title: “How to Submit Your MCP Server to Anthropic’s Connector Directory” source: “https://dev.to/qrflows/how-to-submit-your-mcp-server-to-anthropics-connector-directory-from-someone-who-did-it-143m” date: 2026-06-04 tags:

article
ai-coding
mcp
claude

How to Submit Your MCP Server to Anthropic’s Connector Directory

Background

I built an MCP server for QRflows — a dynamic QR code platform. After the server was live and working, I submitted it to Anthropic’s official Connector Directory. The review is ongoing, but the process taught me things I couldn’t find documented anywhere in one place.

This post covers the full submission process as it stands in mid-2026: what the form actually asks, the technical requirements that can silently kill your review, and how to prepare so you don’t spend a week backtracking.

Why Submit to the Connector Directory?

When your MCP server isn’t in the directory, users need to:

Go to Claude Settings → Connectors
Click “Add Custom Connector”
Manually paste the server URL
Complete authentication

That’s four steps of copy-pasting. Most non-developer users won’t bother.

Once your server is in the directory, users just find you in the list, click Connect, and authorize. Same OAuth flow — but the tedious steps disappear.

The directory is also how Anthropic surfaces integrations to Claude Pro and Team users who never look at developer docs. For SaaS products, that’s a meaningful distribution channel.

What You Can Submit

The directory accepts three types:

Type	Description
Remote MCP Server	An internet-hosted server with tools, resources, prompts
Desktop Extension	Local MCP server packaged for Claude Desktop
MCP App	MCP server that renders interactive UI inside the chat (needs extra screenshots)

QRflows is a remote MCP server. The form and required assets differ by type, so confirm which one you’re submitting before you start.

What the Submission Form Actually Asks

The form is at Anthropic’s official page. It’s not short. Here’s what each section covers so you can prepare everything before you open it:

1. Basic Server Information

Name, tagline
Server URL
Connector type (remote / desktop / MCP app)
Primary use cases in 2–3 sentences

2. Connection Details

Transport protocol (must be streamable HTTP — SSE is no longer accepted)
Authentication type
Read/write capabilities
Whether your OAuth callback URL is registered

3. Tools and Resources

List every tool with a human-readable title
Confirm annotations are in place
Confirm read and write tools are separate
Confirm tool names are ≤ 64 chars

4. Documentation

Public docs URL (a single help page or blog post is enough)
Minimum 3 example prompts that exercise different tools
Setup and auth steps

5. Privacy & Compliance

Privacy policy URL
Data handling summary (what you collect, how long you keep it, who you share it with)
Confirmation of HTTPS and Origin-header validation

6. Test Account & Branding

Login credentials for a test account with realistic sample data
Server logo (URL or SVG)
Favicon

Technical Requirements That Trip People Up

1. Tool Annotations — The #1 Reason for Rejection

Every tool needs two things: a short description annotation and the right security hint.

// Tools missing annotations reportedly cause around 30% of all directory rejections.

The other mistake: don’t bundle read and write into one generic tool. A tool called manage_qrcode with a parameters accepting type, data, metadata, options will fail review. Split them.

2. OAuth Callback URL

For the browser-based Claude (claude.ai), register exactly this redirect URI:

https://claude.ai/api/mcp/auth_callback

Claude Code uses a loopback redirect to http://127.0.0.1 with an ephemeral port. If you want to support Claude Code users, your auth server needs to accept loopback redirects with the port ignored.

PKCE is required. Your authorization server metadata should declare PKCE support. Plain OAuth 2.0 without PKCE won’t pass.

3. Origin-header Validation

Your MCP server must validate the Origin header and reject requests not coming from Claude. This is a security requirement, not optional.

4. Protected Resource Metadata

Claude uses this to discover your authorization server. Host it at:

https://your-server.com/.well-known/mcp-protected-resource.json

If this endpoint is missing, Claude can’t complete OAuth discovery and the connector won’t authenticate.

Documentation Requirements

Anthropic wants docs that let a reviewer test your connector in 10 minutes without prior knowledge of your product. The minimum:

What the connector does (2–3 sentences)
How to connect step by step
At least 3 example prompts that exercise different tools
What the expected output looks like
Privacy policy link

For QRflows I created qrflows.app/mcp as the dedicated docs page. A single well-organized page is enough.

The Test Account

Create a separate account — not your main production account. Load it with realistic sample data. Write down the credentials before you open the form.

For QRflows I created a test account with 6–7 QR codes of different types (URL, WiFi, vCard, Smart Rules) so reviewers could test list_qrcodes, get_qrcode, and create_qrcode with real data.

If your tools operate on empty state, reviewers can’t tell if they work or are broken.

Review Timeline

Anthropic is upfront: they can’t promise to review or respond to every submission individually because of volume. The typical timeline they cite is ~2 weeks, but it can run longer.

My submission has been in review for about a month. No response yet — from what I can tell that’s within the normal range given submission volume right now.

While you’re waiting: your server is already usable as a custom connector. Share the URL, write about it, put it in your docs. The directory listing is a distribution multiplier, not a prerequisite.

What I’d Do Differently

Read the submission guide before building. Once I had the full list of requirements, I realized I was missing the Protected Resource Metadata endpoint and had to add it after the fact. Twenty minutes of reading upfront would have saved two hours.

Load the test account before submitting. I initially created a test account with no data. Reviewers testing create_qrcode would have seen an empty array with no way to tell if the tool worked.

Write docs first. The form asks for a public docs URL. If you don’t have it ready, you have to pause. Write the docs page before you open the form.

Submission Checklist

This article is based on real submission experience. The review result will be updated upon completion.

claude