bellwether registry

Search and discover MCP servers from the official MCP Registry.

Synopsis

bellwether registry [options] [query]

Aliases

• bellwether lookup - Alias for bellwether registry

Description

The registry command searches the MCP Registry - the official directory of MCP servers. Use it to discover servers, find installation commands, and explore the MCP ecosystem.

Config Optional

registry can run without a config file. If bellwether.yaml is present, its registry settings are used.

Arguments

Argument	Description
[query]	Search query to filter servers (optional)

Options

Option	Description	Default
-c, --config <path>	Path to config file	bellwether.yaml
-l, --limit <n>	Maximum number of results	registry.limit
--json	Output as JSON	false

Examples

Search for Servers

# Search for filesystem-related servers
bellwether registry filesystem

# Search for database servers
bellwether registry database

# Search for AI/LLM servers
bellwether registry ai

Browse All Servers

# List servers (no query)
bellwether registry

# List more servers
bellwether registry --limit 50

JSON Output

# Get JSON for scripting
bellwether registry --json filesystem

Output:

[
  {
    "server": {
      "name": "io.github.modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem",
      "description": "MCP server for filesystem operations",
      "version": "1.0.0",
      "packages": [
        {
          "registryType": "npm",
          "identifier": "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
]

Output Format

The default output shows:

Found 3 server(s)
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem v1.0.0
  MCP server for filesystem operations
  Package: npm @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem
  Run:     npx @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem <path>

@modelcontextprotocol/server-postgres v1.0.0
  MCP server for PostgreSQL databases
  Package: npm @modelcontextprotocol/server-postgres
  Run:     npx @modelcontextprotocol/server-postgres <connection-string>

You can override the registry base URL with BELLWETHER_REGISTRY_URL.

Use Cases

Find a Server to Test

# Search for servers
bellwether registry memory

# Test the found server
bellwether check npx @modelcontextprotocol/server-memory

Explore the Ecosystem

# See what's available
bellwether registry --limit 100

# Filter by category
bellwether registry "file"
bellwether registry "database"
bellwether registry "api"

Scripting and Automation

# Get server info programmatically
SERVER=$(bellwether registry --json --limit 1 filesystem | jq -r '.[0].server.packages[0].identifier')
bellwether check npx $SERVER /tmp

Supported Package Types

The registry includes servers from various package managers:

Type	Run Command
npm	npx <package>
pip	python -m <package> or uvx <package>
cargo	cargo run --package <package>
docker	docker run <image>

Exit Codes

Code	Meaning
0	Success - results found or empty results
4	Error - network or API failure

See Also

• check - Check an MCP server
• discover - Quick capability discovery
• MCP Registry - Official registry website