GitHub MCP vs GitLab MCP: Which Source Control Server Should You Use?

If your codebase lives on GitHub or GitLab, connecting your AI assistant directly to the platform API is one of the highest-leverage MCP servers you can add. Instead of switching tabs to check PR status, look up issue details, or trigger pipelines, your assistant handles it inline. The question is which server to use, and the answer depends entirely on where your code lives.

This guide compares the two main options: the official GitHub MCP server (maintained by Anthropic) and the GitLab MCP ecosystem, which includes GitLab's own first-party server and a popular community alternative.

The Landscape in 2026

GitHub MCP is part of Anthropic's official MCP server collection. It ships as an npm package, authenticates with a personal access token, and covers the core GitHub API surface -- repositories, issues, pull requests, branches, and workflows. It is stable, well-documented, and widely adopted.

GitLab's story is more fragmented. Anthropic originally maintained a reference GitLab MCP server (@modelcontextprotocol/server-gitlab), but it was archived and moved to the servers-archived repository. In its place, two options have emerged: GitLab's own first-party MCP server (built into GitLab 18.6+, requires GitLab Duo), and the community-maintained @zereight/mcp-gitlab, which has over 1,100 GitHub stars and a broader tool set.

Feature Comparison

Here is a side-by-side breakdown of what each server offers.

GitHub MCP in Detail

Author: Anthropic | Tools: 20 | Requires: GitHub personal access token

GitHub MCP is the straightforward choice for GitHub users. Twenty tools cover the operations most developers actually need: creating and managing issues, opening and reviewing pull requests, searching repositories, reading file contents, managing branches, and triggering workflows.

What Makes It Strong

The server is maintained alongside Claude itself, which means it gets regular updates and stays compatible with protocol changes. At around 10,300 tokens for tool definitions, it is efficient enough to run alongside several other MCP servers without blowing up your context window.

The practical workflow looks like this: you are working on a feature, you ask your assistant to open a PR with a specific title and description against main, it does so through the GitHub API, and you get the PR URL back in the conversation. No tab switching, no CLI commands, no web UI.

Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "ghp_your_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Generate a fine-grained personal access token from GitHub Settings > Developer Settings > Personal Access Tokens. Grant it access to the repositories you want your assistant to manage, and scope the permissions to what you actually need (issues, pull requests, contents, workflows).

GitLab MCP: Two Options

GitLab users have a choice to make, and the right option depends on your setup.

Option 1: GitLab's First-Party Server

GitLab shipped its own MCP server in version 18.6. It is built directly into the GitLab platform and uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication, meaning you authorize access through your browser rather than pasting in a token.

The server provides 15 tools focused on core workflows: issues, merge requests (including diffs and commits), CI/CD pipeline management, work item comments, and search. A standout feature is semantic code search, which uses GitLab Duo's AI capabilities to find relevant code snippets beyond simple text matching.

The catch: it requires GitLab Duo, which is a paid feature. If you are on GitLab's free tier or a self-managed instance without Duo, this server is not available to you.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gitlab": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://gitlab.com/api/v4/mcp"
    }
  }
}

For clients that do not support HTTP transport directly, use the stdio bridge:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gitlab": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://gitlab.com/api/v4/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Option 2: Community GitLab MCP (@zereight/mcp-gitlab)

The community alternative is significantly more feature-rich. With over 69 tools across merge requests (31 tools), issues (14), repositories (7), branches (4), projects (8), labels (5), and optional modules for pipelines, milestones, wikis, and releases, it covers more of the GitLab API surface than any other option.

It authenticates with a personal access token (same as GitHub MCP), supports read-only mode for safer operation, and lets you selectively enable toolsets to keep your token budget under control. That last point matters -- loading all 69+ tools would consume a significant chunk of your context window.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gitlab": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@zereight/mcp-gitlab"],
      "env": {
        "GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "glpat-your_token_here",
        "GITLAB_API_URL": "https://gitlab.com"
      }
    }
  }
}

To limit which tools are loaded (recommended):

{
  "env": {
    "GITLAB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "glpat-your_token_here",
    "GITLAB_API_URL": "https://gitlab.com",
    "GITLAB_TOOLSETS": "merge_requests,issues,pipelines"
  }
}

Token Budget Considerations

This is where the comparison gets practical. Every MCP server you add consumes context window tokens for its tool definitions, and source control servers tend to be heavy because they expose many operations.

GitHub MCP uses roughly 10,300 tokens for its 20 tools. That is a reasonable budget -- you can comfortably run it alongside three or four other servers without issues.

GitLab's first-party server at 15 tools should fall in a similar range. The community GitLab MCP at 69+ tools will use substantially more, but its toolset filtering feature (GITLAB_TOOLSETS) lets you load only the categories you need. If you only enable merge requests and issues, you are looking at around 45 tools, which is still heavy but manageable.

The rule of thumb: enable what you use, disable what you do not. There is no reason to load wiki and milestone tools if you never touch those features.

Which Should You Use

The decision tree is simple.

You use GitHub. Use GitHub MCP (@modelcontextprotocol/server-github). It is official, well-maintained, token-efficient, and covers everything you need. There is no real alternative to consider.

You use GitLab with GitLab Duo. Start with GitLab's first-party server. The OAuth authentication is cleaner than managing tokens, and the semantic code search is a genuine differentiator. If you find the 15-tool set too limiting for your workflow, add the community server for specific operations.

You use GitLab without Duo. Use the community server (@zereight/mcp-gitlab). Enable only the toolsets you need via GITLAB_TOOLSETS to keep your token budget reasonable. It is actively maintained with over 1,100 stars and covers more operations than any other option.

You use both platforms. Run both servers. GitHub MCP plus either GitLab option works fine -- just be mindful of your total token budget across all servers. Consider limiting the GitLab toolsets if you are also running other MCP servers.

Wrapping Up

Source control is one of the most natural fits for MCP. These are operations you perform dozens of times a day -- checking PR status, creating issues, reviewing diffs, triggering builds -- and offloading them to your AI assistant removes constant context switching.

GitHub users have it easy: one official server, clear setup, reliable maintenance. GitLab users have more choices to navigate, but the ecosystem has matured significantly with both GitLab's own server and a feature-rich community alternative.

If you want to see how these servers fit into a complete development workflow alongside other MCP tools, check out the pre-configured stacks on stackmcp.dev. The DevOps & Cloud stack and Open Source Maintainer stack both include source control servers alongside CI/CD, monitoring, and documentation tools.