github/github-mcp-server · critical

no token info in context

Error message

no token info in context

What it means

RequestDeps.GetClient could not find TokenInfo in the request context: ghcontext.GetTokenInfo(ctx) returned false because no auth middleware attached a token via ghcontext.WithTokenInfo before the tool handler ran. This is the root error that surfaces as 'failed to get GitHub client: ...' for every REST tool — the server is dispatching authenticated requests without credentials. It is a wiring/configuration failure, not a GitHub API response.

Source

Thrown at pkg/github/dependencies.go:312

) *RequestDeps {
	return &RequestDeps{
		apiHosts:          apiHosts,
		version:           version,
		lockdownMode:      lockdownMode,
		RepoAccessOpts:    repoAccessOpts,
		T:                 t,
		ContentWindowSize: contentWindowSize,
		featureChecker:    featureChecker,
		obsv:              obsv,
	}
}

// GetClient implements ToolDependencies.
func (d *RequestDeps) GetClient(ctx context.Context) (*gogithub.Client, error) {
	// extract the token from the context
	tokenInfo, ok := ghcontext.GetTokenInfo(ctx)
	if !ok {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("no token info in context")
	}
	token := tokenInfo.Token

	baseRestURL, err := d.apiHosts.BaseRESTURL(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get base REST URL: %w", err)
	}
	uploadURL, err := d.apiHosts.UploadURL(ctx)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get upload URL: %w", err)
	}

	// Construct REST client
	restClient, err := gogithub.NewClient(
		gogithub.WithAuthToken(token),
		gogithub.WithUserAgent(fmt.Sprintf("github-mcp-server/%s", d.version)),
		gogithub.WithEnterpriseURLs(baseRestURL.String(), uploadURL.String()),
	)

View on GitHub (pinned to 0ea1f775a7)

Solutions

1. Configure a valid token source before starting the server: export GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN=ghp_... (or App/OAuth credentials) and restart
2. Verify startup logs show successful authentication (no token-exchange errors)
3. Embedders: wrap the dispatch context with ghcontext.WithTokenInfo(ctx, &ghcontext.TokenInfo{Token: t, TokenType: tt}) before any tool call
4. Test with get_me — if it fails the same way, fix server-level auth before debugging individual tools

Example fix

// before — handler receives a context with no token info
result, _, err := toolHandler(ctx, req)  // -> "no token info in context"

// after — attach token info before dispatch
ctx = ghcontext.WithTokenInfo(ctx, &ghcontext.TokenInfo{
	Token:     os.Getenv("GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN"),
	TokenType: utils.PAT,
})
result, _, err := toolHandler(ctx, req)

// fail fast at startup when no credential source is configured
func validateAuthConfig() error {
	hasPAT := os.Getenv("GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN") != ""
	hasApp := os.Getenv("GITHUB_APP_ID") != "" && os.Getenv("GITHUB_APP_PRIVATE_KEY") != ""
	if !hasPAT && !hasApp {
		return errors.New("no GitHub credentials configured: set GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN or GitHub App env vars")
	}
	return nil
}

func hasTokenInfo(ctx context.Context) bool {
	_, ok := ghcontext.GetTokenInfo(ctx)
	return ok
}

client, err := deps.GetClient(ctx)
if err != nil {
	if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "no token info in context") {
		// stop dispatching: every tool will fail identically until auth wiring is fixed
	}
	return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to get GitHub client: %w", err)
}

When it happens

Trigger: Any REST tool invocation when the server was started with no token source (no GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN / GitHub App / OAuth credentials), when GitHub App credential exchange silently failed but requests are still dispatched, or when embedding the server and calling handlers with a context that bypassed the auth transport.

Common situations: Missing or empty token environment variable, expired GitHub App installation, OAuth token exchange failure, custom deployments invoking handlers with context.Background(), version upgrades changing middleware ordering.

Related errors

• GitHub App authentication and OAuth login (--oauth-client-id
• GitHub App installation ID is required (GITHUB_APP_INSTALLAT
• GitHub App REST base URL is required
• owner is required
• owner not specified

AI-assisted analysis of github/github-mcp-server@0ea1f775a7 (2026-08-15). Data as JSON: /api/errors/69637d5d6b016abd. Report an issue: GitHub.