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Publish to MCP Community Registry

One-click publishing to the official MCP Community Registry. Reach the growing ecosystem when you're ready.

Why Publish to the Registry?

The MCP Community Registry is where developers discover MCP servers. Publishing here puts your server in front of the growing MCP ecosystem.

Benefits:

  • Official discovery channel - Developers browse the registry first when looking for MCP servers
  • Zero configuration - No GitHub OIDC setup, no manual API submissions
  • One-click publishing - Deploy first, publish when ready
  • Control timing - Test privately in production before going public
  • Instant visibility - Your server appears immediately after publishing

mctx handles all the publishing infrastructure. You focus on building great servers.

When to Publish

You control when your server goes public. The recommended strategy:

  1. Deploy to production - Get your server running and stable
  2. Test privately - Verify everything works with a few trusted users
  3. Polish documentation - Update your README, add examples, clarify use cases
  4. Publish to registry - One click when you're ready for public discovery

Why manual publishing?

  • Test in production without public visibility
  • Polish your server page and docs first
  • Time your announcement with other promotion efforts
  • Control your launch narrative

How Publishing Works

When you publish your server to the registry, it appears under this namespace:

io.github.{owner}/{slug}

For example:

  • GitHub username: alice
  • Server slug: weather-api
  • Registry namespace: io.github.alice/weather-api

Developers can discover your server by:

  • Browsing the official MCP Registry
  • Searching in MCP-aware clients (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.)
  • Finding it through tags you specify

Publishing Your Server

Step 1: Deploy to production

Your server must be deployed to production before you can publish to the registry. This requires completing payout setup first.

See Setting Up Payouts if you haven't done this yet.

Step 2: Publish to registry

  1. Go to your server dashboard
  2. Select your server
  3. Find the "MCP Registry Status" card
  4. Click Publish to Registry
  5. Your server appears on registry.modelcontextprotocol.io instantly

Step 3: Add tags for discoverability

Tags help developers find your server when searching by capability or domain.

  1. In the "MCP Registry Status" card, click Edit Tags
  2. Add up to 10 tags (2-20 characters each)
  3. Save changes
  4. Tags sync to the registry on next publish

Tag format rules:

  • 2-20 characters long
  • Lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens only
  • No spaces or special characters
  • Maximum 10 tags per server

Good tag examples:

  • weather, api, real-time, data-provider, finance, github, code-analysis

Bad tag examples:

  • a (too short)
  • Weather (uppercase not allowed)
  • weather api (space not allowed)
  • weather_api (underscore not allowed)

Choose tags that accurately describe your server's capabilities and domain.

Registry Status

Track your publishing status in the "MCP Registry Status" card:

  • Not Published - Ready to publish (default state)
  • Published ✓ - Live on the registry
  • ⏳ Pending - Publishing in progress (1-2 minutes)
  • ✗ Failed - Publishing encountered an error

Unpublishing Your Server

Need to remove your server from public discovery? You can unpublish at any time.

To unpublish:

  1. Go to your server's detail page
  2. Find the "MCP Registry Status" card
  3. Click Unpublish from Registry
  4. Confirm the action

Your server is removed from the registry but continues working for existing subscribers.

When to unpublish:

  • Major breaking changes requiring migration time
  • Sunsetting the server (give users notice first)
  • Temporary maintenance requiring registry removal

If Publishing Fails

Publishing failures are rare but can happen due to temporary registry issues.

If you see a failed status:

  1. Check that your mctx.json has valid name and description fields
  2. Wait a few minutes - the system retries automatically
  3. If status doesn't change after 10 minutes, report an issue

Your server remains fully functional even if registry publishing fails. Only public discoverability is affected.

Timing Your Launch

Publishing to the registry is often the centerpiece of your launch. Consider coordinating with:

  • Social announcements - Tweet, post to Discord/Reddit on the same day
  • Directory submissions - Submit to awesome-mcp-servers and MCP.so around the same time
  • Content publication - Publish a blog post or demo video when you go live
  • Product Hunt - If launching there, publish to registry the same day

A coordinated launch creates momentum and maximizes initial visibility.

After Publishing

Once your server is on the registry:

  1. Monitor subscriptions - Watch your dashboard for growth
  2. Respond to feedback - Check GitHub issues, social mentions, support emails
  3. Keep improving - Ship new versions, add features, expand capabilities
  4. Promote continuously - Share use cases, examples, success stories

Publishing to the registry is just the start. Sustained promotion drives long-term growth.

Next Steps

See something wrong? Report it or suggest an improvement — your feedback helps make these docs better.

On this page

Why Publish to the Registry?When to PublishHow Publishing WorksPublishing Your ServerRegistry StatusUnpublishing Your ServerIf Publishing FailsTiming Your LaunchAfter PublishingNext Steps