@@ -330,3 +330,42 @@ mcp-publisher login http azure-key-vault --domain="${MY_DOMAIN}" --vault "${MY_K
 ```
 
 </CodeGroup>
+
+### Troubleshooting failed HTTP verification
+
+The Registry fetches your verification file from its own infrastructure when you run `mcp-publisher login http`, so a `curl` that succeeds on your machine does not prove that login will work. The Registry itself must be able to reach the endpoint.
+
+<Warning>
+  If the Registry cannot use the endpoint, login fails with `token exchange failed with status 401` even though the file is served correctly to every other client.
+</Warning>
+
+The fetch is a plain HTTPS request with these properties:
+
+| Property | Requirement |
+| --- | --- |
+| Request | `GET https://<domain>/.well-known/mcp-registry-auth`, sent with `Accept: text/plain` and `User-Agent: mcp-registry/1.0` |
+| Status | `200 OK`. Redirects are not followed, so a `3xx` fails verification |
+| Body | the proof record, at most 4096 bytes. Surrounding whitespace is ignored |
+| Timeout | 10 seconds for the whole request |
+| Origin | the hosted Registry runs on Google Cloud, so the request arrives from Google Cloud addresses rather than a fixed address you can allowlist per request |
+
+Because the request originates from cloud infrastructure rather than a browser on a residential network, the usual causes of failure are edge rules that block it:
+
+- a WAF, bot-management, or "under attack" rule that challenges or blocks non-browser clients
+- a geo-block or IP allowlist that excludes Google Cloud address ranges
+- an `AAAA` (IPv6) record pointing at an address that is not reachable. Verification fails if none of the domain's public addresses can be reached, even when IPv4 works in a browser
+- a `301`/`302` redirect to another host or path, which the Registry does not follow
+- `/.well-known/mcp-registry-auth` answering `200 OK` with an HTML error page instead of the proof record
+
+To see what the Registry sees, request the file the same way it does, ideally from a network other than your own:
+
+```bash
+curl -sS -o - -w '\n%{http_code}\n' \
+  -H 'Accept: text/plain' \
+  -A 'mcp-registry/1.0' \
+  https://example.com/.well-known/mcp-registry-auth
+```
+
+The response body must be the proof record printed by the login command (`v=MCPv1; k=...; p=...`). When the Registry cannot use the endpoint, the login error carries the Registry's own fetch failure, such as `dial tcp <ip>:443: i/o timeout`, `HTTP 403: failed to fetch key from ...`, or `HTTP 301: failed to fetch key from ...`. Allow plain HTTPS clients through for `/.well-known/mcp-registry-auth`, serve the path without redirects, then retry.
+
+Addresses that resolve to loopback, private, link-local, or carrier-grade NAT ranges are refused by design, so the endpoint must be reachable at a public address.
@@ -38,16 +38,26 @@ func NewDefaultHTTPKeyFetcher() *DefaultHTTPKeyFetcher {
 	transport := http.DefaultTransport.(*http.Transport).Clone()
 	transport.DialContext = safeDialContext
 
-	return &DefaultHTTPKeyFetcher{
-		client: &http.Client{
-			Timeout: 10 * time.Second,
-			// Disable redirects for security purposes:
-			// Prevents people doing weird things like sending us to internal endpoints at different paths
-			CheckRedirect: func(_ *http.Request, _ []*http.Request) error {
-				return http.ErrUseLastResponse
-			},
-			Transport: transport,
+	return &DefaultHTTPKeyFetcher{client: newHTTPKeyFetcherClient(transport)}
+}
+
+// httpKeyFetchTimeout bounds the entire well-known fetch, including DNS resolution
+// and the TLS handshake. It is part of the documented verification contract: an
+// endpoint that cannot answer within this budget fails authentication.
+const httpKeyFetchTimeout = 10 * time.Second
+
+// newHTTPKeyFetcherClient builds the HTTP client used to fetch a domain's
+// well-known verification key. The transport is a parameter so that tests can
+// exercise the production timeout and redirect policy against a local server.
+func newHTTPKeyFetcherClient(transport http.RoundTripper) *http.Client {
+	return &http.Client{
+		Timeout: httpKeyFetchTimeout,
+		// Disable redirects for security purposes:
+		// Prevents people doing weird things like sending us to internal endpoints at different paths
+		CheckRedirect: func(_ *http.Request, _ []*http.Request) error {
+			return http.ErrUseLastResponse
 		},
+		Transport: transport,
 	}
 }
 
 
@@ -1,8 +1,15 @@
 package auth
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
+	"context"
+	"crypto/tls"
 	"net"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 )
 
 func TestIsBlockedIP(t *testing.T) {
@@ -78,3 +85,128 @@ func TestIsBlockedIP(t *testing.T) {
 		})
 	}
 }
+
+// Mirrors the constants of the same purpose in the external test package; the
+// well-known path and a placeholder domain are all FetchKey needs, since the
+// transport dials the local test server regardless of the request hostname.
