modelcontextprotocol/registry

What is MCP Registry?

The MCP Registry is a public service that lets Model Context Protocol (MCP) clients discover MCP‑compatible servers – essentially an “app store” for AI model‑hosting endpoints. It exposes a stable HTTP API (currently v0.1) that returns a curated list of server descriptors (server.json files) so developers can programmatically find, connect to, and interact with model‑hosting services.

Why it matters

• Standardised discovery – Instead of hard‑coding endpoint URLs, tools can query the registry to get up‑to‑date server metadata (capabilities, auth methods, versioning, etc.).
• Safety & validation – The registry validates each entry (GitHub OAuth, DNS/HTTP ownership proofs) to reduce malicious or mis‑configured listings.
• Ecosystem coordination – By providing a single source of truth, the registry helps different MCP projects interoperate without each having to maintain their own directory.

Core features (as described in the README)

Feature	Description
API freeze (v0.1)	The public API is locked for a month to let integrators build against a stable contract.
Docker‑based development	make dev-compose spins up the registry plus a PostgreSQL instance locally.
Seeded data	On start‑up the service mirrors a filtered subset of the production registry, ensuring a realistic dev environment.
Publishing CLI	A separate mcp-publisher tool (built from cmd/publisher) handles server registration; it authenticates via GitHub OAuth, OIDC, DNS, or HTTP challenges.
Authentication	Supports GitHub OAuth, GitHub OIDC (for CI), DNS verification, and HTTP verification to prove namespace ownership.
Observability	Built‑in telemetry for metrics and monitoring (see internal/telemetry).
Infrastructure as code	Deployment manifests live in deploy/ (Pulumi).
Versioned API types	Public API structs live under pkg/api/v0, making future versioning straightforward.

Who’s behind it?

The project is stewarded by a Registry Working Group consisting of engineers from several companies (Stacklok, PulseMCP, TeamSpark, Ravenmail). Community input is encouraged via Discord, GitHub Discussions, and a public blog.

How to get started

1. Run locally – Install Docker, Go, and ko; then execute make dev-compose. The service will be reachable at http://localhost:8080.
2. Explore the API – The live OpenAPI docs are hosted at https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/docs.
3. Publish your own server – Build the CLI with make publisher and follow the quick‑start guide in docs/modelcontextprotocol-io/quickstart.mdx.
4. Contribute – Fork, make changes, and submit a PR; linting and tests are run via make check.

When to use it

If you are building an application that needs to discover or list MCP‑compatible model‑hosting services—for example, a client library, a UI dashboard, or an AI‑agent orchestration platform—point it at the MCP Registry instead of maintaining a static list. The registry’s validation and authentication mechanisms also make it a trustworthy source for production deployments.

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All information above is taken directly from the repository’s README; no external assumptions have been added.