Index Agentica

Pick an MCP server

A repeatable shortlist-compare-probe workflow for selecting an MCP server from Index Agentica, with two scripts that pull candidates from the live REST API and test a remote endpoint's auth without credentials.

Type
Skill
Author
Agentica Author
Published
Last verified
Version
1.0
License
MIT
Compatibility
Needs HTTPS access to mcp.indexagentica.com (no auth, no API key) and the server you probe. The scripts need bash, curl and jq. An MCP client is optional.

Download

Install by unzipping into your agent's skills directory, e.g. for Claude Code: curl -sLO https://indexagentica.com/skills/pick-an-mcp-server.zip && unzip -o pick-an-mcp-server.zip -d ~/.claude/skills/

Files

Description

Choose the right MCP server for a task by shortlisting candidates from the Index Agentica directory (live REST/MCP at mcp.indexagentica.com), comparing them on remote vs local, auth method, licence, maintainer and freshness, then probing the winner's endpoint before wiring it into the client. Use when a user asks for "an MCP server for X", when you need a capability (database, browser, payments, observability, docs) you don't have, or when choosing between several MCP servers.

SKILL.md

Pick an MCP server

Use this skill to go from "I need an MCP server that does X" to one server that is verified, configured and working. It has three steps: shortlist, compare, probe. Then you hand off to the client setup.

The data comes from Index Agentica (https://indexagentica.com), a curated directory where every MCP server entry has a source link and a last_verified date. The live API at https://mcp.indexagentica.com needs no key and mirrors the static site about every 10 minutes. For general directory search (any category, guides, comparisons), use the companion skill https://indexagentica.com/skills/indexagentica-lookup/.

1. Shortlist

Turn the user's need into 1–3 keywords (a product name, or a capability such as postgres, browser, payments, traces). Then run:

bash scripts/shortlist.sh "postgres"        # optional 2nd arg: limit (default 10)

It calls GET /search?category=mcp-servers&q=..., then GET /entries/<id> for each hit, and prints a TSV table:

id               status  remote_endpoint               auth   license     maintainer  last_verified
neon-mcp-server  active  https://mcp.neon.tech/mcp     oauth  MIT         Neon        2026-10-02
supabase-mcp     active  https://mcp.supabase.com/mcp  oauth  Apache-2.0  Supabase    2026-10-02

(Real output from 2026-10-15.) Without the script:

curl -s -G https://mcp.indexagentica.com/search --data-urlencode q=postgres \
  --data-urlencode category=mcp-servers | jq -r '.results[] | [.id, .mcp_endpoint // "local"] | @tsv'
curl -s https://mcp.indexagentica.com/entries/neon-mcp-server | jq '{agent_access, license, maintainer, repo, last_verified}'

Over MCP, the same calls are the search tool ({"query": "postgres", "category": "mcp-servers"}) and the get_entry tool ({"id": "neon-mcp-server"}) on https://mcp.indexagentica.com/mcp.

If nothing matches, search without the category filter. Some vendors' MCP endpoints live on entries in apis or finance-payments. Then try the official MCP Registry (https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io). Don't invent an endpoint.

2. Compare

These are the fields that matter. In the entry JSON they live under agent_access unless noted:

FieldWhat it tells youPrefer
mcp_endpointA hosted remote server (Streamable HTTP). If missing, it is local only (stdio or self-run); read notes and the repo for the launch commandRemote, for zero install; local, when data must stay on the machine
authoauth (browser sign-in, scoped tokens), api-key (a secret you must store), none, or other (read notes)oauth for user data; none only for public data
license (top level)Can you self-host or fork it? Missing means unknownAn OSI licence if you may self-host
maintainer (top level)Who runs it. If it matches the product vendor (Neon for Neon), the server is first-partyFirst-party over community servers for anything with write access
status (top level)active, beta, deprecated, unknownactive
last_verified (top level)When Index Agentica last checked the sourcesRe-check anything older than about 90 days
notesInstall commands, required scopes, regional endpointsRead before configuring

Decision rules:

3. Probe

Before configuring the client, confirm the endpoint is alive and learn how it authenticates:

bash scripts/probe.sh https://mcp.neon.tech/mcp

It sends one unauthenticated MCP initialize POST and interprets the answer:

Real result on 2026-10-15 for Neon: HTTP 401, metadata at https://mcp.neon.tech/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource/mcp, resource: https://mcp.neon.tech/mcp, authorization_servers: ["https://mcp.neon.tech"].

The probe sends no credentials and changes nothing on the server.

4. Hand off

Configure the chosen server in the user's client with the skill https://indexagentica.com/skills/connect-remote-mcp/ (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, VS Code). For the OAuth background, see https://indexagentica.com/guides/connect-an-agent-to-a-remote-mcp-server/ and https://indexagentica.com/guides/agent-auth-and-delegated-access/.

Report back to the user:

  1. The shortlist table, and why you picked the winner (the field values that decided it).
  2. The probe result.
  3. Anything unverified: a missing licence, a stale last_verified, a community maintainer.

If a server you found elsewhere is missing from Index Agentica, suggest it via https://indexagentica.com/contribute.json.

Directory entries in this skill

Related

Sources

Machine-readable