MCP Research and Adoption Peaked Together in March 2026, and 93.7% of Repos Only Consume It

arXiv 2609.14721·low signalXBlueskyLinkedInCopy link

A longitudinal study of 802 MCP-related publications and 33,319 GitHub repositories finds publications and repositories both entered rapid growth within a month of each other in 2025 and peaked together in March 2026, with a second growth wave accounting for 49.5% of the repositories on its own. Most publications (57.8%) and nearly all repositories (93.7%) use MCP as enabling plumbing rather than analyzing, evaluating, extending or securing it. The work that does secure or extend MCP concentrates almost entirely in one general-purpose topic, while applied usage fragments into product-specific niches, which is the supply-side explanation for the registry hygiene gaps other papers this week measured.