diff --git a/.github/workflows/close-invalid-publish-prs.yml b/.github/workflows/close-invalid-publish-prs.yml
index 934421b7..8666c3b2 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/close-invalid-publish-prs.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/close-invalid-publish-prs.yml
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ jobs:
       COMMENT_BODY: |
         Hi @__AUTHOR__ 👋 — thanks for your interest in the MCP Registry!
 
-        It looks like this PR is trying to publish an MCP server by adding or editing files in this repository (under `servers/` or in `data/seed.json`). That isn't how servers get published, so I'm closing this PR automatically.
+        It looks like this PR is trying to publish an MCP server by adding or editing server files in this repository (under `servers/`, `data/servers/`, or in `data/seed.json`). That isn't how servers get published, so I'm closing this PR automatically.
 
         **Servers are published with the [`mcp-publisher`](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/registry/blob/main/docs/modelcontextprotocol-io/quickstart.mdx) CLI**, not by opening a pull request against this repo. The CLI verifies that you own your namespace and submits your `server.json` directly to the live registry API.
 
@@ -121,10 +121,15 @@ jobs:
             echo "No files for PR #$PR_NUMBER; skipping."
             exit 0
           fi
+          # Keep this list in sync with the copy in stage 1.
           publish_attempt=0
           other=0
           for f in "${FILES[@]}"; do
-            if [[ "$f" == servers/* || "$f" == "data/seed.json" ]]; then
+            if [[ "$f" == servers/* \
+               || "$f" == data/servers/* \
+               || "$f" == "data/seed.json" \
+               || "$f" == "server.json" \
+               || "$f" == "servers.json" ]]; then
               publish_attempt=1
             else
               other=1
diff --git a/.github/workflows/detect-invalid-publish-prs.yml b/.github/workflows/detect-invalid-publish-prs.yml
index 355521b0..c200f86f 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/detect-invalid-publish-prs.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/detect-invalid-publish-prs.yml
@@ -48,12 +48,24 @@ jobs:
               mapfile -t FILES < <(gh api --paginate "repos/$GH_REPO/pulls/$PR_NUMBER/files" --jq '.[].filename')
               if [ "${#FILES[@]}" -gt 0 ]; then
                 # Flag only if the PR touches *exclusively* publish-attempt files
-                # (servers/** and/or data/seed.json) and nothing else, so that
-                # legit PRs touching seed data alongside real code are left alone.
+                # and nothing else, so that legit PRs touching seed data
+                # alongside real code are left alone.
+                #
+                # Keep this list in sync with the copy in stage 2. It stays an
+                # explicit list rather than a broad `**/server.json` glob:
+                # because we require *every* file to match, an over-broad
+                # pattern would auto-close a legitimate single-file PR.
+                # data/servers/** is here because #1524 put its server.json
+                # there - a natural guess next to data/seed.json - and slipped
+                # through the original servers/**-only list.
                 publish_attempt=0
                 other=0
                 for f in "${FILES[@]}"; do
-                  if [[ "$f" == servers/* || "$f" == "data/seed.json" ]]; then
+                  if [[ "$f" == servers/* \
+                     || "$f" == data/servers/* \
+                     || "$f" == "data/seed.json" \
+                     || "$f" == "server.json" \
+                     || "$f" == "servers.json" ]]; then
                     publish_attempt=1
                   else
                     echo "Non-publish file changed: $f"