The MCP Registry is a central catalog that exposes MCP servers so clients can discover, evaluate, and publish MCP endpoints. It runs as a service (via Docker) and provides a stable API surface (API freeze v0.1) that lets integrators query available servers, seed data, and publish new MCP implementations. To get started locally, run the registry container and access the API and web UI (where available) at localhost:8080. The registry also offers a publisher CLI to publish new MCP servers; you can build or pull the latest CLI and run it to submit a server to the registry. The API docs and quickstart guide describe how MCP clients should interact with the registry to fetch server lists, verify metadata, and subscribe to updates.

Prerequisites:

• Docker installed and running
• Optional: Docker Compose for local development environment

Install and run locally:

1. Pull and run the latest registry image: docker run -p 8080:8080 ghcr.io/modelcontextprotocol/registry:latest

2. (Optional) Run a specific release or main-branch build: docker run -p 8080:8080 ghcr.io/modelcontextprotocol/registry:main or docker run -p 8080:8080 ghcr.io/modelcontextprotocol/registry:v1.0.0

3. If you prefer a development workflow with local compose (for development Seed and DB):

   Ensure docker-compose is available

   make dev-compose

   This starts the registry at http://localhost:8080 with a local PostgreSQL instance

4. Publishing a server via the CLI:

   Build the latest CLI

   make publisher

   Use the CLI to publish a server

   ./bin/mcp-publisher --help

Prerequisites recap:

• Docker or Docker Compose
• Git for cloning or pulling updates
• Access to registry docs and publisher guide for publishing servers

Environment variables and configuration options mentioned in the registry docs:

• MCP_REGISTRY_SEED_FROM: Path to a seed file (e.g., data/seed.json) to seed the registry data. Example: MCP_REGISTRY_SEED_FROM=data/seed.json
• MCP_REGISTRY_ENABLE_REGISTRY_VALIDATION: Set false to seed without validating registry data (useful for offline or test scenarios). Example: MCP_REGISTRY_ENABLE_REGISTRY_VALIDATION=false

Configuration is also referenced in docker-compose.yml and the .env.example file; check these for additional adjustable parameters like database connections, seed data sources, and feature toggles. If you’re developing against the registry, you can seed from a local file to speed up startup and reproduce a known state. The registry uses ko to build container images for publishing; for development you can rely on the dev-compose workflow.