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Clarify token requirements for MCP integration #139

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19 changes: 13 additions & 6 deletions README.md
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -162,9 +162,16 @@ This action now supports **read-only** integration with the GitHub-hosted Model
Context Protocol (MCP) server, which provides access to GitHub tools like
repository management, issue tracking, and pull request operations.

> [!NOTE]
> The GitHub MCP integration requires a Personal Access Token (PAT) and cannot use the built-in `GITHUB_TOKEN`.

### Authentication
You can authenticate the MCP server with **either**:
1. **Personal Access Token (PAT)** – user-scoped token
2. **GitHub App Installation Token** (`ghs_…`) – short-lived, app-scoped token
> The built-in `GITHUB_TOKEN` is **not** accepted by the MCP server.
Using a **GitHub App installation token** is recommended in most CI environments because it is short-lived and least-privilege by design.

### Enabling MCP in the action
Comment on lines +165 to +172
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Copilot AI Oct 25, 2025

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The heading hierarchy is inconsistent. This should be '## Enabling MCP in the action' (H2) to match the level of '### Authentication' (H3), or '### Authentication' should be '#### Authentication' (H4) if this is meant to be H3.

Suggested change
### Authentication
You can authenticate the MCP server with **either**:
1. **Personal Access Token (PAT)** – user-scoped token
2. **GitHub App Installation Token** (`ghs_…`) – short-lived, app-scoped token
> The built-in `GITHUB_TOKEN` is **not** accepted by the MCP server.
Using a **GitHub App installation token** is recommended in most CI environments because it is short-lived and least-privilege by design.
### Enabling MCP in the action
#### Authentication
You can authenticate the MCP server with **either**:
1. **Personal Access Token (PAT)** – user-scoped token
2. **GitHub App Installation Token** (`ghs_…`) – short-lived, app-scoped token
> The built-in `GITHUB_TOKEN` is **not** accepted by the MCP server.
Using a **GitHub App installation token** is recommended in most CI environments because it is short-lived and least-privilege by design.
#### Enabling MCP in the action

Copilot uses AI. Check for mistakes.
Set `enable-github-mcp: true` and provide a token via `github-mcp-token`.

```yaml
steps:
- name: AI Inference with GitHub Tools
Expand All @@ -173,7 +180,7 @@ steps:
with:
prompt: 'List my open pull requests and create a summary'
enable-github-mcp: true
token: ${{ secrets.USER_PAT }}
token: ${{ secrets.USER_PAT }} # or a ghs_ installation token
```

If you want, you can use separate tokens for the AI inference endpoint
Expand All @@ -188,7 +195,7 @@ steps:
prompt: 'List my open pull requests and create a summary'
enable-github-mcp: true
token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
github-mcp-token: ${{ secrets.USER_PAT }}
github-mcp-token: ${{ secrets.USER_PAT }} # or a ghs_ installation token
```

When MCP is enabled, the AI model will have access to GitHub tools and can
Expand All @@ -212,7 +219,7 @@ the action:
| `endpoint` | The endpoint to use for inference. If you're running this as part of an org, you should probably use the org-specific Models endpoint | `https://models.github.ai/inference` |
| `max-tokens` | The max number of tokens to generate | 200 |
| `enable-github-mcp` | Enable Model Context Protocol integration with GitHub tools | `false` |
| `github-mcp-token` | Token to use for GitHub MCP server (defaults to the main token if not specified). This must be a PAT for MCP to work | `""` |
| `github-mcp-token` | Token to use for GitHub MCP server (defaults to the main token if not specified). | `""` |

## Outputs

Expand Down