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GitHub MCP Rate limit exceeded

An MCP server calling GitHub has exhausted REST, GraphQL, search, or secondary abuse-protection limits.

GitHub MCP rate limit exceededGitHub API secondary rate limit MCPMCP GitHub token quota
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Error text / 报错原文

  • GitHub MCP: Rate limit exceeded
  • API rate limit exceeded
  • secondary rate limit

What it means

An MCP server calling GitHub has exhausted REST, GraphQL, search, or secondary abuse-protection limits.

Most common causes

  • Agent repeatedly searches the repository or issues
  • Token shared by several tools
  • Unauthenticated GitHub calls use a tiny quota
  • GraphQL query cost is too high

Fastest fix

  • Check GitHub rate_limit endpoint
  • Wait for reset or reduce tool calls
  • Use an authenticated token with the right scopes
  • Ask the agent to batch reads instead of repeated searches

Safe fix

  • Cache repository metadata
  • Use narrow read scopes
  • Expose rate-limit headers in MCP errors
  • Add backoff to automation

What not to do

  • Do not add repo write scope just to increase read quota
  • Do not create token rotation loops
  • Do not ignore secondary rate limits

How to confirm the fix

Run the smallest reproducible command first, then retry the agent task only after authentication, quota, and tool discovery are stable.

curl -H "Authorization: token $GITHUB_TOKEN" https://api.github.com/rate_limit
date -u
git remote -v

Related errors

Related tools

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