--- title: The Kin Score, Facet By Facet: Discoverability | daily.dev description: The Kin Score's Discoverability facet, part of a nine-day walkthrough following the 0.23 'London' release, is explained in detail: it measures whether an API... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-kin-score-facet-by-facet-discoverability-u3iqbmapb twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The Kin Score, Facet By Facet: Discoverability | daily.dev og:description: The Kin Score's Discoverability facet, part of a nine-day walkthrough following the 0.23 'London' release, is explained in detail: it measures whether an API... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-kin-score-facet-by-facet-discoverability-u3iqbmapb og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/U3IQbMapb.png og:image:alt: The Kin Score, Facet By Facet: Discoverability og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The Kin Score, Facet By Facet: Discoverability **[API Evangelist](https://daily.dev/sources/apievangelist)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary The Kin Score's Discoverability facet, part of a nine-day walkthrough following the 0.23 'London' release, is explained in detail: it measures whether an API can be found and understood from machine-readable metadata alone via checks like APIs.json indexes, self-hosting, docs and base URLs, .well-known files (RFC 9727 api-catalog, security.txt, OAuth metadata), and llms.txt. New in 0.23 are checks for addressable MCP server endpoints, newsroom/leadership page pointers, requiring pointers to actually resolve, and recognizing self-hosted catalog listings on owned domains. Marketing-site base URLs were stripped from 3,035 API records across 1,583 providers. Across 27,274 scored providers the facet averages 55.3 (median 55.4), with 4.2% scoring zero and 7.4% scoring 75+; Stripe scores 50.0 on discoverability despite an 81.6 overall score, illustrating that a strong API can still be poorly self-described in machine-readable form. Recommendations include self-hosting the generated APIs.json index, adding proper docs/base URLs, serving a .well-known file, writing an authored llms.txt, and publishing full MCP server URLs. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What does the Discoverability facet in Kin Score 0.23 actually check for an API provider? It is 15 checks worth 60 points (10% of the composite score) testing whether an API can be found and understood from machine-readable metadata alone. Biggest weights: publishing your own apis.yml index (10 points), hosting it on your own domain (4 points), a description and five tags (5 points each), docs/base URLs per API (5 points each), a .well-known surface like an RFC 9727 api-catalog or security.txt (6 points), and a self-authored llms.txt (4 points). _Track how API metadata standards like APIs.json and llms.txt evolve by following agent-readiness coverage on daily.dev._ ### Why does Stripe score only 50 out of 100 on API discoverability despite having a strong overall API reputation? Stripe scores 81.6 overall in the Kin Score catalog, with 100 on operational transparency and 94.6 on developer ergonomics, but only 50.0 on discoverability. This does not reflect API quality; it reflects that Stripe does not expose itself in the machine-readable places the facet checks, such as a self-hosted APIs.json index, a served .well-known surface, or an authored llms.txt, which means an agent starting cold would struggle to find it. _Developers comparing API providers on agent-readiness can weigh signals like this alongside daily.dev's tracking of API tooling changes._ ### What changed in the Kin Score 0.23 London release for how MCP servers and self-hosted indexes are scored? Four changes landed: a new 4-point check grades whether an agent can address an MCP server endpoint directly (full credit for an addressable URL, half for documented, zero for a templated placeholder); newsroom and leadership pages now count as pointers worth one point each; repo-relative pointers only earn credit if the file actually resolves; and self-hosting on a catalog host now counts when that host is also the provider's own domain. Marketing-site base URLs were also stripped from 3,035 records across 1,583 providers. _Teams shipping MCP servers can stay ahead of scoring and discoverability changes tracked in daily.dev's coverage of agent tooling._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [APIs.io Provides Discovery-Grade Artifacts](https://daily.dev/posts/apis-io-provides-discovery-grade-artifacts-qi9dr8bju) · API Evangelist · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Every Talk At APIDays London, Mapped To The Kin Score](https://daily.dev/posts/every-talk-at-apidays-london-mapped-to-the-kin-score-whyhpicqp) · API Evangelist · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I Stopped Building the Onboarding Fix. Now I Keep Score.](https://daily.dev/posts/i-stopped-building-the-onboarding-fix-now-i-keep-score--ka44ggbgi) · API Evangelist · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [Introducing the Agent Readiness score. Is your site agent-ready?](https://daily.dev/posts/introducing-the-agent-readiness-score-is-your-site-agent-ready--qmivrcleo) · Cloudflare · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [The Six Facets Behind the API Evangelist Composite Score](https://daily.dev/posts/the-six-facets-behind-the-api-evangelist-composite-score-mfqkfcumu) · API Evangelist · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#mcp](https://daily.dev/tags/mcp) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-kin-score-facet-by-facet-discoverability-u3iqbmapb) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"The Kin Score, Facet By Facet: Discoverability","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-kin-score-facet-by-facet-discoverability-u3iqbmapb","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-kin-score-facet-by-facet-discoverability-u3iqbmapb"},"datePublished":"2026-09-29T12:42:58.528Z","dateModified":"2026-09-29T12:43:26.659Z","description":"The Kin Score's Discoverability facet, part of a nine-day walkthrough following the 0.23 'London' release, is explained in detail: it measures whether an API...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/06a6a6cea7d953dd616b445242223ba4?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/06a6a6cea7d953dd616b445242223ba4?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"API Evangelist","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"API Evangelist","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/a36244ae67bc4f41a605f780267ecb5f","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/apievangelist"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-kin-score-facet-by-facet-discoverability-u3iqbmapb","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"mcp","timeRequired":"PT6M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"API Evangelist","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/apievangelist"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The Kin Score, Facet By Facet: Discoverability"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-kin-score-facet-by-facet-discoverability-u3iqbmapb#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What does the Discoverability facet in Kin Score 0.23 actually check for an API provider?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"It is 15 checks worth 60 points (10% of the composite score) testing whether an API can be found and understood from machine-readable metadata alone. 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