docs: clean up contributing guidelines and communication documentation (modelcontextprotocol#1312)

* docs: clean up contributing guidelines and communication documentation

There's currently a bunch of duplicated content between these pages, and it's not that easy to follow. This aims to make it easier to get started, and avoid dupliated/conflicting info.

* lint

* Update CONTRIBUTING.md

Co-authored-by: Jonathan Hefner <[email protected]>

---------

Co-authored-by: Jonathan Hefner <[email protected]>

Author: domdomegg

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 # Contributing to Model Context Protocol
 
-Thank you for your interest in contributing to the Model Context Protocol specification!
+Thank you for your interest in contributing to the Model Context Protocol specification, schemas, or docs!
 This document outlines how to contribute to this project.
 
-## Prerequisites
+Also see the [overall MCP communication guidelines in our docs](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/community/communication), which explains how and where discussions about changes happen.
+
+## General prerequisites
 
 The following software is required to work on the spec:
 
@@ -13,9 +15,9 @@ The following software is required to work on the spec:
 - [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com/) (optional, for docs)
 - nvm (optional, for managing Node versions)
 
-## Getting Started
+### Getting Started
 
-1. Fork the repository
+1. [Fork the repository](https://docs.github.com/en/pull-requests/collaborating-with-pull-requests/working-with-forks/fork-a-repo)
 2. Clone your fork:
 
 ```bash
@@ -30,7 +32,7 @@ nvm install  # install correct Node version
 npm install  # install dependencies
 ```
 
-## Making Changes
+## Schema changes
 
 Note that schema changes are made to `schema.ts`, and `schema.json` is generated from
 `schema.ts`.
@@ -50,17 +52,21 @@ npm run check:schema:ts
 npm run generate:schema
 ```
 
-4. Validate documentation changes and apply formatting:
+## Documentation changes
+
+Documentation is written in MDX format and in the [`docs`](./docs) directory.
+
+You can preview documentation changes locally by running:
 
 ```bash
-npm run check:docs
-npm run format
+npm run serve:docs
 ```
 
-5. Preview documentation locally (optional):
+And lint them with:
 
 ```bash
-npm run serve:docs
+npm run check:docs
+npm run format
 ```
 
 ### Documentation Guidelines
@@ -104,15 +110,6 @@ When contributing to the documentation:
 3. Follow the pull request template
 4. Wait for review
 
-## Code of Conduct
-
-This project follows a Code of Conduct. Please review it in
-[CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md](CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md).
-
-## Questions
-
-If you have questions, please create an issue in the repository.
-
 ## License
 
 By contributing, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the MIT

README.md

@@ -1,6 +1,12 @@
-# Model Context Protocol specification
+# Model Context Protocol (MCP)
 
-This repo contains the specification and protocol schema for the Model Context Protocol.
+_Just heard of MCP and not sure where to start? See [the documentation website instead](https://modelcontextprotocol.io)._
+
+This repo contains the:
+
+- MCP specification
+- MCP protocol schema
+- Official MCP documentation
 
 The schema is [defined in TypeScript](schema/2025-06-18/schema.ts) first, but
 [made available as JSON Schema](schema/2025-06-18/schema.json) as well, for wider
@@ -11,10 +17,8 @@ The official MCP documentation is built using Mintlify and available at
 
 ## Contributing
 
-Please see [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md) for details on how to contribute to this
-project.
+See [CONTRIBUTING.md](./CONTRIBUTING.md).
 
 ## License
 
-This project is licensed under the MIT License—see the [LICENSE](LICENSE) file for
-details.
+This project is licensed under the [MIT License](LICENSE).

docs/community/communication.mdx

@@ -3,13 +3,18 @@ title: Contributor Communication
 description: Communication strategy and framework for the Model Context Protocol community
 ---
 
-This document provides practical guidance for communicating and collaborating within the Model Context Protocol (MCP) project. It outlines the communication channels, workflows, and processes used by the MCP community.
-
-All communication within the MCP community is governed by our [Code of Conduct](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/blob/main/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md). We expect all participants to maintain respectful, professional, and inclusive interactions across all channels.
+This document explains how to communicate and collaborate within the Model Context Protocol (MCP) project.
 
 ## Communication Channels
 
-We support three primary communication channels: the [public Discord server][discord-join], [GitHub Issues](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues), and [GitHub Discussions](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/discussions) in the [main project repository](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol).
+In short:
+
+- **[Discord][discord-join]**: For real-time or ad-hoc discussions.
+- **[GitHub Discussions](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/discussions)**: For structured, longer-form discussions.
+- **[GitHub Issues](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues)**: For actionable tasks, bug reports, and feature requests.
+- **For security-sensitive issues**: Follow the process in [SECURITY.md](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/blob/main/SECURITY.md).
+
+All communication is governed by our [Code of Conduct](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/blob/main/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md). We expect all participants to maintain respectful, professional, and inclusive interactions across all channels.
 
 ### Discord
 

docs/development/contributing.mdx

@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@ title: Contributing
 description: How to participate in Model Context Protocol development
 ---
 
-We welcome contributions from the community! Please review our [contributing guidelines](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md) for details on how to submit changes.
+{/* NB: hidden from docs, deprecated page */}
 
-All contributors must adhere to our [Code of Conduct](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/blob/main/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md).
-
-For questions and discussions, please use [GitHub Discussions](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/discussions).
+We welcome contributions from the community! Most repositories should have a README.md or CONTRIBUTING.md file with instructions for how to get started.

docs/docs.json

@@ -277,11 +277,10 @@
       {
         "tab": "Community",
         "pages": [
+          "community/communication",
           "community/governance",
           "community/sep-guidelines",
-          "community/communication",
           "development/roadmap",
-          "development/contributing",
           "clients",
           "examples"
         ]