Once you're comfortable connecting a server, the next practical question is where to actually find one - and, just as important, how to tell a well-maintained, trustworthy server from one you shouldn't hand your credentials to. Because a server runs with whatever access you grant it, choosing one is closer to installing a browser extension than picking a search result: it's worth a few minutes of scrutiny before you connect.
Where servers actually come from
There's a large and growing public directory of MCP servers, covering everything from official integrations maintained by the companies behind the tools (GitHub, Slack, various databases) to community-built servers wrapping smaller or more specialized APIs. Beyond the directory, many companies now publish an official MCP server alongside their regular API documentation - worth checking directly on a vendor's site if the public directory doesn't turn up what you need.
What to check before connecting a third-party server
A handful of quick checks catch most of the risk:
Who maintains it. Is it published by the company behind the underlying service, a well-known open-source maintainer, or an anonymous one-off repository? The further from an accountable maintainer, the more scrutiny the rest of these checks deserve.
How recently it's been updated. MCP itself is still evolving quickly, and a server last touched many months ago may not implement current security or transport recommendations, even if it technically still works.
What permissions it actually requests. A server for reading calendar events has no reason to also request the ability to delete files - if a server's requested scope is broader than what its stated purpose requires, that's worth asking about before connecting, not after.
Whether the source is available to inspect. Open-source servers let you (or someone you trust) actually read what a tool call does before granting it access; closed-source servers require you to trust the publisher's word alone.
Four quick checks before granting any third-party server access to your accounts or data.
Testing before you rely on it
Before wiring a new server into your regular workflow, it's worth a short trial run: connect it, give the model a few realistic requests, and watch which tools it reaches for and what data comes back. This catches two different problems at once - servers with confusing or overlapping tool descriptions (covered in the next guide) and servers that simply don't behave the way their documentation claims.