MCPNest Docs

Quick Start

Get up and running with MCPNest in under 2 minutes.

Option 1 — Browse and install

Option 2 — Install MCPNest inside Claude (recommended)

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json and restart Claude. You can then search and install servers using natural language.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcpnest": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcpnest-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

npm Package — npx mcpnest-mcp

The MCPNest npm package installs MCPNest as an MCP server inside Claude, Cursor, or Windsurf. Once installed, you can search and install any of the 7,561+ servers using natural language — no browsing required.

What it does

The package exposes three tools to your AI client:

Claude Desktop config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcpnest": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcpnest-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcpnest": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcpnest-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Example natural language usage

> "find me a GitHub MCP server"
> "install the top postgres server"
> "what MCP servers are available for Slack?"
> "search for browser automation servers"
> "validate my current MCP config"

Browse and Search

Visit mcpnest.io to browse 7,561+ MCP servers. Use the search bar or quick tags to find what you need.

Quick tags

Click any tag on the homepage to search instantly: github, postgres, slack, filesystem, browser, stripe, notion, docker.

Search filters

Quality Scores and Tool Counts

Every server is scored automatically so you can evaluate quality at a glance.

Quality Score A-F

Computed from four signals:

Tool Count Badge

Shows how many tools the server exposes to your AI client — and the context window cost:

1-Click Install — Cursor

On any server page, click "Add to Cursor". Cursor opens automatically and adds the server to your config.

Manual install

If the 1-click button does not work, copy the install config and add it to your Cursor MCP config file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "server-name": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "package-name"]
    }
  }
}

1-Click Install — VS Code

Click "VS Code Install MCP" on any server page. VS Code opens and prompts you to install. Requires the GitHub Copilot extension with MCP support enabled.

Manual Install — Claude Desktop

Config file locations

Example config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "your-token-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Config Validator

The Config Validator catches JSON errors, missing fields, and structural issues before they cause silent failures in your AI client.

Common issues caught:

MCP Composer

Build a complete multi-server config visually. Select servers, configure them, and export the full JSON in one click. Saves 30+ minutes of manual config work.

Bundle Sharing

Bundles are curated sets of MCP servers packaged as a single shareable link. Share your stack with teammates or import a community bundle in one click.

MCPNest DevOps Pack

Nine servers for full infrastructure context: GitHub, Docker, Kubernetes, AWS, Grafana, Sentry, Datadog, RailPush, Linear.

mcpnest.io/collections/devops-pack

Create your own bundle

MCP Gateway — Overview

The MCPNest Gateway is a managed proxy that sits between your AI clients and your MCP servers. One authenticated endpoint per workspace. Every tool call logged. No credentials exposed to end users.

How it works

Your AI client connects to a single Gateway endpoint instead of configuring each MCP server individually. The Gateway aggregates tools/list from all workspace servers and proxies tools/call to the correct upstream. All calls are logged for audit and compliance.

[Claude / Cursor / Windsurf]
        |
        | Bearer token auth
        v
[MCPNest Gateway]
https://mcpnest.io/api/gw/{workspace-slug}
        |
        |-- tools/list aggregated
        |-- tools/call proxied
        |-- every call logged
        |
   +----+----+----+
   |         |    |
[Server A] [B]  [C]
  Grafana  RailPush Context7

Create a Workspace

What gets created

When you create a workspace, MCPNest automatically provisions:

Add Servers to the Gateway

Adding a server from the marketplace

Any server on MCPNest with a remote endpoint (hosted servers) can be added directly. Go to the server page and look for "Add to Workspace" if you are signed in with Enterprise.

Server syncs to Gateway automatically

When you add a server with an HTTP endpoint, it is automatically synced to the Gateway's routing table. No manual configuration required.

Connect Claude or Cursor to the Gateway

Claude Desktop

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-workspace": {
      "url": "https://mcpnest.io/api/gw/your-workspace-slug",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer mng_your_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-workspace": {
      "url": "https://mcpnest.io/api/gw/your-workspace-slug",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer mng_your_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Test with curl

curl -X POST https://mcpnest.io/api/gw/your-workspace-slug \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer mng_your_token_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}'

Expected response with no servers added yet:

{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"result":{"tools":[]}}

Gateway API Reference

Base URL: https://mcpnest.io/api/gw/{workspace-slug}

Auth: Authorization: Bearer mng_your_token

tools/list

Returns all tools available in the workspace, aggregated from all connected servers. Tools from different servers are merged into a single flat list.

