Search the MCP directory from your agent
Add the PlugMCP directory MCP to Claude Code, Cursor or VS Code, send a key when you need more calls, and the prompts that work best.
The PlugMCP directory MCP lets an agent look things up in the catalog for you: which servers exist for a job, which one is official, and the exact config to install it. It runs at https://plugmcp.ai/mcp-server over Streamable HTTP. You can try it without a key.
1. Add it to your client
Claude Code, in a terminal:
claude mcp add --transport http plugmcp-directory https://plugmcp.ai/mcp-server
Cursor, in ~/.cursor/mcp.json (or .cursor/mcp.json inside a project):
{
"mcpServers": {
"plugmcp-directory": {
"url": "https://plugmcp.ai/mcp-server"
}
}
}
VS Code, in .vscode/mcp.json:
{
"servers": {
"plugmcp-directory": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://plugmcp.ai/mcp-server"
}
}
}
Claude Desktop, Windsurf, Codex and the others are on /directory-mcp, each with a copy button.
2. Send a key when you need more calls
Without a key you get 50 tool calls a day. For 500, sign in at plugmcp.ai/app, open the Directory MCP card and create a key. It is shown once, so copy it then. Add it as a header:
{
"mcpServers": {
"plugmcp-directory": {
"url": "https://plugmcp.ai/mcp-server",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer pb_live_YOUR_KEY"
}
}
}
}
Claude Code takes the same header with --header "Authorization: Bearer pb_live_YOUR_KEY". A client that cannot set Authorization can send X-PlugMCP-Key instead. Paid plans get 20,000 calls a day on the same key.
3. Ask for what you need
- Find an official MCP server for Postgres and give me the Cursor config.
- Compare the GitHub MCP servers by trust and health.
- What MCP servers were added this week?
- Recommend servers for sending invoices from Claude Code.
- Find an agent skill for working with PDFs.
The agent picks the tool. search_servers and recommend_servers find candidates, get_server shows the full listing with its trust block, and get_install returns the config for your client. When you reach the daily limit, the answer says so and explains how to get more.
What it does not do
The directory MCP reads the catalog. It does not run the servers it finds, and it never sees your credentials for them. Install the server it recommends with the publisher's own URL or command.