registry/docs/reference/cli/commands.md

Publisher CLI Commands Reference

Complete command reference for the mcp-publisher CLI tool.

See the publishing guide for a walkthrough of using the CLI to publish a server.

Installation

Install via Homebrew (macOS/Linux):

$ brew install mcp-publisher

Global Options

All commands support:

• --help, -h - Show command help

--registry is a flag on login only (default: https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io). The other commands read the registry URL from the stored login token, so passing --registry to publish would be interpreted as the server.json path.

Commands

mcp-publisher init

Generate a server.json template with automatic detection.

Usage:

mcp-publisher init

Behavior:

• Creates server.json in current directory
• Auto-detects package managers (package.json, setup.py, etc.)
• Pre-fills fields where possible
• Writes TODO: placeholders for fields it cannot detect — it is non-interactive and takes no flags

Example output:

{
  "name": "io.github.username/server-name",
  "description": "TODO: Add server description",
  "version": "1.0.0",
  "packages": [
    {
      "registryType": "npm",
      "identifier": "detected-package-name",
      "version": "1.0.0"
    }
  ]
}

mcp-publisher login <method>

Authenticate with the registry.

Authentication Methods:

GitHub Interactive

mcp-publisher login github [--token=PAT] [--registry=URL]

• Opens browser for GitHub OAuth flow
• Grants access to io.github.{username}/* and io.github.{org}/* namespaces
• --token supplies a GitHub Personal Access Token instead of the interactive flow, which is how publishing from GitHub Actions authenticates without a browser. This flag is accepted by login github only.

GitHub OIDC (CI/CD)

mcp-publisher login github-oidc [--registry=URL]

• Uses GitHub Actions OIDC tokens automatically
• Requires id-token: write permission in workflow
• No browser interaction needed

The CLI derives the OIDC aud claim from --registry (scheme + host, e.g. https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io) so tokens are bound to the specific deployment they were minted for. Self-hosters must set MCP_REGISTRY_GITHUB_OIDC_AUDIENCE on the registry to the matching value; publishers running an older mcp-publisher will fail with invalid audience and need to upgrade.

Also see the guide to publishing from GitHub Actions.

DNS Verification

mcp-publisher login dns --domain=example.com --private-key=HEX_KEY [--algorithm=ed25519|ecdsap384] [--registry=URL]

• Verifies domain ownership via DNS TXT record
• Grants access to com.example.* namespaces
• Requires Ed25519 private key (64-character hex) or ECDSA P-384 private key (96-character hex)
  • --algorithm defaults to ed25519. For an ECDSA P-384 key you must pass --algorithm ecdsap384, otherwise the key is rejected with invalid seed length: expected 32 bytes, got 48.
  • The private key can be stored in a cloud signing provider like Google KMS or Azure Key Vault. Cloud providers derive the algorithm from the key itself, so --algorithm does not apply to them.

Setup: (for Ed25519, recommended)

# Generate keypair
openssl genpkey -algorithm Ed25519 -out key.pem

# Get public key for DNS record
openssl pkey -in key.pem -pubout -outform DER | tail -c 32 | base64

# Add DNS TXT record:
# example.com. IN TXT "v=MCPv1; k=ed25519; p=PUBLIC_KEY"

# Extract private key for login
openssl pkey -in key.pem -noout -text | grep -A3 "priv:" | tail -n +2 | tr -d ' :\n'

Setup: (for ECDSA P-384)

# Generate keypair
openssl genpkey -algorithm EC -pkeyopt ec_paramgen_curve:secp384r1 -out key.pem

# Get public key for DNS record
openssl ec -in key.pem -text -noout -conv_form compressed | grep -A4 "pub:" | tail -n +2 | tr -d ' :\n' | xxd -r -p | base64

# Add DNS TXT record:
# example.com. IN TXT "v=MCPv1; k=ecdsap384; p=PUBLIC_KEY"

# Extract private key for login
openssl ec -in <pem path> -noout -text | grep -A4 "priv:" | tail -n +2 | tr -d ' :\n'

# Log in, selecting the ECDSA P-384 algorithm explicitly
mcp-publisher login dns --algorithm ecdsap384 --domain=example.com --private-key=HEX_KEY

Setup: (for Google KMS signing)

This requires the gcloud CLI.

# log in and set default project
gcloud auth login
gcloud config set project myproject

# Create a keyring in your project
gcloud kms keyrings create mykeyring --location global

# Create an Ed25519 signing key
gcloud kms keys create mykey --default-algorithm=ec-sign-ed25519 --purpose=asymmetric-signing --keyring=mykeyring --location=global

# Enable Application Default Credentials (ADC) so the publisher tool can sign
gcloud auth application-default login

# Attempt login to show the public key
mcp-publisher login dns google-kms --domain=example.com --resource=projects/myproject/locations/global/keyRings/mykeyring/cryptoKeys/mykey/cryptoKeyVersions/1

# Copy the "Expected proof record" and add the TXT record
# example.com. IN TXT "v=MCPv1; k=ed25519; p=PUBLIC_KEY"

# Re-run the login command
mcp-publisher login dns google-kms --domain=example.com --resource=projects/myproject/locations/global/keyRings/mykeyring/cryptoKeys/mykey/cryptoKeyVersions/1

Setup: (for Azure Key Vault signing)

This requires the Azure CLI.

