What it is
An MCP registry is an open catalogue and discovery API for public MCP servers: a single source of truth that sub-registries and client marketplaces (Cursor, Claude, VS Code and others) build on. It answers the question of where to get a server and how to trust it.
Where it came from
- 8 September 2025 — the preview of the official MCP Registry (
registry.modelcontextprotocol.io) launched. - The registry is open source: anyone can run a compatible sub-registry, and clients pull data through the API.
- Third-party catalogues (PulseMCP, Smithery and others) grew in parallel — but the official one became the root of the federation.
Why it took off
- There are simply too many servers (thousands) — without a catalogue you can neither find nor verify them.
- By November 2025 the official registry had grown to about 2,000 entries, up 407% from the starting batch.
- The marketplace model is familiar to developers (like npm or VS Code extensions), which cut the friction of installing.
How to use it today
- Look for the server you need in the official registry rather than through random links from chats.
- Before installing, check the author, the repository, the star count and the last update date.
- If you run a public server of your own, publish it to the registry through the CLI so people can find it.
What to watch out for
- Being in the registry does not equal safe code: the catalogue solves discovery, the supply-chain audit is still on you.
- Marketplaces are a new attack surface (a malicious server is one click away); install only what you actually need.
- Sub-registries can moderate differently — trusting the source matters more than convenience.