Find MCP Servers

This skill helps you search and discover MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers from the official registry at https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io.

MCP Registry API

Base URL: https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io

Search Servers

code

GET /v0.1/servers

Query Parameters:

•search - Search by server name (substring match)
•limit - Number of results per page (1-100, default: 30)
•cursor - Pagination cursor for next page
•version - Filter by version (use "latest" for latest version)
•updated_since - Filter servers updated since RFC3339 timestamp

Example Requests:

bash

# Search for filesystem-related servers
curl "https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers?search=filesystem"

# Get latest 50 servers
curl "https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers?limit=50&version=latest"

# Search for brave search
curl "https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers?search=brave"

Response Structure:

json

{
  "servers": [
    {
      "_meta": {
        "io.modelcontextprotocol.registry/official": {
          "status": "active",
          "publishedAt": "2025-01-15T10:00:00Z",
          "isLatest": true,
          "updatedAt": "2025-01-20T15:30:00Z"
        }
      },
      "server": {
        "name": "io.github.example/filesystem",
        "title": "Filesystem Access",
        "description": "MCP server for filesystem operations",
        "version": "1.0.2",
        "repository": {
          "url": "https://github.com/example/mcp-filesystem",
          "source": "github"
        },
        "packages": [...]
      }
    }
  ],
  "metadata": {
    "count": 1,
    "nextCursor": "cursor123"
  }
}

Get Specific Server

code

GET /v0.1/servers/{serverName}/versions/{version}

Parameters:

•serverName - URL-encoded server name (e.g., com.example%2Fmy-server)
•version - Version number or "latest"

Example:

bash

# Get latest version of brave search server
curl "https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers/io.modelcontextprotocol.servers%2Fbrave-search/versions/latest"

Get All Versions of a Server

code

GET /v0.1/servers/{serverName}/versions

Common Search Patterns

By Category/Functionality

•File operations: search=filesystem
•Search tools: search=brave, search=google
•Development: search=github, search=git
•Data processing: search=csv, search=json
•Web scraping: search=fetch, search=web
•Database: search=postgres, search=sqlite, search=database

By Transport Type

Servers support different transport types:

•stdio - Standard input/output (most common for npm packages)
•sse - Server-Sent Events
•streamable-http - Streaming HTTP

Filter by Registry Type

•npm - Node.js packages (@modelcontextprotocol/server-*)
•pypi - Python packages
•oci - OCI containers
•mcpb - MCP binary format

Installation Instructions

When presenting MCP servers to users, include installation instructions based on package type:

NPM Packages

bash

npx @modelcontextprotocol/server-<name>

With Configuration

Many servers require configuration (API keys, etc.). Show the packageArguments from the registry response:

json

{
  "packageArguments": [
    {
      "name": "--api-key",
      "description": "API key for service",
      "isRequired": true,
      "isSecret": true
    }
  ]
}

Search Strategy

•Start with broad search terms - Use single keywords first
•Use substring matching - The API searches within server names and descriptions
•Check multiple pages - Use nextCursor from metadata for pagination
•Filter for latest - Always use version=latest for production use
•Verify status - Check _meta.io.modelcontextprotocol.registry/official.status is "active"

Server Information to Present

When displaying results to users, show:

•Title/Name - Human-readable name and reverse-DNS identifier
•Description - What the server does
•Repository - Source code location
•Version - Latest version number
•Transport - How it connects (stdio/sse/http)
•Package Type - npm, pypi, etc.
•Installation Command - How to install
•Configuration - Required arguments/inputs

Error Handling

API returns errors in RFC 7807 format (application/problem+json):

json

{
  "type": "https://example.com/errors/example",
  "title": "Bad Request",
  "status": 400,
  "detail": "Property foo is required but is missing."
}

Common errors:

•400 - Invalid query parameters
•404 - Server not found
•422 - Validation error

Examples

Find All Official MCP Servers

bash

curl "https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers?limit=100&version=latest"

Find GitHub Integration

bash

curl "https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers?search=github&version=latest"

Get Brave Search Details

bash

curl "https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers/io.modelcontextprotocol.servers%2Fbrave-search/versions/latest"

Related Resources

•MCP Registry: https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io
•MCP Documentation: https://modelcontextprotocol.io
•MCP Servers Repository: https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers