Trends MCP for Continue.dev

Continue is the leading open-source AI coding assistant, used by hundreds of thousands of developers inside VS Code and JetBrains. Add Trends MCP and Continue's agent mode can query live trend data from Google, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, npm, and 12 more sources - directly in your editor, without switching context.

Continue is the most-used open-source AI coding assistant, with deep VS Code and JetBrains integration, configurable model routing, and full Model Context Protocol support in agent mode. For developers who care about data sovereignty and extensibility, it's the default choice.

MCP support in Continue means you can connect any MCP-compatible server and have Continue's agent call it in response to natural language prompts. Trends MCP adds a live trend data layer: npm package download trends, GitHub and developer tool momentum, Google Search demand, Reddit discussion volume, and 12 more sources - all queryable from your editor without leaving the coding context.

Setup

Continue reads MCP server configuration from YAML or JSON files in your .continue/mcpServers/ folder. Create that folder if it doesn't exist, then add a file named trends-mcp.yaml with the following contents:

name: Trends MCP
version: 0.0.1
schema: v1
mcpServers:
  - name: Trends MCP
    type: streamable-http
    url: https://api.trendsmcp.ai/mcp
    env:
      Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

Replace YOUR_API_KEY with the key from your Trends MCP account. Get a free key at trendsmcp.ai - 100 requests per day, no credit card required.

If you already have a JSON-format MCP config from Cursor, Claude Desktop, or Cline, Continue will also pick it up automatically if you place it in .continue/mcpServers/. The JSON format looks like this:

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

After saving, restart Continue or reload the window. Switch to agent mode and the four Trends MCP tools are available.

What you can ask Continue

Once connected, Continue's agent can call Trends MCP tools in response to natural language. Some examples that are genuinely useful for developers:

"Is Bun's npm download growth still outpacing Node.js adoption signals on Google Search and Reddit?" - get_growth compares the two across npm downloads, Google Search, and Reddit discussion in one call.

"What JavaScript frameworks are seeing the sharpest week-over-week growth in npm downloads right now?" - get_ranked_trends against the npm source returns the fastest-growing packages ranked by recent growth rate.

"How has interest in Rust vs. Go changed over the past year on Google and Reddit?" - get_trends pulls a 12-month weekly time series for both keywords across both sources.

"What's trending in developer tools right now?" - get_top_trends returns currently rising topics in developer-adjacent platforms without requiring a keyword.

These are the kinds of research questions that normally require opening multiple browser tabs, pulling data manually, and reconciling numbers across sources. With Trends MCP in Continue, the agent handles it in one tool call and returns structured data it can immediately reason over and incorporate into its response.

Why developers use this

The most common use case is technology evaluation. When you're deciding between two libraries, two frameworks, or two architectural patterns, download trends and search interest are signals worth checking - not to replace judgment, but to calibrate it. A library with declining npm downloads and flat Reddit discussion isn't necessarily wrong for your use case, but the trajectory is worth knowing before you build a production dependency on it.

The second common use case is content and documentation strategy. Developers who write technical content - blog posts, documentation, tutorials - benefit from knowing which topics are gaining search momentum before the topic is saturated with competing content. get_ranked_trends with a developer-adjacent source returns those rising topics before they're obvious.

Continue's agent mode is well-suited to this because it can chain tool calls. Ask it to "find the five fastest-growing npm packages this month and check each one's Google Search trend over the past year" and it will call get_ranked_trends to get the package list, then call get_trends for each one - returning a structured comparison you can act on immediately.

Common questions

Yes. Continue supports MCP servers in agent mode via YAML or JSON configuration files. Add Trends MCP's streamable-HTTP transport configuration to your .continue/mcpServers/ folder and all four Trends MCP tools become available to Continue's agent - get_trends, get_growth, get_ranked_trends, and get_top_trends.
Use streamable-http. Trends MCP is a remote hosted server accessible at https://api.trendsmcp.ai/mcp. The streamable-http transport type in Continue supports remote MCP servers over standard HTTP, which is what Trends MCP uses. SSE transport also works if your Continue version supports it.
MCP tools in Continue are only available in agent mode, which is Continue's current MCP limitation as of 2026. Standard chat and autocomplete modes do not have access to MCP tools. Switch to agent mode and Continue can call get_trends, get_growth, and other Trends MCP tools in response to natural language prompts.
Ask Continue to pull live npm download data for packages you're evaluating, check whether a technology's search and developer community interest is growing or declining before committing to it, compare framework adoption signals across Google Search and Reddit, or surface what is trending in developer tools right now - all without leaving your editor or switching to a browser.
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