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Claude Code

Claude Code is Anthropic’s CLI coding assistant. This guide shows how to route Claude Code’s MCP connections through Maybe Don’t.

Prerequisites

Configure Claude Code

Claude Code uses the claude mcp add command to register MCP servers. Instead of connecting directly to GitHub, we’ll point it at the gateway:

# Set your GitHub token
export GITHUB_TOKEN="ghp_your_token_here"

# Add the gateway as the MCP server
claude mcp add maybe-dont http://localhost:8080/mcp \
  --transport http \
  --header "X-GitHub-Token: $GITHUB_TOKEN"

This tells Claude Code to:

  • Connect to http://localhost:8080/mcp (the gateway)
  • Use HTTP transport
  • Send your GitHub token in the X-GitHub-Token header

The gateway will forward this token to GitHub using pass-through authentication.

Verify the Connection

Check that Claude Code can see the MCP server:

claude mcp list

You should see maybe-dont listed with the tools available from GitHub.

Start Using It

Start Claude Code normally:

claude

From within Claude Code, you can verify MCP tools are available:

/mcp

This shows all available MCP tools. You should see GitHub tools prefixed with github__:

  • github__create_issue
  • github__search_code
  • github__list_repos
  • etc.

What’s Happening

When Claude Code calls a tool:

  1. Claude Code sends the request to localhost:8080/mcp with X-GitHub-Token header
  2. The gateway receives the request and runs validation (CEL + AI policies)
  3. If allowed, the gateway forwards to GitHub with Authorization: Bearer <token>
  4. The response flows back through the gateway to Claude Code
  5. Everything is logged to the audit log

Removing the Configuration

To disconnect Claude Code from the gateway:

claude mcp remove maybe-dont

Troubleshooting

“Connection refused”

Make sure the gateway is running and listening on port 8080:

curl http://localhost:8080/mcp -X POST \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "X-GitHub-Token: $GITHUB_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","method":"tools/list","id":1}'

“Unauthorized” errors

Check that your GitHub token is valid and being passed correctly:

echo $GITHUB_TOKEN  # Should show your token

Tools not showing up

Verify the gateway is correctly connecting to GitHub by checking its logs for successful tool discovery.

GitHub Copilot