The latest articles on DEV Community by md sultan mahamud (@sultan57git). https://dev.to/sultan57git https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4188609%2Fd235059f-ecf6-4bf2-9219-237aa15993df.png https://dev.to/sultan57git en md sultan mahamud Fri, 16 Oct 2026 10:37:36 +0000 https://dev.to/sultan57git/4298-mcp-registry-entries-link-to-a-github-repo-that-returns-404-dei https://dev.to/sultan57git/4298-mcp-registry-entries-link-to-a-github-repo-that-returns-404-dei <p>I built <a href="https://protocolprobe.com" rel="noopener noreferrer">ProtocolProbe</a> on my own to read the official MCP registry and public package records. This post is one question: <strong>when a registry entry links to a repository, does the link open?</strong></p> <h2> Why ask </h2> <p>The registry checks that a repository URL is well-formed. As far as I read its source (2026-10-06), it does not fetch the URL, and it checks a package once, at publish time. So a link that worked at publish can stop working later, and a link that never worked is still accepted. I have not re-run that source read since.</p> <h2> Method </h2> <p>For every registry entry that links to a GitHub repository, I called GitHub's public repository API and recorded the HTTP status. Public records only. I did not run or call any MCP server.</p> <p>Registry snapshot: 2026-10-04. Lookups: 2026-10-06.</p> <h2> Numbers </h2> <div class="table-wrapper-paragraph"><table> <thead> <tr> <th>What</th> <th>Count</th> <th>Of</th> <th>Share</th> </tr> </thead> <tbody> <tr> <td>Entries whose linked repo returns HTTP 404</td> <td>4,298</td> <td>38,977 registry entries</td> <td>11.0%</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Same, counted by publisher</td> <td>2,594</td> <td>23,016 publishers</td> <td>11.3%</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Same, among entries that link to GitHub</td> <td>4,298</td> <td>28,743</td> <td>15%</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Linked repo is archived (read-only)</td> <td>309</td> <td>24,256 entries with a reachable repo</td> <td>1.3%</td> </tr> </tbody> </table></div> <h2> What a 404 means </h2> <p>GitHub returns 404 for a repository that is missing <strong>or private</strong>. From outside I can't tell which. It could be a rename, a deletion, a private repo or a typo. It is not a judgement on the publisher, and the registry never promised to re-check.</p> <h2> Limits </h2> <ul> <li>Figures are from 2026-10-06, not live.</li> <li>GitHub links only; other hosts are not counted.</li> <li>Counting by publisher is shown next to entries because a few publishers own many entries.</li> <li>No monthly re-check has run yet, so I can't say how these numbers move over time.</li> </ul> <h2> Data and method </h2> <ul> <li>Page with the figures and sources: <a href="https://protocolprobe.com/mcp/reports" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://protocolprobe.com/mcp/reports</a> </li> <li>Dataset (Zenodo): <a href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23386799" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23386799</a> </li> </ul> <p>If you see a flaw in the method, tell me in the comments.</p> mcp opensource ai