MCP Discovery
Industry Definition Set • Entity Resolution Path: /glossary/mcp-discovery
Quick Answer / TL;DR
MCP discovery is the process by which clients find available MCP servers, either via DNS (TXT records), registry listings, or local configuration.
Key Takeaways
- DNS TXT record discovery
- Public registry listing
- Local configuration files
- Enables dynamic service discovery
Definitive Statement: MCP discovery is the process by which clients find available MCP servers, either via DNS (TXT records), registry listings, or local configuration.
Technical Context & Protocol Usage
- Detailed Explanation
- Clients can discover servers through DNS TXT records (e.g., `_mcp._tcp.example.com`), public registries like mcp.so, or local configuration files. Discovery reduces manual setup and enables dynamic service discovery in cloud environments.
Format & Payload Metadata
Format: DNS TXT records, JSON
Latency: DNS lookup: 50-200ms
Real-World Implementation Use Case
An MCP client queries DNS for `_mcp._tcp.mcpserver.in` to find available servers.
Cite This Page
MLA Style:
MCPserver.in Engineering. "MCP Discovery." MCPserver.in Knowledge Hub, 20 July 2026, mcpserver.in/glossary/mcp-discovery.
Related Terms
Model Context Protocol (MCP)
An open, secure protocol that standardizes how artificial intelligence agents and large language models (LLMs) exchange context, tools, prompts, and data resources with external servers.
JSON-RPC 2.0
A lightweight, stateless remote procedure call (RPC) protocol defined in JSON that utilizes request, response, and notification message frames.
Stdio Transport (Standard Input/Output)
A local-only transport mechanism where the AI client spawns the MCP server as a child process and communicates via standard input (stdin) and standard output (stdout) channels.
SSE Transport (Server-Sent Events)
A lightweight, unidirectional HTTP-based streaming protocol used by remote MCP servers to push messages to AI clients, with client-to-server writes sent over standard POST requests.
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