faq.mdx

September 5, 2026 · View on GitHub

The MCP Registry is currently in preview. Breaking changes or data resets may occur before general availability. If you encounter any issues, please report them on [GitHub](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/registry/issues).

General

What is the difference between "Official MCP Registry", "MCP Registry", "MCP registry", "MCP Registry API", etc?

  • "MCP Registry API" — An API that implements the OpenAPI spec defined by the MCP Registry.
  • "Official MCP Registry API" — The REST API served at https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io, which is a superset of the MCP Registry API. Its OpenAPI spec can be downloaded from https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/openapi.yaml.
  • "MCP registry" — A third-party service that provides an MCP Registry API.
  • "Official MCP Registry" (or "The MCP Registry") — The service that lives at https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io.

Can I delete/unpublish my server?

Yes, you can change your server's status to deleted using the mcp-publisher status command:

# Delete a specific version
mcp-publisher status --status deleted --message "No longer maintained" \
  io.github.my-username/my-server 1.0.0

# Delete all versions
mcp-publisher status --status deleted --all-versions --message "Project archived" \
  io.github.my-username/my-server

Deleted servers are hidden from default API listings but can still be retrieved with include_deleted=true. You can restore a deleted server by setting its status back to active.

Note: Server metadata is never permanently removed from the registry. The deleted status hides the server from discovery but preserves the historical record.

How do I update my server metadata?

Submit a new server.json with a unique version string. Once published, version metadata is immutable (similar to npm).

Can I add custom metadata when publishing?

Yes, custom metadata under _meta.io.modelcontextprotocol.registry/publisher-provided is preserved when publishing to the registry. This allows you to include custom metadata specific to your publishing process.

There is a 4KB size limit (4096 bytes of JSON). Publishing will fail if this limit is exceeded.

Reporting Issues

What if I need to report a spam or malicious server?

  1. Report it as abuse to the underlying package registry (e.g. NPM, PyPI, DockerHub, etc.); and
  2. Raise a GitHub issue on the registry repo with a title beginning Abuse report:

What if I need to report a security vulnerability in the registry itself?

Follow the MCP community SECURITY.md.