registry/docs/guides/contributing/releasing.md

Release Guide

Creating a Release

1. Go to GitHub: Navigate to https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/registry/releases
2. Click "Draft a new release"
3. Choose a tag: Click "Choose a tag" and type a new semantic version that follows the last one available (e.g., v1.0.0)
4. Generate notes: Click "Generate release notes" to auto-populate the name and description
5. Publish: Click "Publish release"

The release workflow will automatically:

• Build binaries for 6 platforms (Linux, macOS, Windows × amd64, arm64)
• Create and push Docker images with :latest and :vX.Y.Z tags
• Attach all artifacts to the GitHub release
• Generate checksums and signatures

After Release

• Docker images will be available at:
  • ghcr.io/modelcontextprotocol/registry:latest - Latest stable release
  • ghcr.io/modelcontextprotocol/registry:vX.Y.Z - Specific release version
• Binaries can be downloaded from the GitHub release page

Docker Image Tags

The registry publishes different Docker image tags for different use cases:

• :latest - Latest stable release (updated only on releases)
• :vX.Y.Z - Specific release versions (e.g., :v1.0.0)
• :main - Rolling tag updated on every push to main branch (continuous deployment)
• :main-YYYYMMDD-sha - Specific development builds from main branch

Versioning

We use semantic versioning (SemVer):

• v1.0.0 - Major release with breaking changes
• v1.1.0 - Minor release with new features
• v1.0.1 - Patch release with bug fixes