GitKraken MCP Server CLI for GitHub, GitLab, Jira

Overview

The GitKraken MCP Server is a lightweight local service that exposes a unified, tool-oriented API around GitKraken, GitHub, GitLab, and Jira. It implements the Model Context Protocol (MCP) pattern—providing a consistent interface that language models, automation scripts, or other tooling can call to perform repository and issue operations across multiple platforms. That makes it easier to integrate conversational agents or developer automation with real-world developer tools without wiring up each provider individually.

The MCP server is useful for developers who want to automate common workflows (create issues, open pull requests, search repos, run repository-scoped commands) or expose these operations to assistant agents safely. It centralizes authentication, rate-limiting, and error handling so your automation layer can focus on intent and orchestration rather than provider-specific API details.

Features

• Unified tool endpoints for GitHub, GitLab, Jira and GitKraken APIs
• Authentication management via environment variables or .env files
• Repository operations: list, clone metadata, branch, commit and PR/merge requests
• Issue tracking: create, update, comment, link across systems
• Search and discovery across multiple providers
• Lightweight CLI to run and manage the MCP server locally
• Extensible tool model: add custom adapters or command runners
• Designed to be used by LLM-based agents or other automation systems

Installation / Configuration

Prerequisites: Node.js (16+) or any environment supported by the project; Docker is optional.

1. Clone the repository and install dependencies

git clone https://github.com/gitkraken/gk-cli.git
cd gk-cli
# install with npm or yarn
npm ci
# or
yarn install

2. Build and run locally

# build (if project has a build step)
npm run build

# start the MCP server (example CLI subcommand)
npm run start -- mcp-server
# or if the project publishes a binary/CLI named `gk`
# ./bin/gk mcp-server start

3. Configure authentication

Create a .env file in the project root (or export env vars) to provide tokens for the services you want to expose:

# GitHub
GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_...

# GitLab
GITLAB_TOKEN=glpat-...

# Jira (cloud basic auth or API token)
[email protected]
JIRA_TOKEN=xxxxxxx
JIRA_BASE_URL=https://your-domain.atlassian.net

# Optional GitKraken personal token
GK_TOKEN=...
# Server configuration
MCP_PORT=3333

4. Run with Docker (optional)

# build a container image (example)
docker build -t gk-mcp-server .

# run exposing port 3333
docker run -it --rm \
  -p 3333:3333 \
  -e GITHUB_TOKEN=${GITHUB_TOKEN} \
  -e GITLAB_TOKEN=${GITLAB_TOKEN} \
  -e JIRA_TOKEN=${JIRA_TOKEN} \
  gk-mcp-server

Default port: 3333 (configurable via MCP_PORT or CLI flags).

Available Tools / Resources

The MCP server presents tools that map to common operations. Typical tools provided:

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