Adding default toolset as configuration

README.md

@@ -87,17 +87,12 @@ Alternatively, to manually configure VS Code, choose the appropriate JSON block
 
 ### Configuration
 
-#### Default toolset configuration
-
-The default configuration is:
-- context
-- repos
-- issues
-- pull_requests
-- users
+#### Toolset configuration
 
 See [Remote Server Documentation](docs/remote-server.md) for full details on remote server configuration, toolsets, headers, and advanced usage. This file provides comprehensive instructions and examples for connecting, customizing, and installing the remote GitHub MCP Server in VS Code and other MCP hosts.
 
+When no toolsets are specified, [default toolsets](#default-toolset) are used.
+
 #### Enterprise Cloud with data residency (ghe.com)
 
 GitHub Enterprise Cloud can also make use of the remote server.
@@ -329,7 +324,7 @@ The GitHub MCP Server supports enabling or disabling specific groups of function
 
 _Toolsets are not limited to Tools. Relevant MCP Resources and Prompts are also included where applicable._
 
-The Local GitHub MCP Server follows the same [default toolset configuration](#default-toolset-configuration) as the remote version.
+When no toolsets are specified, [default toolsets](#default-toolset) are used.
 
 #### Specifying Toolsets
 
@@ -359,7 +354,9 @@ docker run -i --rm \
   ghcr.io/github/github-mcp-server
 ```
 
-### The "all" Toolset
+### Special toolsets
+
+#### "all" toolset
 
 The special toolset `all` can be provided to enable all available toolsets regardless of any other configuration:
 
@@ -373,6 +370,22 @@ Or using the environment variable:
 GITHUB_TOOLSETS="all" ./github-mcp-server
 ```
 
+#### "default" toolset
+The default toolset `default` is the configuration that gets passed to the server if no toolsets are specified.
+
+The default configuration is:
+- context
+- repos
+- issues
+- pull_requests
+- users
+
+To keep the default configuration and add additional toolsets:
+
+```bash
+GITHUB_TOOLSETS="default,stargazers" ./github-mcp-server
+```
+
 ### Available Toolsets
 
 The following sets of tools are available:

cmd/github-mcp-server/main.go

@@ -45,8 +45,9 @@ var (
 				return fmt.Errorf("failed to unmarshal toolsets: %w", err)
 			}
 
+			// No passed toolsets configuration means we enable the default toolset
 			if len(enabledToolsets) == 0 {
-				enabledToolsets = github.GetDefaultToolsetIDs()
+				enabledToolsets = []string{github.ToolsetMetadataDefault.ID}
 			}
 
 			stdioServerConfig := ghmcp.StdioServerConfig{

internal/ghmcp/server.go

@@ -106,16 +106,7 @@ func NewMCPServer(cfg MCPServerConfig) (*server.MCPServer, error) {
 		},
 	}
 
-	enabledToolsets := cfg.EnabledToolsets
-	if cfg.DynamicToolsets {
-		// filter "all" from the enabled toolsets
-		enabledToolsets = make([]string, 0, len(cfg.EnabledToolsets))
-		for _, toolset := range cfg.EnabledToolsets {
-			if toolset != "all" {
-				enabledToolsets = append(enabledToolsets, toolset)
-			}
-		}
-	}
+	enabledToolsets := cleanToolsets(cfg.EnabledToolsets, cfg.DynamicToolsets)
 
 	// Generate instructions based on enabled toolsets
 	instructions := github.GenerateInstructions(enabledToolsets)
@@ -470,3 +461,45 @@ func (t *bearerAuthTransport) RoundTrip(req *http.Request) (*http.Response, erro
 	req.Header.Set("Authorization", "Bearer "+t.token)
 	return t.transport.RoundTrip(req)
 }
+
+// cleanToolsets handles special toolset keywords in the enabled toolsets list:
+// - Duplicates are removed from the result.
+// - Removes whitespace
+// - "all": Returns ["all"] immediately, ignoring all other toolsets (unless dynamicToolsets is true)
+// - "default": Replaces with the actual default toolset IDs from GetDefaultToolsetIDs()
+// When dynamicToolsets is true, filters out "all" from the enabled toolsets.
+func cleanToolsets(enabledToolsets []string, dynamicToolsets bool) []string {
+	seen := make(map[string]bool)
+	result := make([]string, 0, len(enabledToolsets))
+
+	// Add non-default toolsets, removing duplicates and trimming whitespace
+	for _, toolset := range enabledToolsets {
+		trimmed := strings.TrimSpace(toolset)
+		if !seen[trimmed] {
+			seen[trimmed] = true
+			if trimmed != github.ToolsetMetadataDefault.ID && trimmed != github.ToolsetMetadataAll.ID {
+				result = append(result, trimmed)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	hasDefault := seen[github.ToolsetMetadataDefault.ID]
+	hasAll := seen[github.ToolsetMetadataAll.ID]
+
+	// Handle "all" keyword - return early if not in dynamic mode
+	if hasAll && !dynamicToolsets {
+		return []string{github.ToolsetMetadataAll.ID}
+	}
+
+	// Expand "default" keyword to actual default toolsets
+	if hasDefault {
+		for _, defaultToolset := range github.GetDefaultToolsetIDs() {
+			if !seen[defaultToolset] {
+				result = append(result, defaultToolset)
+				seen[defaultToolset] = true
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	return result
+}

