Name: Gist MCP
Author: douglarek

LABSCO SUMMARY

Same job as GistPad MCP, minus the runtime.

The author is explicit that the rewrite was about resource use and dependency problems, not features — so choose it when you want gist access without adding another Node process to your machine, and choose the original when you want whatever it has that this does not yet. The VS Code setup is the better one to copy: the token is a prompted password input, so it never lands in a config file you might commit.

What it is

A Go rewrite of GistPad MCP, built on the mark3labs/mcp-go library. It does what the original does — put your GitHub gists in reach of an MCP client — but ships as one compiled executable, which is the reason it exists: no dependency tree to install and keep working alongside everything else on the machine.

What you get

Your GitHub gists reachable from an MCP client, authenticated with a personal access token
A single binary you build once and point the client at — no runtime, no package install, no version drift with other tools on the same machine
Editor wiring documented for both Cursor and VS Code, with VS Code prompting for the token as a password input at server start rather than storing it in the config file
A --debug flag for when a call is not doing what you expect

Requirements

A GitHub personal access token, passed as GITHUB_TOKEN. Go 1.24 or newer to build: clone the repository and run go build -o gist-mcp ./cmd/gist-mcp/main.go, then point your client's command at the resulting binary. There is no published package — building from source is the install path. The token scopes you grant decide what it can reach, so a gist-only token keeps it away from the rest of your account.

Setup effort

Build from source — git clone https://github.com/douglarek/gist-mcp.git

See installation options

USE CASES

01

Keeping snippets where the assistant can read them

Point the server at your gists so a snippet you saved months ago is retrievable in conversation rather than in a browser tab.

02

Adding gist access without a Node install

Build the binary once and register it, on machines where you would rather not maintain an npm-based server.

03

Keeping the token out of your config file

Use the VS Code input form, which prompts for the GitHub token when the server starts instead of storing it on disk.

BEFORE YOU INSTALL

What to know first

Requires

GITHUB_TOKEN in your environment

Where it runs

Both documented clients run the server on your machine.

INSTALLATION

Connect your client

You clone and build this one yourself.

Server setup

Install Go 1.24+ first (prerequisite, before building)

TERMINAL

git clone https://github.com/douglarek/gist-mcp.git
cd gist-mcp
go build -o gist-mcp ./cmd/gist-mcp/main.go

Add the mcpServers block to Cursor's mcp.json (or the VS Code mcp block), pointing command at the binary just built

MCP Clients

Cursor

CURSOR · JSON

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gist-mcp": {
      "command": "<YOUR_PATH_TO_GIST_MCP_GIST_MCP>",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "<YOUR_GITHUB_TOKEN>"
      }
    }
  }
}

<YOUR_PATH_TO_GIST_MCP_GIST_MCP> is the absolute path of the binary that go build -o gist-mcp wrote into your clone.

VS Code

VS CODE · JSON

{
  "inputs": [
    {
      "type": "promptString",
      "id": "github-token",
      "description": "GitHub Token",
      "password": true
    }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "gist-mcp": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "<YOUR_PATH_TO_GIST_MCP_GIST_MCP>",
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "${input:github-token}"
      }
    }
  }
}

<YOUR_PATH_TO_GIST_MCP_GIST_MCP> is the absolute path of the binary that go build -o gist-mcp wrote into your clone. VS Code prompts for the GitHub token when the server starts.

Gist MCP