Here's what's going to happen: MCP takes off. Hundreds of MCP servers get built. Most of them end up unmaintained within two years and then issues pile up, PRs go stale, the original author moves on.

I have spent time digging through MCPZoo, a dataset of 56,000+ MCP servers, and the warning signs are already there. Repos with READMEs that just say "install and run." Projects with one contributor and no activity in months. Issues sitting unanswered. The ecosystem is growing fast, but a lot of what's being built has "abandoned in 6 months" written all over it.

I'm sure some of you have tried contributing to these projects. Couldn't run the tests. Couldn't understand the structure. Couldn't tell if anyone was still around. That friction isn't just annoying, it's why maintainers burn out and contributors disappear.

In this talk, I'll break down what makes an MCP server thrive or die. Projects die when newcomers can't onboard, can't run tests, can't understand the structure. The ones that survive do specific things: working CI from day one, a README that gets someone running in under 5 minutes, clear contributor guidelines. I'll show you how to set up your own projects to last.