+const (
+	internalWellKnownPath = "/.well-known/mcp-registry-auth"
+	internalTestDomain    = "example.com"
+)
+
+// newLocalTLSTransport builds a transport that reaches srv regardless of the
+// hostname in the request URL, so the production client configuration can be
+// exercised against a local server.
+func newLocalTLSTransport(srv *httptest.Server) *http.Transport {
+	dialAddr := srv.Listener.Addr().String()
+	return &http.Transport{
+		TLSClientConfig: &tls.Config{InsecureSkipVerify: true}, //nolint:gosec // testing only
+		DialContext: func(ctx context.Context, network, _ string) (net.Conn, error) {
+			d := &net.Dialer{}
+			return d.DialContext(ctx, network, dialAddr)
+		},
+		ForceAttemptHTTP2:   false,
+		MaxIdleConns:        10,
+		IdleConnTimeout:     30 * time.Second,
+		TLSHandshakeTimeout: 5 * time.Second,
+	}
+}
+
+func newLocalTLSFetcher(srv *httptest.Server) *DefaultHTTPKeyFetcher {
+	return &DefaultHTTPKeyFetcher{client: newHTTPKeyFetcherClient(newLocalTLSTransport(srv))}
+}
+
+// The published HTTP verification contract (see
+// docs/modelcontextprotocol-io/authentication.mdx) tells users the endpoint must
+// answer 200 OK directly, so the client must never follow a redirect to another
+// host or path.
+func TestHTTPKeyFetcherClient_DoesNotFollowRedirects(t *testing.T) {
+	var redirectTargetHit bool
+
+	target := httptest.NewTLSServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, _ *http.Request) {
+		redirectTargetHit = true
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+		_, _ = w.Write([]byte("v=MCPv1; k=ed25519; p=REDIRECTED"))
+	}))
+	defer target.Close()
+
+	redirector := httptest.NewTLSServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		if r.URL.Path != internalWellKnownPath {
+			w.WriteHeader(http.StatusNotFound)
+			return
+		}
+		http.Redirect(w, r, target.URL+internalWellKnownPath, http.StatusMovedPermanently)
+	}))
+	defer redirector.Close()
+
+	fetcher := newLocalTLSFetcher(redirector)
+
+	_, err := fetcher.FetchKey(context.Background(), internalTestDomain)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("expected the redirect to fail verification, got nil error")
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "HTTP 301") {
+		t.Fatalf("got err=%v, want it to report HTTP 301", err)
+	}
+	if redirectTargetHit {
+		t.Error("the redirect target was requested; redirects must not be followed")
+	}
+}
+
+// Pins the timeout users are told to satisfy and the request headers the
+// documented fetch sends.
+func TestHTTPKeyFetcherClient_TimeoutAndRequestHeaders(t *testing.T) {
+	type observed struct {
+		accept    string
+		userAgent string
+	}
+	var got observed
+
+	srv := httptest.NewTLSServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		got = observed{accept: r.Header.Get("Accept"), userAgent: r.Header.Get("User-Agent")}
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+		_, _ = w.Write([]byte("  v=MCPv1; k=ed25519; p=PUBLIC_KEY\n"))
+	}))
+	defer srv.Close()
+
+	fetcher := newLocalTLSFetcher(srv)
+
+	if fetcher.client.Timeout != httpKeyFetchTimeout {
+		t.Errorf("client timeout = %v, want %v", fetcher.client.Timeout, httpKeyFetchTimeout)
+	}
+
+	key, err := fetcher.FetchKey(context.Background(), internalTestDomain)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if want := "v=MCPv1; k=ed25519; p=PUBLIC_KEY"; key != want {
+		t.Errorf("key = %q, want %q (surrounding whitespace must be trimmed)", key, want)
+	}
+	if want := "text/plain"; got.accept != want {
+		t.Errorf("Accept = %q, want %q", got.accept, want)
+	}
+	if want := "mcp-registry/1.0"; got.userAgent != want {
+		t.Errorf("User-Agent = %q, want %q", got.userAgent, want)
+	}
+}
+
+// A body above the documented 4096 byte limit must fail even when the server
+// answers 200 OK.
+func TestHTTPKeyFetcher_RejectsResponseAboveDocumentedLimit(t *testing.T) {
+	srv := httptest.NewTLSServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		if r.URL.Path != internalWellKnownPath {
+			w.WriteHeader(http.StatusNotFound)
+			return
+		}
+		w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
+		_, _ = w.Write(bytes.Repeat([]byte("A"), MaxKeyResponseSize+1))
+	}))
+	defer srv.Close()
+
+	fetcher := newLocalTLSFetcher(srv)
+
+	_, err := fetcher.FetchKey(context.Background(), internalTestDomain)
+	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "too large") {
+		t.Fatalf("got err=%v, want a response-too-large error", err)
+	}
+}