Split "general" server.json from "registry-specific" server.json (modelcontextprotocol#167)

Closes modelcontextprotocol#155

The "generalized" `server.json` is the one that can be used in a variety
of situations:

- Discoverability on a centralized registry (i.e. our official Registry
work)
- Discoverability on a decentralized .well-known endpoint
- As a response to an initialization call, so the client knows
information about the MCP server to which it is connecting
- As an input into crafting a [DXT
file](https://www.anthropic.com/engineering/desktop-extensions)
- Packaged in with the source code of an MCP server, so as to have a
structured way context

Of these, the official Registry is but one use case. The Registry has a
unique set of concerns for which we are optimizing, like whitelisting of
specific registries we trust to host MCP server source code for the
public community (`npm`, `pypi`, etc). It is not necessary to have such
a constraint for the generalized server.json, which may be used in, for
example, an internal context where such a validation doesn't make sense.

So I've done the following at a high level:
- Renamed the prior `schema.json` to be `registry-schema.json`
- Introduced a more generic `schema.json` to serve as the schema for the
generalized `server.json`
- Refactored `registry-schema.json` to be simply a constraint on the
base `schema.json`

I made a few small changes in this transition:
- Removed `gitlab` as an option in `repository.source` for
`registry-schema.json`. I'm fine going live with just GitHub support;
would be happy to take a contribution from e.g. Gitlab employees or a
motivated Gitlab customer to expand anytime.
- Removed `homebrew` as an option in `packages.registry_name`; never
really made sense, not a place where folks are publishing MCP servers
- Added `docker` to `packages.runtime_hint`; was just a missing
oversight
- Gave both schemas a global `$id`
~- Removed `release_date` from both schemas. Certainly not something
that makes sense for the generalized schema. It actually doesn't make
sense for the Registry schema either, because this is the server.json
that _users will submit_, i.e. the _input_ into the Registry publication
API. `release_date` will be a piece of _output_ metadata. The Registry
API will be free to append such extra metadata for GET /:id requests of
servers, and the data can be present in the OpenAPI spec, but it does
not need to be in the registry-server.json JSON schema.~
  - Note this is no longer in this PR; rebased on modelcontextprotocol#168 which included it
- Removed unnecessary enums from the generalized `schema.json`

Author: tadasant

docs/server-json/README.md

@@ -13,4 +13,5 @@ Please note: this is different from the file commonly referred to as `mcp.json`,
 
 References:
 - [schema.json](./schema.json) - The official JSON schema specification for this representation
-- [examples.md](./examples.md) - Example manifestations of the JSON schema
+- [examples.md](./examples.md) - Example manifestations of the JSON schema
+- [registry-schema.json](./registry-schema.json) - A more constrained version of `schema.json` that the official registry supports

docs/server-json/registry-schema.json

@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+{
+  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
+  "$id": "https://modelcontextprotocol.io/schemas/draft/2025-07-09/registry-server.json",
+  "title": "MCP Server Detail - Registry Schema",
+  "description": "Registry-specific constraints for MCP server representation. Extends the base schema with additional validation rules.",
+  "$ref": "https://modelcontextprotocol.io/schemas/draft/2025-07-09/server.json",
+  "properties": {
+    "repository": {
+      "properties": {
+        "source": {
+          "enum": [
+            "github"
+          ]
+        }
+      }
+    },
+    "packages": {
+      "items": {
+        "properties": {
+          "registry_name": {
+            "enum": [
+              "npm",
+              "pypi",
+              "docker",
+              "nuget"
+            ]
+          },
+          "runtime_hint": {
+            "enum": [
+              "npx",
+              "uvx",
+              "docker",
+              "dnx"
+            ]
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}

docs/server-json/schema.json

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 {
   "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
+  "$id": "https://modelcontextprotocol.io/schemas/draft/2025-07-09/server.json",
   "title": "MCP Server Detail",
   "$ref": "#/$defs/ServerDetail",
   "$defs": {
@@ -18,10 +19,7 @@
         },
         "source": {
           "type": "string",
-          "enum": [
-            "github",
-            "gitlab"
-          ],
+          "description": "Repository hosting service",
           "example": "github"
         },
         "id": {
@@ -32,6 +30,7 @@
     },
     "VersionDetail": {
       "type": "object",
+      "description": "Version information for this server. Defined as an object to allow for downstream extensibility (e.g. release_date)",
       "required": [
         "version"
       ],
@@ -79,13 +78,6 @@
       "properties": {
         "registry_name": {
           "type": "string",
-          "enum": [
-            "npm",
-            "docker",
-            "pypi",
-            "homebrew",
-            "nuget"
-          ],
           "description": "Package registry type",
           "example": "npm"
         },