Smithery Shuts Down Its MCP Proxy Oct 31: What Skills and MCP Users Should Do
2026-10-30 ยท Skill Store team
Smithery turns off its hosted MCP connections tomorrow, October 31, 2026. The smithery.ai website stays up as a directory, but its server URLs, API, accounts and CLI stop working that day. If your MCP client points at a Smithery URL, or a script or skill calls the Smithery CLI, switch today. Below is what Smithery has said, then the steps for each kind of user. Where Smithery hasn't said something, we say so.
Based on Smithery's notice at smithery.ai/future, re-read on Oct 30, 2026. Smithery had not changed its plans or the date since we first read it on Oct 26.
What Smithery announced
The notice is headed "Smithery's MCP Proxy and managed identity shut down on October 31". Its opening lines read: "On October 31, 2026, we're shutting down Smithery's connection management services. Smithery will remain as a public (non-proxied) MCP registry." Non-proxied means Smithery will list servers but no longer pass your connections through its own servers.
The page gives the date but no time of day and no timezone. October 31 starts earlier in some parts of the world than others, so treat today, October 30, as your last safe day. If you need the exact time, ask Smithery. The notice gives a contact address: ani [at] smithery [dot] ai.
The notice is signed by Anirudh Kamath, Cofounder, Smithery, with the note "(now part of Arcade)".
What stops working on October 31
Smithery lists four things under "What stops working on October 31":
"Server URLs on run.tools and server.smithery.ai"
"Smithery API, Connect, and Toolbox"
"Smithery accounts and API keys"
"The Smithery CLI and SDKs. We'll mark the current versions as deprecated."
Smithery doesn't say whether calls to those URLs will return an error or simply stop answering after the cutoff. Either way, plan for any client config, script or app that depends on them to break.
What stays
Smithery says smithery.ai will remain "as a public directory of MCP servers, now powered by Arcade.dev". It also says a curated set of servers will have registry pages that show direct MCP URLs, and gives the example "mcp.linear.app/mcp instead of linear.run.tools or server.smithery.ai/linear".
So the directory stays, but connections no longer run through Smithery. You connect to each server at its vendor's own address.
Paid plans
Smithery says it is refunding every charge since August 5 and canceling subscriptions going forward, and that "You won't be charged again." It says refunds usually show up within 5 to 10 business days.
What to do before October 31
Smithery's notice gives advice for people who use a server themselves and for people who manage MCP connections for their own users. The steps below follow that advice, and add steps for CLI and skills users. Where Smithery hasn't said something, the step says so.
If you point an MCP client at a Smithery-hosted URL
1. Search your MCP client config files for "run.tools" and "server.smithery.ai". Search both project and user config files for every client you use, such as Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code or Windsurf. Searching for "run.tools" also finds addresses like linear.run.tools.
2. For each match, open the server's page on smithery.ai. Smithery says: "You can find the official URL on the server's page on smithery.ai."
3. Replace the Smithery URL with the vendor's official MCP URL. Smithery's words: "Switch to the vendor's official MCP URL. Smithery URLs stop working on October 31, and connecting through Smithery won't be possible after that."
4. Sign in to the vendor's server again if it asks. Your Smithery account and API keys stop working on October 31, so any connection that relied on them will need its own sign-in or key from the vendor. Smithery hasn't said how sign-ins move over, so expect to redo them.
5. If a server's smithery.ai page doesn't show an official URL, look for one in the vendor's own docs or in another directory (see below).
If you use the Smithery CLI or SDKs
1. Find every place you call them: shell scripts, CI jobs (automated build and test runs), package.json dependencies and agent instructions. Search for the smithery command and for the npm packages @smithery/cli and @smithery/sdk.
2. Smithery says the CLI and SDKs stop working on October 31 and that it will mark the current versions as deprecated. On Oct 30, both packages were still on npm with no deprecation notice. Smithery hasn't said whether they will be removed later, so don't count on them.
3. Replace or remove anything that needs a Smithery account or API key before the cutoff, since those stop working on the same day.
If you manage MCP connections for your own users
This covers apps that manage MCP connections for their own users through Smithery. Smithery says: "You'll need a replacement before October 31." The founder offers to help with that choice "even if it isn't Arcade". Smithery is now part of Arcade, and the notice also points readers to Arcade for ready-made servers such as Gmail or Slack, so weigh any suggestion with that in mind.
If you use agent skills you found on Smithery
Smithery's site also has a skills directory. On Oct 30, smithery.ai/skills showed "25,355 skills found" and a banner linking to the shutdown notice. The notice itself doesn't mention skills, so it isn't clear whether those pages will change. What is clear is that any skill step that runs the Smithery CLI will stop working on October 31. One example: the same skills page lists a smithery-ai/cli skill described as a way to "Find, connect, and use MCP tools and skills via the Smithery CLI." Until Smithery says more:
1. List the skills you installed from Smithery and note where each one came from.
2. Keep a copy of each skill folder you rely on. An agent skill is a folder with a SKILL.md file (the instructions the agent reads) plus any scripts or reference files it needs, so a folder already on your machine stays there whatever happens to Smithery.
