Connect GitHub's and Linear's MCP servers to your coding agents

To let your coding agents read GitHub and Linear through MCP, declare both hosted servers in your repository's .mcp.json. Then bind them on the project in SHIP. GitHub's server gets a fine-grained token in an Authorization header, and Linear's server gets an OAuth sign-in from its card. SHIP keeps both credentials outside the agent's sandbox and attaches them to each request. So the planner can read the issue before it plans, and QA can check the pull request. Neither agent holds a token.

Declare both servers in your MCP file

If the repository doesn't declare them yet, add both hosted endpoints to .mcp.json on the default branch, the same file your editor's agent already reads:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": { "type": "http", "url": "https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/" },
    "linear": { "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.linear.app/mcp" }
  }
}

SHIP reads this file at the start of each mission and never edits it. Leave tokens out of it: the credentials go on the project in SHIP, not in the repository.

Bind GitHub's server with a scoped token

GitHub's MCP server accepts a personal access token as a bearer header. Create a fine-grained token limited to the repositories the agents work in, with read access to contents, issues and pull requests. Then bind the server for the agents that need it. From a terminal, the header's value goes in a file so the token never enters your shell history:

printf 'Bearer %s' "$GITHUB_TOKEN" > github-header.txt
ship mcp bind github --roles planner,builder,qa --header-file Authorization=github-header.txt

In the console, the same step is Bind on the github card of the project page:

The credential is pinned to that URL. If a later commit points github at a different host, the binding stops until you confirm the new host. So a change to the file can never send the token somewhere else.

Keep the reviewer and QA read-only

SHIP lists the server's tools when you bind it. When it bound GitHub's server on a test project in October 2026, the list held 49 tools, from reading issues to merging pull requests. Approve only what your agents need:

ship mcp tools github --approve get_issue,list_pull_requests,search_code,get_file_contents --attest get_file_contents

[x] get_issue  read-only
[x] list_pull_requests  read-only
[x] search_code  read-only
[x] get_file_contents  unannotated, attested read-only
4 of 7 approved - planner 4 tools, builder 4 tools, qa 4 tools

The reviewer and QA receive only approved tools the server marks read-only. --attest confirms that an unmarked tool only reads, which lets them use it too. A tool that writes reaches only the planner and builder, and a tool the server adds later stays hidden until you approve it.

Sign in to Linear's server with OAuth

Linear's MCP server signs in with OAuth rather than a token. Bind it without a credential, then connect:

ship mcp bind linear --roles planner,builder
ship mcp connect linear

ship mcp connect prints a single-use link. Open it in a browser signed in to SHIP and approve the access in Linear, or select Connect on the card in the console. SHIP registers itself with Linear, stores the authorization encrypted, and renews it from then on. If someone revokes it, the card reads Reconnect needed, with Linear's reason. Agents that should get the server then stop with that message before they start:

Narrow each role in ship.yml

The bindings say which agents may use a server. For one repository, ship.yml can narrow that further, per agent and per tool:

agents:
  planner:
    mcp: [linear, github]
  qa:
    mcp:
      - server: github
        tools: [get_issue, get_pull_request]

It can only remove access a binding grants. If you name a server that the project hasn't bound for that agent, the mission stops with a message. The agent never silently gets less than you meant.

Watch the agents use them

A claude-code run's timeline opens with the MCP servers its agent started with and whether each connected, then shows each call as server - tool:

Every call made through SHIP, including a refused one, is recorded on the mission. The MCP servers docs cover the same steps in the console, from the CLI, and from your own agent through SHIP's MCP server.