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/list",
  "params": {}
}

Response:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "result": {
    "tools": [
      {
        "name": "get_dashboard",
        "description": "Fetch a Grafana dashboard by UID",
        "inputSchema": {
          "type": "object",
          "properties": {
            "uid": { "type": "string" }
          },
          "required": ["uid"]
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

tools/call

Calls a specific tool. The Gateway routes automatically to the correct upstream server based on the tool name. You do not need to know which server provides which tool.

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "get_dashboard",
    "arguments": {
      "uid": "my-dashboard-uid"
    }
  }
}

Error codes

HTTP status codes

Audit Logs

Every tool call through the Gateway is logged automatically. View audit logs in your workspace dashboard under the "Audit Log" tab.

What is logged

Workspace event log

In addition to tool calls, all workspace management actions are logged: workspace created, server added/removed, member invited/removed, health checks, settings changes.

Gateway Security

Token security

Bearer tokens are never stored in plaintext. MCPNest stores only the SHA-256 hash. Token verification uses constant-time comparison to prevent timing attacks.

Token rotation

Rotate your token in workspace settings at any time. The old token stops working immediately. Update your AI client configs with the new token.

Network security

Three-layer security model

MCPNest Gateway implements Layer 1 of the emerging MCP security stack:

Layer 2 — Member Tokens and Tool Allowlists

Layer 2 gives workspace owners granular control over which team members can call which tools. Each member gets their own Bearer token and an optional allowlist of permitted tools.

Member tokens

Member tokens are separate from the workspace admin token. They allow individual team members to connect to the Gateway with their own identity, enabling per-user audit logs and access control.

Generating a member token

Tool allowlists

When enforcement is enabled, each member can only call tools explicitly listed in their allowlist. Members with no rules get full access (open by default). Rules are per server slug and tool name.

Error codes

Enterprise Workspaces

Workspaces are private MCP registries for your team. Each workspace gets its own Gateway endpoint, server registry, audit log, and team membership.

What a workspace includes

Creating a workspace

Go to mcpnest.io/workspace/new. Requires Enterprise plan.

Managing servers

Add servers in the Servers tab. Servers with HTTP endpoints are automatically synced to the Gateway. You can also set a tool prefix per server to avoid naming conflicts.

Team Management

Roles

Inviting members

Removing members

Click "Remove" next to any member in the Team tab. Owners cannot be removed. The removal is logged in the workspace audit log.

Health Monitoring

MCPNest checks the health of your workspace servers by sending a tools/list request to each HTTP endpoint. Results are shown in the workspace Overview and Servers tabs.

Status values

Running a health check

Click "Health check" in the workspace Overview or Servers tab. Results update immediately. Health checks are also triggered automatically by the cron.

Self-Host Docker Deployment

Run MCPNest Gateway on your own infrastructure. Suitable for regulated industries where cloud-hosted tooling is not permitted.

Requirements

Quick start

git clone https://github.com/CodeMalasartes/mcpnest
cd mcpnest
cp .env.selfhost .env
# Edit .env with your values
docker compose up -d

Production with SSL

# Place SSL certs in ./ssl/cert.pem and ./ssl/key.pem
# Edit nginx.conf: replace your-domain.com
docker compose --profile production up -d

Required environment variables

Verify deployment

curl http://localhost:3000/api/health

Hosted MCP Servers

MCPNest can host MCP servers on your behalf inside isolated Docker containers. Instead of running npx commands locally or maintaining your own server, MCPNest manages the container lifecycle, health checks, and exposes the server through your workspace Gateway endpoint.

