Azure API Center: Create Your Enterprise-Ready MCP Registry Today

Key insights

• MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that connects AI agents and large language models with external APIs or data sources, allowing secure and consistent access to real-time information and functions.


• The Azure API Center serves as a central, enterprise-grade registry for MCP servers, offering features like governance, security controls, version tracking, metadata management, and easy discovery of these resources.


• This solution enables organizations to create a private enterprise-ready MCP registry, ensuring only authorized users can find and use MCP servers. This reduces compliance risks and simplifies operational management.


• Enterprise-grade security is provided through Microsoft Entra ID integration, OAuth 2.1 support, API keys, tokens, and advanced filtering options—helping protect MCP endpoints from unauthorized access.


• Developer productivity improves with semantic search-driven discovery tools in the portal. Integration with GitHub Copilot allows developers to discover and use MCP servers directly within their workflows without duplication or delays.


• The approach supports hybrid deployment scenarios, letting organizations expose existing REST APIs as MCP servers using Azure API Management v2 SKUs. This avoids rehosting or rewriting backends while enabling seamless onboarding for both internal and external APIs.

Introduction to Enterprise-Ready MCP Registry with Azure API Center

Microsoft Azure Developers recently released a detailed video walkthrough highlighting how organizations can build an enterprise-ready MCP (Model Context Protocol) registry using Azure API Center. In the presentation, Julia Kasper demonstrates practical steps for establishing a private enterprise registry dedicated to MCP servers. This development aims to bring security, governance, and streamlined discovery to the rapidly expanding ecosystem of MCP endpoints within large organizations. By leveraging Azure API Center, enterprises can transform scattered MCP resources into a managed and discoverable internal asset.

The video walks viewers through the journey of building the mcp.azure.com portal, which serves as a central hub for MCP server discovery. Additionally, it covers the integration of Azure API Management for improved security and oversight, while also showcasing the benefits of enhanced observability across the MCP ecosystem.

Understanding MCP and Azure API Center

At its core, MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard designed to help AI agents and large language models securely connect with external data sources and APIs. MCP servers, acting as standardized endpoints, allow AI models to access real-time and context-rich information. The challenge for many organizations lies in managing these endpoints efficiently as their number grows.

Azure API Center addresses this by functioning as a central enterprise-grade registry. It provides inventory, governance, versioning, metadata tracking, and discovery features for MCP servers. This registry is tailored for private, internal use, ensuring that only authorized personnel can find and utilize MCP resources, which reduces both operational overhead and compliance risks.

Benefits and Tradeoffs of a Centralized MCP Registry

There are clear advantages to adopting Azure API Center as the foundation for MCP registries. First, centralized governance allows organizations to maintain a single source of truth for all MCP servers, enabling consistent policy enforcement, ownership tracking, and simplified compliance management. This structure also enhances developer productivity by providing a modern, search-driven interface for finding relevant MCP tools quickly.

Security is another significant benefit. With integration into Microsoft Entra ID, OAuth 2.1, API keys, and token-based controls, enterprises can strictly manage who accesses which MCP endpoints. Furthermore, Azure API Management (APIM) enables organizations to expose existing REST APIs as MCP servers without the need for costly rewrites. This hybrid approach supports both internal and external APIs, offering flexibility while maintaining high security standards.

However, organizations must balance the simplicity of a unified registry with the potential complexity of onboarding legacy systems or integrating across multiple teams. Ensuring seamless adoption may require additional training and ongoing support.

Technical Foundations and Modes of Operation

MCP servers utilize the open MCP protocol, which relies on JSON-RPC 2.0 over HTTP and server-sent events for communication. This technical foundation ensures consistent and reliable connections between AI agents and data sources. Two main operating modes are supported: remote MCP servers accessed over secure HTTP connections, and local MCP servers running on the same machine, communicating via standard input and output.

Azure API Center maintains a catalog of registered MCP servers, enabling stakeholders to register, discover, and consume them efficiently. The portal interface and API-driven workflows make it easy for developers and administrators to manage these resources, further reducing manual overhead.

What’s New and What’s Next?

A key innovation in this approach is the preview availability of a private, enterprise-grade MCP registry within Azure API Center. This new capability allows organizations to securely discover, govern, and share MCP servers, laying the groundwork for scalable AI-powered tool deployment. Recent updates include integration with Azure API Management v2 SKUs, which lets any REST API be exposed as an MCP server with enterprise-level security and monitoring—without backend changes.

Looking forward, Microsoft is planning features such as APIM passthrough MCP server support, which will allow APIM to act as a proxy between APIs and AI agents with minimal custom logic. Additionally, the developer experience is set to improve with enhanced semantic search, refined filtering based on capabilities, and deeper integration with developer tools like GitHub Copilot. These advancements are designed to empower developers and streamline AI-enabled workflows across the enterprise.

Conclusion

In summary, the new capabilities within Azure API Center represent a significant step forward for organizations seeking to manage their MCP server ecosystem securely and efficiently. While there are challenges in onboarding and integration, the benefits of centralized governance, robust security, and improved developer experience make this a compelling solution for enterprises looking to scale their AI initiatives. As the platform continues to evolve, it promises to provide even more powerful tools for managing AI connectivity and resources internally.

Keywords

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