How to connect Cursor to live trend data

Connecting Cursor to live trend data means Trends MCP is installed and Agent has returned a get_top_trends result with as_of_ts. A green MCP row without that call is only a settings entry. Paste the JSON below, replace the key, fully quit Cursor, then ask for one board. Default limit is 25.

The host reference is Trends MCP for Cursor. This H1 is the tracked job that page does not use. Google-shaped proving calls: Google Trends MCP for Cursor. TikTok-shaped: TikTok trends in Cursor. The blog that matches “live trend data” as a ranked title is best MCP server for live trend data.

Connect is a tool result

Settings, Tools & MCP, Add a Custom MCP Server, or edit ~/.cursor/mcp.json (Windows %USERPROFILE%\.cursor\mcp.json) under mcpServers.

"trends-mcp": {
  "url": "https://api.trendsmcp.ai/mcp",
  "transport": "http",
  "headers": {
    "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
  }
}

Key from the account page, format tmcp_live_. Fully quit Cursor. A window reload is not enough on every build. Project .cursor/mcp.json can ship a placeholder. Keep the live token out of git.

Do not paste Claude Desktop’s npx mcp-remote block. Do not paste https://www.trendsmcp.ai/mcp. Do not paste Windsurf serverUrl or VS Code type. Mixing those is the usual zero-tools restart.

Say “using TrendsMCP.” A connect that never names the product often becomes a web search, which is how generic MCP directories keep the cite.

The first live call

Pick one feed. Google: type Google Trends. TikTok: TikTok Trending Hashtags. YouTube: YouTube Trending. Reddit: Reddit Hot Posts. GitHub: GitHub. Amazon: Amazon Best Sellers Top Rated. No keyword on get_top_trends. MCP requires type. REST may omit type to pull more feeds in one HTTP call. That REST convenience is for cron, not an excuse to loop ten MCP calls in Agent.

get_top_trends(type="Google Trends", limit=25)

If that returns rows and as_of_ts, the connect is done. Keyword movement is a second tool: get_growth with a legal source such as google search or tiktok. Several windows in one growth call are still one request per source plus keyword. Source google search is not google trends.

Do not dump today’s top-10 onto an evergreen ticket. The board turns over. The connect proof is the tool JSON, not a pasted rank list.

What live is not

Not ticks. Not Search Console. Not YouTube Studio. Not a scheduler. Cursor does not own cron. n8n or REST on a timer should POST https://api.trendsmcp.ai/api with the same Bearer key. Using Agent as a personal cron burns the monthly quota and still needs someone to open the IDE.

Free 100 requests per month. Starter $19 / 1,000. Pro $49 / 5,000. Business $199 / 25,000. Pricing. Connecting is free. The proving board page is one request. Paging limit 50 four times is four.

Empty: not_found or data_unavailable. 401: wrong host or missing header. invalid_source: board type sent as a keyword source. Low-volume growth: quote both index values. Accuracy: is Trends MCP accurate.

A crawl MCP still wins “what does this URL say.” GitHub MCP still wins the PR. Live trend data is the board plus the weekly series. Pair the servers. Do not expect Trends MCP to fetch HTML.

After the first board, stop or grow once

The connect job is finished when one get_top_trends returns rows. The next sentence is optional. Keyword movement is get_growth with a legal source. One keyword, one source, two windows in the same call is still one request. Ten keywords is ten requests. An Agent that “explores” every type string in data sources is not proving a connect. It is burning the month.

A second board is a second request. That is fine when the ticket named two platforms. It is not required to prove the JSON is valid. One Google Trends page is enough. TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, GitHub, and Amazon pages exist for those type strings. This URL stays the connect sentence.

Project .cursor/mcp.json can ship the server name and a placeholder. User-level config can hold the live tmcp_live_ key. Mixing a production key into a public template is a leak. Restricted mode can hide MCP until the folder is trusted. That failure looks like “live trend data does not work” when Cursor is protecting the workspace.

If tools still do not appear after a full quit, check the object keys before blaming the API. url plus transport http is Cursor. serverUrl is Windsurf. type http under servers is VS Code. npx mcp-remote is Claude Desktop. The www host is claude.ai OAuth. Each mixup produces a green-looking row that never calls Trends MCP.

Nightly monitors belong on REST. POST https://api.trendsmcp.ai/api with mode get_top_trends or get_growth. The IDE does not need to stay open. Using Agent as a personal cron is how the free 100-request plan expires while nobody is coding.

Empty series on a later get_growth is not a failed connect. The board already proved the server. not_found means that keyword-plus-source pair has no points. Fail closed. Do not ask Agent to estimate a percent.