internal/ghmcp/server_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,244 @@
+package ghmcp
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+)
+
+func TestCleanToolsets(t *testing.T) {
+	tests := []struct {
+		name            string
+		input           []string
+		dynamicToolsets bool
+		expected        []string
+	}{
+		{
+			name:            "empty slice",
+			input:           []string{},
+			dynamicToolsets: false,
+			expected:        []string{},
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "nil input slice",
+			input:           nil,
+			dynamicToolsets: false,
+			expected:        []string{},
+		},
+		// all test cases
+		{
+			name:            "all only",
+			input:           []string{"all"},
+			dynamicToolsets: false,
+			expected:        []string{"all"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "all appears multiple times",
+			input:           []string{"all", "actions", "all"},
+			dynamicToolsets: false,
+			expected:        []string{"all"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "all with other toolsets",
+			input:           []string{"all", "actions", "gists"},
+			dynamicToolsets: false,
+			expected:        []string{"all"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "all with default",
+			input:           []string{"default", "all", "actions"},
+			dynamicToolsets: false,
+			expected:        []string{"all"},
+		},
+		// default test cases
+		{
+			name:            "default only",
+			input:           []string{"default"},
+			dynamicToolsets: false,
+			expected: []string{
+				"context",
+				"repos",
+				"issues",
+				"pull_requests",
+				"users",
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "default with additional toolsets",
+			input:           []string{"default", "actions", "gists"},
+			dynamicToolsets: false,
+			expected: []string{
+				"actions",
+				"gists",
+				"context",
+				"repos",
+				"issues",
+				"pull_requests",
+				"users",
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "no default present",
+			input:           []string{"actions", "gists", "notifications"},
+			dynamicToolsets: false,
+			expected:        []string{"actions", "gists", "notifications"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "duplicate toolsets without default",
+			input:           []string{"actions", "gists", "actions"},
+			dynamicToolsets: false,
+			expected:        []string{"actions", "gists"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "duplicate toolsets with default",
+			input:           []string{"context", "repos", "issues", "pull_requests", "users", "default"},
+			dynamicToolsets: false,
+			expected: []string{
+				"context",
+				"repos",
+				"issues",
+				"pull_requests",
+				"users",
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "default appears multiple times with different toolsets in between",
+			input:           []string{"default", "actions", "default", "gists", "default"},
+			dynamicToolsets: false,
+			expected: []string{
+				"actions",
+				"gists",
+				"context",
+				"repos",
+				"issues",
+				"pull_requests",
+				"users",
+			},
+		},
+		// Dynamic toolsets test cases
+		{
+			name:            "dynamic toolsets - all only should be filtered",
+			input:           []string{"all"},
+			dynamicToolsets: true,
+			expected:        []string{},
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "dynamic toolsets - all with other toolsets",
+			input:           []string{"all", "actions", "gists"},
+			dynamicToolsets: true,
+			expected:        []string{"actions", "gists"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "dynamic toolsets - all with default",
+			input:           []string{"all", "default", "actions"},
+			dynamicToolsets: true,
+			expected: []string{
+				"actions",
+				"context",
+				"repos",
+				"issues",
+				"pull_requests",
+				"users",
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "dynamic toolsets - no all present",
+			input:           []string{"actions", "gists"},
+			dynamicToolsets: true,
+			expected:        []string{"actions", "gists"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "dynamic toolsets - default only",
+			input:           []string{"default"},
+			dynamicToolsets: true,
+			expected: []string{
+				"context",
+				"repos",
+				"issues",
+				"pull_requests",
+				"users",
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "only special keywords with dynamic mode",
+			input:           []string{"all", "default"},
+			dynamicToolsets: true,
+			expected: []string{
+				"context",
+				"repos",
+				"issues",
+				"pull_requests",
+				"users",
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "all with default and overlapping default toolsets in dynamic mode",
+			input:           []string{"all", "default", "issues", "repos"},
+			dynamicToolsets: true,
+			expected: []string{
+				"issues",
+				"repos",
+				"context",
+				"pull_requests",
+				"users",
+			},
+		},
+		// Whitespace test cases
+		{
+			name:            "whitespace check - leading and trailing whitespace on regular toolsets",
+			input:           []string{" actions ", "  gists  ", "notifications"},
+			dynamicToolsets: false,
+			expected:        []string{"actions", "gists", "notifications"},
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "whitespace check - default toolset",
+			input:           []string{" actions ", "  default  ", "notifications"},
+			dynamicToolsets: false,
+			expected: []string{
+				"actions",
+				"notifications",
+				"context",
+				"repos",
+				"issues",
+				"pull_requests",
+				"users",
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name:            "whitespace check - all toolset",
+			input:           []string{" actions ", "  gists  ", "notifications", "  all   "},
+			dynamicToolsets: false,
+			expected:        []string{"all"},
+		},
+	}
+
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			result := cleanToolsets(tt.input, tt.dynamicToolsets)
+
+			// Check that the result has the correct length
+			require.Len(t, result, len(tt.expected), "result length should match expected length")
+
+			// Create a map for easier comparison since order might vary
+			resultMap := make(map[string]bool)
+			for _, toolset := range result {
+				resultMap[toolset] = true
+			}
+
+			expectedMap := make(map[string]bool)
+			for _, toolset := range tt.expected {
+				expectedMap[toolset] = true
+			}
+
+			// Check that both maps contain the same toolsets
+			assert.Equal(t, expectedMap, resultMap, "result should contain all expected toolsets without duplicates")
+
+			// Verify no duplicates in result
+			assert.Len(t, resultMap, len(result), "result should not contain duplicates")
+
+			// Verify "default" is not in the result
+			assert.False(t, resultMap["default"], "result should not contain 'default'")
+		})
+	}
+}