dev-read-gh-public-repo

Read a public GitHub repo that's out of MCP scope

The problem

In the Claude Code web/remote environment, the GitHub MCP tools (mcp__github__*) are locked to an allow-list of repos chosen when the session was created. Reading any other repo — even a public one — fails like this:

Access denied: repository "owner/name" is not configured for this session.
Allowed repositories: <only-the-scoped-ones>

Choosing "add repo to scope" in the UI does not take effect mid-session, and the mcp__claude-code-remote__list_repos / add_repo tools are often unavailable. So the MCP path is a dead end here.

The fix (public repos only)

Bypass MCP entirely — clone over HTTPS into an ephemeral dir, then use the normal Read / Grep tools:

cd /tmp && git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/<owner>/<repo>.git
# now Read / Grep files under /tmp/<repo>

Gotchas

• HTTPS only — SSH fails. There is no ssh binary in the container, so

  git clone [email protected]:owner/repo.git dies with ssh: not found. Always use the https://github.com/... URL.

• No auth needed for public repos over HTTPS — the clone just works, assuming the

  environment's outbound network policy allows github.com.

• Clone outside the working repo (/tmp, or any path that isn't the user's

  project) so the checkout stays ephemeral and never gets committed by accident.

• --depth 1 keeps it fast; drop it only if you need history.

Limits — don't misapply

• Reading only. This is for research: reading a doc/spec, copying a pattern. It

  grants no write access and is not a substitute for proper repo scope.

• Public repos only. Private repos still require adding the repo to the session

  scope (or real auth) — a plain HTTPS clone will prompt for credentials and fail.

• Web/remote env only. On a normal local session, just use gh or an existing

  checkout instead — don't reach for this.