How to Publish an MCP Server: A Complete Guide for Maintainers

Publishing an MCP server involves making your server discoverable and verifiable by AI applications and indexes like Wellknown. To do this, you must either publish your server as a package or expose it as a remote endpoint, list it in the official MCP registry, submit it directly to Wellknown, and optionally claim ownership to verify control.

Key takeaways

• An MCP server can be published as a local package (npm, PyPI) or a remote HTTP endpoint.
• Listing your server in the official MCP registry at registry.modelcontextprotocol.io is a primary way to make it findable.
• Wellknown indexes MCP servers from multiple sources including the MCP registry, npm, PyPI, and direct submissions.
• You can submit your MCP server directly to Wellknown via its submit endpoint at /api/v1/submit.
• Claiming your server record involves proving control using claim proofs like DNS TXT records or files at well-known URLs.

What is an MCP server and why publish it?

An MCP server is a program that speaks the Model Context Protocol (MCP), exposing tools, resources, and prompts to AI applications. Publishing your MCP server makes it discoverable by AI clients and indexes, enabling wider usage and integration. Servers can be local packages installed via npm or PyPI, or remote HTTP endpoints accessible over the network.

Ways to publish an MCP server

1. Publish as a package or expose a remote endpoint

• Local packages: Publish your MCP server as an npm package or a PyPI package. Wellknown indexes 26,163 npm packages and 19,956 PyPI packages that are MCP servers.
• Remote endpoints: Expose your MCP server as a remote HTTP endpoint using protocols like Streamable HTTP or SSE. Wellknown observes 29,969 MCP servers using Streamable HTTP.

2. List in the official MCP registry

The MCP registry at registry.modelcontextprotocol.io is the authoritative place where publishers list their servers with a server.json document. This registry is the largest source for Wellknown, providing 46,271 records. Listing your server here ensures it is included in the main discovery ecosystem.

3. Submit directly to Wellknown

Wellknown provides a submission API endpoint at /api/v1/submit where maintainers can submit their MCP server records directly. This is useful if your server is not yet listed in other sources or you want to ensure immediate inclusion.

4. Claim your server record

Claiming your MCP server record proves your control over the domain or repository, making your record verified and trusted. Wellknown supports three claim proofs:

• Adding a DNS TXT record at _wellknown.YOUR-DOMAIN
• Hosting a file at https://YOUR-DOMAIN/.well-known/wellknown-verify.txt
• Placing a .wellknown-verify file at the repository root

Claim tokens are valid for 7 days, so claims must be renewed periodically.

How Wellknown indexes MCP servers

Wellknown is a live index of AI agents, MCP servers, and tools. It separates declared metadata from observed status by actively checking endpoints. It collects MCP server records from various sources:

• MCP registry (46,271 records)
• npm packages (20,823 records)
• PyPI packages (19,900 records)
• A2A agent cards (2,646 records)
• ARD catalogs and GitHub repositories
• Direct submissions (79 records)
• Claims (147 records)

Out of 73,518 MCP servers indexed, 22,087 are live, meaning their latest check succeeded within 24 hours.

Observed status and reliability

Publishing your MCP server is not just about listing it but also maintaining availability. Wellknown measures the status of servers as live, recently observed, unavailable, or unknown. Live servers have successful checks within 24 hours, which is crucial for discoverability and trust.

Summary

To publish an MCP server effectively:

• Package it for npm or PyPI or expose it as a remote HTTP endpoint.
• List it in the official MCP registry with a server.json.
• Submit it directly to Wellknown using their API.
• Claim your record to verify ownership.
• Maintain uptime to keep your server live and discoverable.

This guide reflects data and practices as of 2026-10-28.