How many tools an MCP server should list

Choose a tool count by what the servers in this directory list, what scanners reward and what Ora's own two servers do. The median open server lists 8 tools and 31 list more than forty. First step: Count what tools/list returns; an agent reads that list before anything else.

Steps

1. Count what tools/list returns; an agent reads that list before anything else.
2. Group tools by job and merge near-duplicates; fewer sharp tools beat many overlapping ones.
3. Name tools by action and object so the list reads at a glance.
4. Keep a docs server small and focused; let a product server be as broad as the product.
5. Re-count after each release.

What the sources say

• Ora's tool-listing check calls tools/list and grades the surface: product servers earn on breadth and docs servers on focus. (ora.ai, read 5 November 2026)
• Ora's main MCP server lists 18 tools and its docs MCP server lists three: search_docs, get_docs_page and get_endpoint. (ora.ai, read 5 November 2026)
• Arcade's rescan of 30 September 2026 found quality peaked at 16 to 31 tools per server; this is vendor research. (www.arcade.dev, read 4 November 2026)
• The 2026-07-28 MCP specification says servers SHOULD return tools in a deterministic order. (modelcontextprotocol.io, read 4 November 2026)

Tool counts in the directory

The longest lists

The median is 8, the largest list has 173 tools, and Ora's own main server lists 18 and its docs server three. Arcade's finding that quality peaks between 16 and 31 tools is vendor research and covers far more servers than this directory. What Ora grades in a tool list.