# log in and set default subscription
az login
az account set --subscription "My Subscription (name or ID)"

# Create a resource group
az group create --location westus --resource-group MyResourceGroup

# Create a Key Vault
az keyvault create --name MyKeyVault --location westus --resource-group MyResourceGroup

# Create an ECDSA P-384 signing key
az keyvault key create --name MyKey --vault-name MyKeyVault --curve P-384

# Attempt login to show the public key
mcp-publisher login dns azure-key-vault --domain=example.com --vault MyKeyVault --key MyKey

# Copy the "Expected proof record" and add the TXT record
# example.com. IN TXT "v=MCPv1; k=ecdsap384; p=PUBLIC_KEY"

# Re-run the login command
mcp-publisher login dns azure-key-vault --domain=example.com --vault MyKeyVault --key MyKey

HTTP Verification

mcp-publisher login http --domain=example.com --private-key=HEX_KEY [--algorithm=ed25519|ecdsap384] [--registry=URL]

• Verifies domain ownership via HTTPS endpoint
• Grants access to com.example.* namespaces
• Requires Ed25519 private key (64-character hex) or ECDSA P-384 private key (96-character hex)
  • --algorithm defaults to ed25519. For an ECDSA P-384 key you must pass --algorithm ecdsap384.
  • The private key can be stored in a cloud signing provider like Google KMS or Azure Key Vault. Cloud providers derive the algorithm from the key itself, so --algorithm does not apply to them.

Setup: (for Ed25519, recommended)

# Generate keypair (same as DNS)
openssl genpkey -algorithm Ed25519 -out key.pem

# Host public key at:
# https://example.com/.well-known/mcp-registry-auth
# Content: v=MCPv1; k=ed25519; p=PUBLIC_KEY

Setup: (for ECDSA P-384)

# Generate keypair (same as DNS)
openssl genpkey -algorithm EC -pkeyopt ec_paramgen_curve:secp384r1 -out key.pem

# Host public key at:
# https://example.com/.well-known/mcp-registry-auth
# Content: v=MCPv1; k=ecdsap384; p=PUBLIC_KEY

# Log in, selecting the ECDSA P-384 algorithm explicitly
mcp-publisher login http --algorithm ecdsap384 --domain=example.com --private-key=HEX_KEY

Cloud signing is also supported for HTTP authentication, similar to the DNS examples above. Just swap out the dns positional argument for http.

Anonymous (Testing)

mcp-publisher login none [--registry=URL]

• No authentication - for local testing only
• Only works with local registry instances

mcp-publisher validate

Validate a server.json file without publishing.

Usage:

mcp-publisher validate [file]

Arguments:

• file - Path to server.json file (default: ./server.json)

Behavior:

• Performs exhaustive validation, reporting all issues at once (not just the first error)
• Validates JSON syntax and schema compliance
• Runs semantic validation (business logic checks)
• Checks for deprecated schema versions and provides migration guidance
• Includes detailed error locations with JSON paths (e.g., packages[0].transport.url)
• Shows validation issue type (json, schema, semantic, linter)
• Displays severity level (error, warning, info)
• Provides schema references showing which validation rule triggered each error

Example output:

$ mcp-publisher validate
✅ server.json is valid

$ mcp-publisher validate custom-server.json
❌ Validation failed with 2 issue(s):

1. [error] repository.url (schema)
   '' has invalid format 'uri'
   Reference: #/definitions/Repository/properties/url/format from: [#/definitions/ServerDetail]/properties/repository/[#/definitions/Repository]/properties/url/format

2. [error] name (semantic)
   server name must be in format 'dns-namespace/name'
   Reference: invalid-server-name

mcp-publisher publish

Publish server to the registry.

For detailed guidance on the publishing process, see the publishing guide.

Usage:

mcp-publisher publish [PATH]

Options:

• PATH - Path to server.json (default: ./server.json)

Process:

1. Validates server.json against schema
2. Publishes the server.json to the registry server URL specified in the login token
3. Server: Verifies package ownership (see Official Registry Requirements)
4. Server: Checks namespace authentication
5. Server: Publishes to registry

Example:

# Basic publish
mcp-publisher publish

# Custom file location  
mcp-publisher publish ./config/server.json

mcp-publisher status

Update the lifecycle status of a published server.

Usage:

mcp-publisher status --status <active|deprecated|deleted> [flags] <server-name> [version]

Flags:

• --status (required) - New status: active, deprecated, or deleted
• --message - Optional message explaining the status change (not allowed when status is active)
• --all-versions - Apply status change to all versions of the server
• --yes, -y - Skip confirmation prompt (only applies when using --all-versions)

Arguments:

• server-name - Full server name (e.g., io.github.user/my-server)
• version - Server version to update (required unless --all-versions is set)

Status Values:

• active - Server is active and visible in default listings
• deprecated - Server is deprecated but still visible with a warning message
• deleted - Server is hidden from default listings

Examples:

# Deprecate a specific version
mcp-publisher status --status deprecated --message "Please upgrade to 2.0.0" \
  io.github.user/my-server 1.0.0

# Delete a version with security issues
mcp-publisher status --status deleted --message "Critical security vulnerability" \
  io.github.user/my-server 1.0.0

# Restore a version to active
mcp-publisher status --status active io.github.user/my-server 1.0.0

# Deprecate all versions at once
mcp-publisher status --status deprecated --all-versions --message "Project archived" \
  io.github.user/my-server

Requirements:

• Must be logged in with publish or edit permission for the server namespace

mcp-publisher logout

Clear stored authentication credentials.

Usage:

mcp-publisher logout

Behavior:

• Removes ~/.config/mcp-publisher/token.json
• Also cleans up legacy token files (~/.mcp_publisher_token, .mcpregistry_*)
• Does not revoke tokens on server side

Configuration

Token Storage

Authentication tokens are stored in ~/.config/mcp-publisher/token.json as JSON:

{
  "token": "jwt-token-here",
  "method": "github",
  "registry": "https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io"
}

Note: Tokens were previously stored in ~/.mcp_publisher_token. If you are upgrading, run mcp-publisher logout followed by mcp-publisher login to migrate to the new location.