# How to make your MCP server discoverable (slim)

> Half the tools we list have an MCP server, and few of them are easy to find. What MCP is, why we think it's a clumsy protocol, when a plain API with an OpenAPI description does the same job, and the steps that get a server found.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/blog/how-to-make-your-mcp-server-discoverable.md (~1,550 tokens) · this version ~680 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/blog/how-to-make-your-mcp-server-discoverable.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/blog/how-to-make-your-mcp-server-discoverable
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-12

## What it is, briefly

An MCP server gives an AI agent tools, data and prompts through the Model Context Protocol, which Anthropic published on 25 November 2024 as "an open standard for connecting AI assistants to the systems where data lives" [[1]](#ref-1).

We run one ourselves at `https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp`, with ten tools to search the directory, read and compare listings, look up prices and check another server before trusting it [[3]](#ref-3).

## Why we think it's a clumsy protocol

It's expensive to read.

It keeps moving.

Its descriptions are instructions.

And a lot of it HTTP already did.

## When a plain API does the job

523 of the 966 tools we list publish an OpenAPI description, and 231 of those have no MCP server at all [[4]](#ref-4).

So if you have an API, publish a good OpenAPI description first.

## How to get found

**Get into the official MCP registry.** Only 156 of the 487 tools we list that speak MCP are in it [[4]](#ref-4).

**Say where it lives, in words an agent can copy.** Put the server's exact address and a one-line install on your docs page and in your llms.txt.

**Keep the tool list short and the descriptions plain.** Fewer tools with clear names get picked correctly more often, and plain descriptions pass a check like ours [[5]](#ref-5).

**Claim your listing on Anchor Terminal.** Listing is free, and so is claiming.

## References

Read on 10 October 2026.

[1] Anthropic, Introducing the Model Context Protocol, 25 November 2024. Source for the launch date and the definition.

[2] Model Context Protocol, specification 2025-06-18, Transports.

[3] Anchor Terminal, For agents.

[4] Anchor Terminal, the directory, 10 October 2026. Source for the counts of tools speaking MCP, registry presence, tool counts, OpenAPI descriptions and the average scores.

[5] Anchor Terminal, Check an MCP server.

[6] Anchor Terminal, our MCP server description.

[7] Anchor Terminal, For builders, Claiming.

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- Older: [Most agent tools can't pass a due-diligence questionnaire](https://www.anchorterminal.com/blog/agent-tools-arent-ready-for-enterprise.md)
- Newer: [How to make your site and tool ready for agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/blog/how-to-make-your-site-ready-for-agents.md)
- All posts: https://www.anchorterminal.com/blog/index.md