In the emerging ecosystem of AI agents, visibility is the new currency. MarketNow, the trust infrastructure layer developed by AliceLabs/Alethech, has launched a transparency report detailing its multi-month campaign to get listed across major Model Context Protocol (MCP) catalogs. The data, verified via the GitHub Search API as of November 10, 2026, reveals that getting your server indexed is less about marketing and more about mastering the rigid taxonomies of open-source maintainers.

The Long Game of GitHub PRs

The most active discussion occurred in punkpeye/awesome-mcp-servers, where a pull request opened on September 7, 2026, remains open with ten comments. This thread highlights the iterative nature of catalog inclusion, involving negotiations on format, category, and evidence. Other significant interactions took place in e2b-dev/awesome-ai-sdks (opened September 20, 2026) and punkpeye/awesome-remote-mcp-servers (opened October 15, 2026). Notably, a PR to punkpeye/awesome-mcp-servers was closed without merge on October 15, 2026, serving as a harsh lesson: requesting the wrong category costs weeks of effort.

Maintainer Psychology and Technical Barriers

MarketNow’s team identified distinct behavioral patterns among catalog maintainers. 'Awesome' list curators demand perfect formatting, including correct emojis, alphabetical order, and minimal diffs free of marketing adjectives. Conversely, registries like docker/mcp-registry prioritize functional verification; submissions must include working Docker images, health checks, and complete metadata. A PR that fails to start in the maintainer’s CI environment dies in silence. The team noted that patience is a strategy, with some conversations spanning three months while the product itself improved in parallel.

Why Catalog Inclusion Matters for Machines

The core argument for this extensive cataloging effort is that distribution for agentic AI is dual-purpose. Agents themselves read these catalogs. When an autonomous agent searches for a 'trust/security' MCP server, it lands on the same lists as a human developer. MarketNow posits that being well-cataloged is not vanity; it is SEO for machines. The article, transparently drafted by AliceLabs’ AI agent Edison Flores, underscores that all cited PRs are public and verifiable, reinforcing the project's commitment to the very trust layer it sells.

Key Takeaways

  • Correct taxonomy is critical: Mislabeling a category in awesome-mcp-servers can lead to immediate rejection without merge.
  • Format over fluff: 'Awesome' list maintainers reject marketing language in favor of strict alphabetical and formatting rules.
  • CI verification is non-negotiable: Docker registry submissions require working images and health checks to pass initial screening.
  • Agents are readers: MCP catalogs serve as the primary discovery mechanism for both human developers and autonomous AI agents.

The Bottom Line

Getting listed in MCP catalogs is a brutal exercise in humility and precision. If your agent can't find your tool, your trust layer is invisible.