The $0 Distribution Playbook for MCP Servers: 12 Channels, 30 Days, Real Numbers

A developer shipped an open-source MCP server for code review with zero marketing budget and gained 650+ PyPI installs and listings in five directories within a month. The playbook highlights directory listings, Product Hunt feedback, and the importance of pinning dependencies after a breaking API change in the MCP package.

A month ago I shipped aicraft-code-review https://github.com/GoodJobwilliam/aicraft — an open-source MCP server that reviews code locally OWASP scanning, N+1 detection, style rules for Claude Code, Cursor and Cline. I had $0 marketing budget and no audience. One month later: 650+ PyPI installs, 12 Product Hunt followers, and listings in 5 directories — with more pending. Zero dollars spent. Here's the exact playbook, including what didn't work. | Channel | Cost | Status | What it took | |---|---|---|---| PyPI | $0 | ✅ 650+ installs | One afternoon: pyproject.toml , wheel build, twine upload | Smithery | $0 | ✅ Live | Deploy via their CLI, quality score 52/100 | mcpservers.org | $0 | ✅ Approved in ~1 day | Simple submit form | cursor.directory | $0 | ✅ Live | Submit plugin + MCP server + rule | Product Hunt | $0 | ✅ Launched | Free launch, real user feedback | Glama | $0 | ⏳ Reviewing | Submit + glama.json + Dockerfile | awesome-mcp-servers | $0 | ⏳ PR open | Needs Glama listing + badge first | Docker MCP Registry | $0 | ⏳ PR open | Root Dockerfile , LICENSE , SECURITY.md | Official MCP Registry | $0 | ⏳ Next | mcp-publisher publish from the PyPI package | MCPFind / Cline marketplace | $0 | ⏳ PRs open | YAML metadata, waiting on maintainers | Hacker News | $0 | ✅ 1 point | Honest "Show HN" style post | Reddit r/mcp | $0 | ❌ Failed | See below | 1. Directory listings compound. Every listing adds an install path, a backlink, and social proof for the next directory. mcpservers.org approved me in a day; that listing made the cursor.directory submission stronger. 2. Product Hunt gave us the roadmap. We only got 3 upvotes — but two comments became our next release: MCP CODE REVIEW CONFIG .mcp-code-review.yaml auto-discoveryReal users telling you what to build beats any amount of guessing. 3. The awesome-mcp-servers repo is the prize. It has 92k stars and its README is how most people discover MCP servers. But the bar is real: your server must be listed on Glama with a quality score badge. Budget 2 weeks for review. Reddit with a new account = spam filter. Both my r/mcp posts got silently removed. New accounts can't message mods either. Lesson: build karma in technical subreddits before you have something to promote. HN is a lottery. One point, zero comments. Fine — the post is still a permanent backlink. Paid directories come early. mcp.so wants $39. OpenTools is paid-only. Skip them at the start. Two weeks after 0.1.0 shipped, mcp 2.0.0 dropped with a breaking API change — and fresh installs of my server crashed at import. I had pinned mcp =1.6 without an upper bound . If you ship a Python MCP server today: pin mcp =1.6,<2 in your dependencies right now. The 0.1.1 release with the fix went out the same week. Dockerfile , LICENSE , SECURITY.md , glama.json , install docs. Every directory asks for a subset of these.Next up: the official MCP Registry publish and the Glama badge. If you're building an MCP server, steal this list — and tell me which channel I'm missing. aicraft-code-review https://github.com/GoodJobwilliam/aicraft is MIT-licensed and installs with pip install aicraft-code-review .