MCP manifest
An MCP manifest is a JSON file served at the well-known path /.well-known/mcp.json that advertises a domain's Model Context Protocol server, so an agent can determine from the domain alone that an MCP surface exists and how to reach it. It applies the web's established well-known-URI pattern — the same mechanism behind security.txt and OpenID configuration — to MCP discovery.
The well-known pattern solves a bootstrapping problem: an agent that knows only an API's domain has no deterministic way to find its MCP server. Registries help when the producer has listed the server and the agent knows to search, but a manifest at a fixed path makes discovery a single fetch with no intermediary. Publish the file, and any agent that checks the path finds the server.
The convention is early. Adoption across API docs surfaces is thin today, which cuts both ways for producers: the manifest is one of the cheapest discovery artifacts to publish — a small JSON file at a fixed path — and shipping one puts an API ahead of most of the field on a signal agents can check mechanically.
Discry's manifest discovery check fetches /.well-known/mcp.json on the API's domain. A response that parses as valid JSON passes; a file that is present but malformed earns partial credit; absence fails. The result publishes per profile alongside the other discovery signals.
Checks: .well-known/mcp.json · how each is scored
What does an AI agent make of your API?
Find out in about a minute — no signup.
Discry your API — free