Split "general" server.json from "registry-specific" server.json (#167)

Closes #155

The "generalized" `server.json` is the one that can be used in a variety
of situations:

- Discoverability on a centralized registry (i.e. our official Registry
work)
- Discoverability on a decentralized .well-known endpoint
- As a response to an initialization call, so the client knows
information about the MCP server to which it is connecting
- As an input into crafting a [DXT
file](https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/desktop-extensions)
- Packaged in with the source code of an MCP server, so as to have a
structured way context

Of these, the official Registry is but one use case. The Registry has a
unique set of concerns for which we are optimizing, like whitelisting of
specific registries we trust to host MCP server source code for the
public community (`npm`, `pypi`, etc). It is not necessary to have such
a constraint for the generalized server.json, which may be used in, for
example, an internal context where such a validation doesn't make sense.

So I've done the following at a high level:
- Renamed the prior `schema.json` to be `registry-schema.json`
- Introduced a more generic `schema.json` to serve as the schema for the
generalized `server.json`
- Refactored `registry-schema.json` to be simply a constraint on the
base `schema.json`

I made a few small changes in this transition:
- Removed `gitlab` as an option in `repository.source` for
`registry-schema.json`. I'm fine going live with just GitHub support;
would be happy to take a contribution from e.g. Gitlab employees or a
motivated Gitlab customer to expand anytime.
- Removed `homebrew` as an option in `packages.registry_name`; never
really made sense, not a place where folks are publishing MCP servers
- Added `docker` to `packages.runtime_hint`; was just a missing
oversight
- Gave both schemas a global `$id`
~- Removed `release_date` from both schemas. Certainly not something
that makes sense for the generalized schema. It actually doesn't make
sense for the Registry schema either, because this is the server.json
that _users will submit_, i.e. the _input_ into the Registry publication
API. `release_date` will be a piece of _output_ metadata. The Registry
API will be free to append such extra metadata for GET /:id requests of
servers, and the data can be present in the OpenAPI spec, but it does
not need to be in the registry-server.json JSON schema.~
  - Note this is no longer in this PR; rebased on #168 which included it
- Removed unnecessary enums from the generalized `schema.json`
This commit is contained in:
Tadas Antanavicius 2025-07-09 14:02:43 -07:00 • committed by GitHub
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3 changed files with 45 additions and 12 deletions

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@ -13,4 +13,5 @@ Please note: this is different from the file commonly referred to as `mcp.json`,
References:
- [schema.json](./schema.json) - The official JSON schema specification for this representation
- [examples.md](./examples.md) - Example manifestations of the JSON schema
- [examples.md](./examples.md) - Example manifestations of the JSON schema
- [registry-schema.json](./registry-schema.json) - A more constrained version of `schema.json` that the official registry supports

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@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
{
"$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
"$id": "https://modelcontextprotocol.io/schemas/draft/2025-07-09/registry-server.json",
"title": "MCP Server Detail - Registry Schema",
"description": "Registry-specific constraints for MCP server representation. Extends the base schema with additional validation rules.",
"$ref": "https://modelcontextprotocol.io/schemas/draft/2025-07-09/server.json",
"properties": {
"repository": {
"properties": {
"source": {
"enum": [
"github"
]
}
}
},
"packages": {
"items": {
"properties": {
"registry_name": {
"enum": [
"npm",
"pypi",
"docker",
"nuget"
]
},
"runtime_hint": {
"enum": [
"npx",
"uvx",
"docker",
"dnx"
]
}
}
}
}
}
}

View file

@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
{
"$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
"$id": "https://modelcontextprotocol.io/schemas/draft/2025-07-09/server.json",
"title": "MCP Server Detail",
"$ref": "#/$defs/ServerDetail",
"$defs": {
@ -18,10 +19,7 @@
},
"source": {
"type": "string",
"enum": [
"github",
"gitlab"
],
"description": "Repository hosting service",
"example": "github"
},
"id": {
@ -32,6 +30,7 @@
},
"VersionDetail": {
"type": "object",
"description": "Version information for this server. Defined as an object to allow for downstream extensibility (e.g. release_date)",
"required": [
"version"
],
@ -79,13 +78,6 @@
"properties": {
"registry_name": {
"type": "string",
"enum": [
"npm",
"docker",
"pypi",
"homebrew",
"nuget"
],
"description": "Package registry type",
"example": "npm"
},