fix: seed from production API by default to ensure validation passes

Fixes #584

Changes the default seed source from local file to production API with
filtering to keep startup fast. This ensures local development environments
mirror production behavior and all seed data passes validation by default.

- Default seed: production API with search filter (4 servers, fast startup)
- Updated seed.json with filtered production data for offline development
- Added clear documentation for offline and full-server modes
- Keeps validation enabled by default in docker-compose.yml

Author: domdomegg

.env.example

@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ MCP_REGISTRY_VERSION=dev
 MCP_REGISTRY_DATABASE_URL=postgres://username:password@localhost:5432/mcp-registry
 
 # Path or URL to import seed data (supports local files and HTTP URLs)
-MCP_REGISTRY_SEED_FROM=data/seed.json
+# For offline development, use: data/seed.json
+MCP_REGISTRY_SEED_FROM=https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0/servers
 
 # GitHub OAuth configuration
 # These creds are for local development with the 'MCP Registry Login (Local)' GitHub App

README.md

@@ -40,7 +40,9 @@ Often (but not always) ideas flow through this pipeline:
 make dev-compose
 ```
 
-This starts the registry at [`localhost:8080`](http://localhost:8080) with PostgreSQL and seed data. The database uses ephemeral storage and is reset each time you restart the containers, ensuring a clean state for development and testing.
+This starts the registry at [`localhost:8080`](http://localhost:8080) with PostgreSQL. The database uses ephemeral storage and is reset each time you restart the containers, ensuring a clean state for development and testing.
+
+By default, the registry seeds from the production API with a filtered subset of servers (to keep startup fast). This ensures your local environment mirrors production behavior and all seed data passes validation. For offline development you can seed from a file without validation with `MCP_REGISTRY_SEED_FROM=data/seed.json MCP_REGISTRY_ENABLE_REGISTRY_VALIDATION=false make dev-compose`.
 
 The setup can be configured with environment variables in [docker-compose.yml](./docker-compose.yml) - see [.env.example](./.env.example) for a reference.