How it works

Security isolation

Resource profiles

Instance limits by plan

Deploying a hosted server

API — Deploy an instance

curl -X POST https://mcpnest.io/api/hosted   -H "Authorization: Bearer <your-session-token>"   -H "Content-Type: application/json"   -d '{
    "workspace_id": "<workspace-uuid>",
    "server_slug": "filesystem-mcp",
    "env_vars": {}
  }'

API — List instances

curl https://mcpnest.io/api/hosted?workspace_id=<uuid>   -H "Authorization: Bearer <your-session-token>"

API — Get logs

curl "https://mcpnest.io/api/hosted/<instance-id>/logs?tail=100"   -H "Authorization: Bearer <your-session-token>"

MCP Orchestrator

The MCP Orchestrator is an intelligent routing layer that sits above your hosted servers. When enabled, it aggregates tools from all running instances in your workspace into a single unified tool list, handles naming conflicts automatically, and routes each tool call to the correct container.

Architecture

Enabling the orchestrator

The orchestrator is enabled per workspace by MCPNest team when you activate Enterprise hosted servers. Once enabled, it activates automatically when you have at least one hosted instance running. No configuration required — your Gateway endpoint stays the same.

Fallback behaviour

If the orchestrator service is unreachable or your workspace has no running hosted instances, the Gateway automatically falls back to the standard direct fan-out routing. There is no downtime or manual intervention required.

Tool namespacing rules

MCP Generator

Describe what you want in plain English. Claude generates a complete, real TypeScript MCP server — not a mockup, not a template. Working server with proper tool schemas, error handling, and install config.

Example prompts

"A server that fetches real-time weather for any city"
"A server that searches my Notion workspace"
"A server that queries a PostgreSQL database"
"A server that sends Slack messages to a channel"
"A server that reads and writes to Google Sheets"

Running the generated server

npm install @modelcontextprotocol/sdk zod tsx
npx tsx server.ts

Adding to Claude Desktop

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-server": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["tsx", "server.ts"]
    }
  }
}

AI Discovery

Describe what you want to do in plain English. MCPNest finds the best matching servers from the registry and explains how to install them.

"I want Claude to be able to query my database"
"Help me find tools for web scraping and browser automation"
"I need to connect Claude to my GitHub repositories"

Submit a Server

Add your MCP server to the MCPNest registry. Free plan: up to 3 servers. Pro plan: unlimited.

Getting a higher Quality Score

Publisher Analytics

After your server is approved, view analytics at mcpnest.io/dashboard.

Registry API — Overview

Query the MCPNest registry programmatically. Free, no API key required. CORS enabled for browser requests.

GET /servers

Query parameters

Example

curl "https://mcpnest.io/api/v1/servers?q=postgres&verified=true&limit=5"

Response

{
  "servers": [
    {
      "slug": "postgres-mcp",
      "name": "PostgreSQL MCP",
      "description": "Connect Claude to your PostgreSQL database",
      "category": "Database",
      "tags": ["postgres", "sql", "database"],
      "github_stars": 1240,
      "install_count": 8430,
      "is_verified": true,
      "quality_score": 88,
      "tool_count": 8,
      "compatibility": { "claude_desktop": true, "cursor": true }
    }
  ],
  "meta": { "total": 142, "page": 1, "limit": 5, "pages": 29 }
}

GET /servers/:slug

curl "https://mcpnest.io/api/v1/servers/mcp-grafana"

Response fields

GET /categories

curl "https://mcpnest.io/api/v1/categories"

{
  "categories": [
    { "name": "Development", "count": 2341 },
    { "name": "DevOps", "count": 892 },
    { "name": "Database", "count": 654 }
  ]
}

GET /trending

curl "https://mcpnest.io/api/v1/trending?limit=10"

Errors

JavaScript example

const res = await fetch(
  'https://mcpnest.io/api/v1/servers?q=github&limit=5'
)
const { servers, meta } = await res.json()
console.log(servers[0].name) // "GitHub MCP"
console.log(meta.total)      // 47

Python example

import requests

res = requests.get(
    'https://mcpnest.io/api/v1/servers',
    params={'q': 'postgres', 'verified': 'true', 'limit': 10}
)
for server in res.json()['servers']:
    print(server['name'], server['github_stars'])

Troubleshooting

Claude Desktop not loading server

Gateway returns 401 Unauthorized

Gateway returns empty tools list

Generator shows error

Server not appearing in search