server locally

The local version runs as a Docker container and reads a GitHub personal access token from the environment. Give the token only the scopes you need.

Claude Code

claude mcp add github -e GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=<your-token> -- \
  docker run -i --rm -e GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server

Record every GitHub action your agent takes

Wrap the docker command with relayorb record --. You get a timeline of every search, issue, and pull-request call, with the full arguments and responses.

Claude Code, recorded

claude mcp add github -e GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=<your-token> -- \
  relayorb record --name github -- \
  docker run -i --rm -e GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server

Review it

relayorb show github lists each call, for example tools/call search_issues or tools/call create_pull_request, with latency and errors. Recordings contain the data the server returned, so treat them like the repository data they hold.

Terminal

relayorb show github

Install RelayOrb

Free and open source (Apache-2.0). A single binary for macOS, Linux, and Windows. No account, no cloud, no telemetry.

macOS / Linux

curl -fsSL https://relayorb.com/install.sh | sh

Windows and other options: GitHub Releases.

FAQ

Is there an official GitHub MCP server?
Yes. GitHub publishes github/github-mcp-server, which runs locally (for example with Docker) or as a hosted remote server.
Can RelayOrb record the remote GitHub MCP server?
Not yet. RelayOrb records stdio servers, so use the local Docker version to record traffic.