Run Zapier automations on live trend signals

Trends MCP is the measurement server. Zapier is the delivery bus marketing ops already uses for form fills and CRM updates. A Zap should POST to https://api.trendsmcp.ai/api with Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY and a JSON mode of get_time_series, get_growth, or get_top_trends. MCP chat clients call the history tool get_trends; Zapier REST should prefer get_time_series. Free usage is 100 requests per month. Starter is $19 per month. Zapier is the right client when the people who must see the alert live in Slack, HubSpot, or Google Sheets, and will not open n8n or Cursor to get the same number.

Webhooks by Zapier as the HTTP step

Schedule is a fine trigger. The first action is Webhooks by Zapier, method POST, URL https://api.trendsmcp.ai/api. Add header Authorization with Bearer YOUR_API_KEY. Body example:

{
  "mode": "get_growth",
  "source": "google search",
  "keyword": "glp-1",
  "percent_growth": ["30D", "12M"]
}

A Filter step reads the parsed growth field. Only then do Slack, email, or Asana actions run. A parallel path can always append the JSON to Sheets so a week of silence is still auditable.

Do not configure Zapier with Cursor transport JSON or Windsurf serverUrl. Do not use https://www.trendsmcp.ai/mcp (Claude.ai OAuth). Zapier wants REST. If a later AI step truly speaks MCP, its URL is https://api.trendsmcp.ai/mcp with the same Bearer key. The Make.com guide is the closest sibling; Zapier simply has fewer module types and a stricter step budget.

Code by Zapier (JavaScript or Python) is useful when the response array must be flattened into one row per period. Keep that code boring. Do not scrape HTML in Code steps when the API already returned growth.

When Zapier is the fit versus Make, n8n, and copilots

Zapier wins in companies that already pay for Zapier and staff a marketing ops person who thinks in Zaps, not in self-hosted graphs. Make wins when the scenario needs denser routers and Data Stores. n8n wins when engineering owns the workflow in git. Copilots win when a human is asking a one-off question. Trends MCP stays first in every comparison: same key, same sources, same request meter.

Brand and ecommerce pods often track the same ten phrases. One Zap, one watchlist Sheet, one webhook. Five Zaps that each call glp-1 on google search are five times the quota for one number. Centralize.

Zapier is a weak research environment. Long synthesis belongs in ChatGPT or Perplexity with MCP. Zapier should ship the alert those humans already defined.

Watchlists, filters, and destinations that stay maintainable

Put keywords in a Google Sheet. A Zapier loop or a repeating Zap reads rows. Each row: keyword, source, threshold, Slack channel. POST get_growth. Filter on threshold. Notify that channel. Write back recent_date and growth so the next human can see freshness.

Live feeds (get_top_trends) belong in a separate Zap with a named type such as Google Trends or TikTok Trending Hashtags and a small limit. Catch-all “all feeds” REST calls are quota grenades. Pair feed Zaps with brand monitoring process docs: velocity from Trends MCP, narrative from whatever listening stack the PR team already bought.

History Zaps (get_time_series) should run after a filter passes, not on every row every day. Five years of weekly points are large for Slack and about right for a Sheet tab named series.

Cadence versus the monthly request cap

The free 100 requests per month means a daily Zap on four keywords is already most of Free if each keyword also uses two sources. Weekly is the default. Daily is for a live campaign, and that campaign should sit on Starter ($19, 1,000 requests) or higher. Pricing lists Pro and Business. Annual billing saves 20 percent.

Zapier task limits and Trends MCP request limits are different invoices. A Zap can succeed as a Zapier task and still 429 on Trends MCP. Surface that error to Slack instead of auto-replay. Replays duplicate spend.

Store the Bearer token in Zapier’s secret fields. A screenshot of the webhook step in Confluence is a leak. Rotate if a contractor needed a share link to the Zap.

Limits of a step-based caller

Filters cannot fix a bad source string. google search works. Google does not. Reddit wants a subreddit without r/. Weekly grain makes hourly Zaps silly. Percent explosions on tiny baselines will pass a naive greater-than filter; also map baseline_value.

Zapier AI actions may try to “help” by calling web search instead of the webhook. Keep the webhook as a dedicated step so the number is deterministic. MCP is optional and usually noise in a Zap.

Zapier Paths and multi-step Zaps can hide a second webhook. Audit the Zap map for duplicate POSTs to api.trendsmcp.ai on the same keyword. Digest email Zaps that run after Slack already fired are the usual duplicate. One destination per threshold is enough; a status Sheet can cover everyone else.

Timezone on the Schedule trigger should match the team that reads Slack. A 07:00 UTC Zap that alerts a US East brand team at 03:00 local time gets muted, then someone adds a second Zap, then quota doubles. Pick one clock.

Zapier is the marketing-ops REST client for the shared Trends MCP server. It is not a live dashboard, not an IDE, and not a reason to skip keyword deduplication.