What causes "error creating file: %v" in github/github-mcp-server?

Run with a writable working directory (e.g. an emptyDir/ephemeral volume) if you depend on the dump

error creating file: %v

Error message

error creating file: %v

What it means

DumpTranslationKeyMap cannot os.Create("github-mcp-server-config.json") in the process working directory (the filename is hardcoded, relative to CWD). The dump is invoked by the cleanup function returned from translations.TranslationHelper(), which calls log.Fatalf on failure, terminating the process. Causes: read-only filesystem, permission denied, or a directory already occupying that path.

Source

Thrown at pkg/translations/translations.go:63

				return value
			}

			v.SetDefault(key, defaultValue)
			translationKeyMap[key] = v.GetString(key)
			return translationKeyMap[key]
		}, func() {
			// dump the translationKeyMap to a json file
			if err := DumpTranslationKeyMap(translationKeyMap); err != nil {
				log.Fatalf("Could not dump translation key map: %v", err)
			}
		}
}

// DumpTranslationKeyMap writes the translation map to a json file called github-mcp-server-config.json
func DumpTranslationKeyMap(translationKeyMap map[string]string) error {
	file, err := os.Create("github-mcp-server-config.json")
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("error creating file: %v", err)
	}
	defer func() { _ = file.Close() }()

	// marshal the map to json
	jsonData, err := json.MarshalIndent(translationKeyMap, "", "  ")
	if err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("error marshaling map to JSON: %v", err)
	}

	// write the json data to the file
	if _, err := file.Write(jsonData); err != nil {
		return fmt.Errorf("error writing to file: %v", err)
	}

	return nil
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 0ea1f775a7)

Solutions

Run with a writable working directory (e.g. an emptyDir/ephemeral volume) if you depend on the dump
Do not invoke the dump cleanup in production - it exists to serialize the key map for translation customization
Remove any file or directory named github-mcp-server-config.json blocking creation in CWD
If the dump is required, chdir to a writable temp directory before calling it

Example fix

// before - fatal on read-only filesystems
_, cleanup := translations.TranslationHelper()
defer cleanup() // log.Fatalf if CWD is not writable

// after - only dump when CWD is writable
_, cleanup := translations.TranslationHelper()
if cwdWritable() {
	cleanup()
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

func cwdWritable() bool {
	f, err := os.CreateTemp(".", ".writeprobe-*")
	if err != nil {
		return false
	}
	_ = f.Close()
	_ = os.Remove(f.Name())
	return true
}
if cwdWritable() {
	cleanup() // dump translation key map
} else {
	log.Warn("skipping translation dump: working directory is not writable")
}

Try / catch

if err := translations.DumpTranslationKeyMap(m); err != nil {
	// note: wrapped with %v, not %w - errors.Is/As cannot unwrap it; match the prefix only
	if strings.HasPrefix(err.Error(), "error creating file") {
		// CWD/permission problem: fix the directory, not the code
	}
}

Prevention

Mount a writable volume and set it as workingDir in container specs
Only invoke the dump in interactive customization workflows, never at server shutdown
Remember the filename is hardcoded to CWD - the only lever is the working directory

When it happens

Trigger: Invoking the TranslationHelper cleanup/dump in a container with readOnlyRootFilesystem, a systemd unit with ProtectSystem=strict, or any CWD the process UID cannot write to.

Common situations: Kubernetes/Docker deployments with read-only root filesystems; running as non-root in a root-owned directory; CI runners in read-only workspaces.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of github/github-mcp-server@0ea1f775a7 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f3dba3d0a5f2bd92. Report an issue: GitHub.