3. Read each skill's SKILL.md and scripts for steps that call the Smithery CLI or Smithery URLs. Those steps will stop working on October 31, even though the folder itself is still on your machine.
4. If you install or update skills with the Smithery CLI, plan another way to do it, such as copying the folder from the skill's source repository.
Where else to list or find MCP servers and skills
Other directories also list MCP servers, skills or both. The notes below come from each one's own pages, re-read on Oct 30, 2026 unless a different date is given.
Official MCP Registry. The registry at registry.modelcontextprotocol.io is run in the Model Context Protocol project's GitHub organization, with a Registry Working Group listed in its README. Its API doesn't publish a total, so we paged through all of it on the morning of Oct 26, 2026: by 9 AM PT it listed 50,487 server names, 49,833 of them marked active and 654 marked deprecated. We have not recounted since. Its docs say it is in preview and that "Breaking changes or data resets may occur before general availability." It hosts metadata only (each server's name, description and where to get it), not the server code or packages. Publishers list servers with the mcp-publisher command line tool, and a server that runs at a public remote URL can be listed without a package.
MCPfinder. MCPfinder has a page about the Smithery shutdown at mcpfinder.dev/smithery-alternative. It says its agent search covers the Official MCP Registry and Glama, with "over 100,000 servers in the October 2026 snapshot", and that it returns each server's own package or URL. The page also says MCPfinder does not host or proxy servers or manage OAuth connections (the sign-in step many servers use), and it answers "Is MCPfinder a drop-in replacement for Smithery?" with "No." It runs locally with npx and needs no account or API key, according to the page.
SkillsRegistry. SkillsRegistry at skillsregistry.net lists both skills and MCP servers. Its homepage says agents can search "145,111 skills and MCP servers", that listings "are indexed from public registries, including the official MCP Registry, and from GitHub", and that connecting needs no key or signup.
Glama. MCPfinder's page names Glama as one of its two sources. Glama's own directory at glama.ai/mcp/servers showed 112,904 servers in its page title on Oct 30.
For skills, the format itself has a new home. In an announcement dated Oct 22, 2026, Anthropic says it has donated Agent Skills, the open standard behind SKILL.md, to the Agentic AI Foundation under the Linux Foundation, which it says will give the standard "a neutral home". Anthropic says more than 70 agent platforms have integrated the standard and that "1 million skills have been published and nearly 280 million installed." Those are Anthropic's figures.
FAQ
When exactly does Smithery shut down?
Smithery's notice says October 31, 2026. It gives no time of day and no timezone, so finish switching by October 30.
Will smithery.ai still list MCP servers after October 31?
Yes, according to Smithery. It says smithery.ai stays as a public, non-proxied directory of MCP servers, powered by Arcade.dev. A curated set of servers will show direct MCP URLs. You connect to those URLs yourself, not through Smithery.
What happens to my paid Smithery plan?
Smithery says it is refunding every charge since August 5 and canceling subscriptions going forward, and that you won't be charged again. It says refunds usually show up within 5 to 10 business days.
Let your agent search Skill Store 33
Skill Store 33 runs a public MCP server at https://mcp.ss33.ai. Connect it once and your agent can search about 60,000 skills by task, read what each one does, and fetch the one that fits. In Claude Code, run:
claude mcp add --transport http skill-store https://mcp.ss33.ai
Without an account your agent gets 5 searches a minute. A free account gives you a key with 60 searches a minute: create one on your account page, then add it to the connection as an Authorization: Bearer <key> header.
Sources
Smithery, "Smithery's MCP Proxy and managed identity shut down on October 31", https://smithery.ai/future (read Oct 30, 2026)
Smithery skills directory, https://smithery.ai/skills (read Oct 30, 2026)
npm, @smithery/cli, https://www.npmjs.com/package/@smithery/cli (checked Oct 30, 2026)
npm, @smithery/sdk, https://www.npmjs.com/package/@smithery/sdk (checked Oct 30, 2026)
Official MCP Registry API, https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0/servers (counted Oct 26, 2026)
MCP Registry README, https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/registry (read Oct 30, 2026)
MCP Registry docs, Quickstart: Publish an MCP Server, https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/registry/blob/main/docs/modelcontextprotocol-io/quickstart.mdx (read Oct 30, 2026)
MCP Registry docs, Publishing Remote Servers, https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/registry/blob/main/docs/modelcontextprotocol-io/remote-servers.mdx (read Oct 30, 2026)
MCPfinder, Smithery alternative, https://mcpfinder.dev/smithery-alternative/ (read Oct 30, 2026)
SkillsRegistry, https://skillsregistry.net/ (read Oct 30, 2026)
Glama MCP servers, https://glama.ai/mcp/servers (read Oct 30, 2026)
Anthropic, "Donating Agent Skills to the Agentic AI Foundation", https://www.anthropic.com/news/donating-agent-skills-to-the-agentic-ai-foundation (read Oct 30, 2026)
This article was created with the help of AI (AI-Assisted). Every date, quote and figure was checked against the sources listed above. ReadyAI is accountable for the content.