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We are thrilled to embrace a new era in the world of MCP registries. As organizations increasingly build and consume MCP servers, the need for a secure, governed, robust and easily discoverable tools catalog has become critical. Today, we are excited to show you how to do just that with MCP Center, a live example demonstrating how Azure API Center (APIC) can serve as a private and enterprise-ready MCP registry. The registry puts your MCPs just one click away for developers, ensuring no setup fuss and a direct path to coding brilliance.

Why a private registry? 🤔

Public OSS registries have been instrumental in driving growth and innovation across the MCP ecosystem. But as adoption scales, so does the need for tighter security, governance, and control, this is where private MCP registries step in. This is where Azure API Center steps in. Azure API Center offers a powerful and centralized approach to MCP discovery and governance across diverse teams and services within an organization.

Let’s delve into the key benefits of leveraging a private MCP registry with Azure API Center.

Security and Trust: The Foundation of AI Adoption

• Review and Verification: Public registries, by their open nature, accept submissions from a wide range of developers. This can introduce risks from tools with limited security practices or even malicious intent. A private registry empowers your organization to thoroughly review and verify every MCP server before it becomes accessible to internal developers or AI agents (like Copilot Studio and AI Foundry). This eliminates the risk of introducing random, potentially vulnerable first or third-party tools into your ecosystem.


• Reduced Attack Surface: By controlling which MCP servers are accessible, organizations significantly shrink their potential attack surface. When your AI agents interact solely with known and secure internal tools, the likelihood of external attackers exploiting vulnerabilities in unvetted solutions is drastically reduced.


• Enterprise-Grade Authentication and Authorization: Private registries enable the enforcement of your existing robust enterprise authentication and authorization mechanisms (e.g., OAuth 2) across all MCP servers. Public registries, in contrast, may have varying or less stringent authentication requirements.


• Enforced AI Gateway Control (Azure API Management): Beyond vetting, a private registry enables organizations to route all MCP server traffic through an AI gateway such as Azure API Management. This ensures that every interaction, whether internal or external, adheres to strict security policies, including centralized authentication, authorization, rate limiting, and threat protection, creating a secure front for your AI services.

Governance and Control: Navigating the AI Landscape with Confidence

• Centralized Oversight and “Single Source of Truth”: A private registry provides a centralized “single source of truth” for all AI-related tools and data connections within your organization. This empowers comprehensive oversight of AI initiatives, clearly identifying ownership and accountability for each MCP server.


• Preventing “Shadow AI”: Without a formal registry, individual teams might independently develop or integrate AI tools, leading to “shadow AI” – unmanaged and unmonitored AI deployments that can pose significant risks. A private registry encourages a standardized approach, bringing all AI tools under central governance and visibility.


• Tailored Tool Development: Organizations can develop and host MCP servers specifically tailored to their unique needs and requirements. This means optimized efficiency and utility, providing specialized tools you won’t typically find in broader public registries.


• Simplified Integration and Accelerated Development: A well-managed private registry simplifies the discovery and integration of internal tools for your AI developers. This significantly accelerates the development and deployment of AI-powered applications, fostering innovation.

Good news! Azure API Center can be created for free in any Azure subscription. You can find a detailed guide to help you get started: Inventory and Discover MCP Servers in Your API Center – Azure API Center

Get involved 💡

Your remote MCP server can be discoverable on API Center’s MCP Discovery page today! Bring your MCP server and reach Azure customers! These Microsoft partners are shaping the future of the MCP ecosystem by making their remote MCP Servers discoverable via API Center’s MCP Discovery page.

Early Partners:

• Atlassian – Connect to Jira and Confluence for issue tracking and documentation


• Box – Use Box to securely store, manage and share your photos, videos, and documents in the cloud


• Neon – Manage and query Neon Postgres databases with natural language


• Pipedream – Add 1000s of APIs with built-in authentication and 10,000+ tools to your AI assistant or agent – coming soon –


• Stripe – Payment processing and financial infrastructure tools

If partners would like their remote MCP servers to be featured in our Discover Panel, reach out to us here: GitHub/mcp-center and comment under the following GitHub issue: MCP Server Onboarding Request

Ready to Get Started? 🚀

Modernize your AI strategy and empower your teams with enhanced discovery, security, and governance of agentic tools. Now’s the time to explore creating your own private enterprise MCP registry.

Check out MCP Center, a public showcase demonstrating how you can build your own enterprise MCP registry – MCP Center – Build Your Own Enterprise MCP Registry – or go ahead and create your Azure API Center today!