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# 📓 GistPad MCP
An MCP server for managing and sharing your personal knowledge, daily notes, and reuseable prompts via GitHub Gists. It's a companion to the GistPad [VS Code extension](https://aka.ms/gistpad) and [GistPad.dev](https://gistpad.dev) (for web/mobile), which allows you to access and edit your gists from any MCP-enabled AI product (e.g. GitHub Copilot, Claude Desktop).
- 🏃 [Getting started](#-getting-started)
- 🛠️ [Included tools](#️-included-tools)
- 📁 [Included resources](#-included-resources)
- 💬 [Reusable prompts](#-reusable-prompts)
- 💻 [CLI reference](#-cli-reference)
## 🏃 Getting started
1. Using VS Code?
1. Install the [GistPad extension](https://aka.ms/gistpad) and then reload VS Code
> _Note: This requires VS Code 1.101.0+, so if you're on an older version, it's time to upgrade!_
1. Open the `GistPad` tab and sign-in with your GitHub account. After that, you can begin using GistPad from Copilot chat (in `Agent` mode) without doing any extra setup or token management 💪
1. Other MCP clients...
1. Generate a personal access token that includes _only_ the `gist` scope: https://github.com/settings/tokens/new
1. Add the equivalent of the following to your client's MCP config file (or via an "Add MCP server" GUI/TUI):
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"gistpad": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "gistpad-mcp"],
"env": {
"GITHUB_TOKEN": "<YOUR_PAT>"
}
}
}
}
```
Once your client it setup, you can start having fun with gists + MCP! 🥳 For example, try things like...
1. **Exploring content**
- `How many gists have I edited this month?`
- `What's the summary of my <foo> gist?`
1. **Creating content**
- `Create a new gist about <foo>`
- `Update my <foo> gist to call out <bar>`
1. **Daily todos**
- `What are my unfinished todos for today?`
- `Add a new todo for <foo>`
1. **Collaboration**
- `Add a comment to the <foo> gist saying <bar>`
- `Give me a share URL for the <foo> gist`
- `View my starred gists`
1. **Gist organization**
- `Archive my gist about <foo>`
- `Add a new <foo> file to the <bar> gist and migrate the <baz> content into it`
1. **Reusable prompts**
- `Create a new prompt that searches the web ofor a specified manga series and then provides a summary about it`
- `Delete my prompt about <foo>`
## 🛠️ Included tools
### Gist management
- `list_gists` - List all of your gists (excluding daily notes and archived gists).
- `get_gist` - Get the contents of a gist by ID.
- `create_gist` - Create a new gist with a specified description and initial file contents.
- `delete_gist` - Delete a gist by ID.
- `update_gist_description` - Update a gist's description by ID.
- `duplicate_gist` - Create a copy of an existing gist with all its files.
- `refresh_gists` - Reload your gist lists, ignoring any cached data.
### File management
- `update_gist_file` - Update the contents of a specific file in a gist.
- `add_gist_file` - Add a new file to an existing gist.
- `delete_gist_file` - Delete a file from a gist.
- `rename_gist_file` - Rename an existing file within a gist.
### Daily notes
- `get_todays_note` - Get or create today's daily note.
- `update_todays_note` - Update the content of today's daily note.
- `list_daily_notes` - List all of your daily notes.
- `get_daily_note` - Get the contents of a specific daily note by date.
- `delete_daily_note` - Delete a specific daily note by date.
### Starring
- `list_starred_gists` - List all your starred gists.
- `star_gist` - Star a specific gist by ID.
- `unstar_gist` - Unstar a starered gist by ID.
### Archiving
- `list_archived_gists` - List all of your archived gists.
- `archive_gist` - Archive one of your gists.
- `unarchive_gist` - Unarchive an archived gist.
### Comments
- `list_gist_comments` - List all comments for a specified gist.
- `add_gist_comment` - Add a new comment to a gist.
- `edit_gist_comment` - Update the content of an existing comment.
- `delete_gist_comment` - Delete a comment from a gist.
### Prompts
- `list_gist_prompts` - List the prompts in your prompts collection.
- `add_gist_prompt` - Add a new prompt to your prompts collection.
- `delete_gist_prompt` - Delete a prompt from your collection.
## 📁 Included resources
In addition to the above tools, the GistPad MCP server also exposes your gists as resources (using the `gist:///` URI scheme), which allows clients to read them without requiring tool execution.
When you add/delete/duplicate a gist, or change a gist's description, then a notification will be provided to MCP clients, indicating that the list of resources have changed. And if your MCP client supports resource subscriptions, then you can subscribe to a specific gist and get notified when it's updated.
Additionally, for MCP clients that support resource templates, GistPad also exposes a resource at `gist:///{gistId}/comments`, which allows querying the comments for a gist (without needing to execute the `list_gist_comments` tool).
### Resource configuration
If you'd like to expose either your archived gists, starred gists, and/or daily notes as resources, then simply update your MCP server config to pass the `--archived`, `--starred`, and/or `--daily` flags to the `gistpad-mcp` CLI.
## 💬 Reusable prompts
GistPad allows you to create and manage parameterized/reusable prompts that are stored as markdown files in a gist. You can manage prompts using the `add_prompt` and `delete_prompt` tool, by simply asking your MCP client to create/delete a prompt, with the specified contents/arguments you want.
Behind the scenes, prompts are stored as markdown files in a gist called `💬 Prompts` (which is automatically created by the `add_prompt` tool). The prompt files include their prompt as the body, and optionally, a description and arguments using front-matter. And if the prompt makes use of arguments, the body of the prompt should include `{{argument}}` placeholders, which will be replaced when the MCP client retrieves it.
## 💻 CLI Reference
The `gistpad-mcp` CLI accepts the following optional flags:
- `--archived` - Include archived gists in the list of MCP resources _(Note: The `list_archived_gists` tool is always available)_
- `--starred` - Include starred gists in the list of MCP resources _(Note: The `list_starred_gists` tool is always available)_
- `--daily` - Include daily notes in the list of MCP resources _(Note: The `list_daily_notes` tool is always available)_
- `--markdown` - Filter the list of gists that are returned, to only those that are composed of Markdown files.
## 🧰 Troubleshooting
- <u>Not seeing a gist in your list?</u> The GistPad MCP server caches your gist list and updates it 1) anytime you make a change through the MCP server, or 2) every hour. However, if you add/edit/delete a gist using an external client, you may need to tell GistPad MCP to refresh itself (assuming it hasn't performed its hourly refresh yet). You can do this by triggering the `refresh_gists` tool (e.g. running `#refresh_gists` in VS Code Copilot chat).
