How to use Registry Docker image

[erw444]

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• Protocol Specification
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Your Question

Hello,

I see that the MCP registry has been packaged as a docker image.
In the Readme, it seems to operate under the assumption that I will pull down the code and compile it to make the Registry.

Where is the documentation on how to use the docker image?

[aspire488]

You don't need to clone and compile the Registry just to run the published image.

The repository currently publishes pre-built images to GitHub Container Registry (GHCR). The simplest form is:

docker run -p 8080:8080 ghcr.io/modelcontextprotocol/registry:latest

There are also main, versioned release tags, and specific development-build tags available.

One important detail is that the Registry image does not include PostgreSQL. For a persistent/self-hosted deployment, you need to run PostgreSQL separately and point the Registry at it using:

MCP_REGISTRY_DATABASE_URL

For local development, the repository's make dev-compose setup is the easier option because it starts the Registry together with PostgreSQL.

So the distinction is:

• make dev-compose → full local development environment, including PostgreSQL
• docker run ... registry:latest → pre-built Registry image, but PostgreSQL must be provided separately

The current README documents the pre-built image here:
https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/registry#running-the-server

Specifically, the published image section shows:

docker run -p 8080:8080 ghcr.io/modelcontextprotocol/registry:latest

and notes the PostgreSQL requirement.

[Icaro0310]

The image is published to GHCR, so you don't need to build it. The catch is it doesn't bundle a database, you have to run PostgreSQL yourself and point the registry at it with MCP_REGISTRY_DATABASE_URL. The docker-compose.yml in the repo is a working example if you want the wiring.

docker run -p 8080:8080 ghcr.io/modelcontextprotocol/registry:latest

Tags are latest, versioned releases like v1.0.0, main for the latest main build, and main-<date>-<sha> for specific commits.

If you just want it running locally with Postgres included, make dev-compose is the easier path. It brings up both and seeds a subset of production data so it behaves like the real API.

—
More of my work lives here: github.com/Icaro0310 · Website: icaro0310.github.io