Overview

International merchandise and services trade statistics from UN Comtrade. Resolve country and HS commodity codes, fetch bilateral trade flows and services trade, and compute balances, partner/commodity rankings, and data availability.

Tools

Resources

Both resources are also reachable via tools — comtrade_lookup_countries and comtrade_search_commodities cover the same data with keyword search.

Capability reference

comtrade_lookup_countries _tool

• Accepts a partial or full country name, or an ISO alpha-2/alpha-3 code; role filters to "reporter", "partner", or "any" (default)
• validAsReporter flag on each match — regional groupings (e.g. World, EU) are valid partners but not valid reporters
• include_groups (default true) toggles regional/economic groupings in the results
• Reference data loads from UN static files at startup — no subscription key required, instant response

comtrade_search_commodities _tool

• Free-text keyword, partial description, or code-prefix search; classification selects HS (combined dataset, default) or a specific edition H0–H6
• aggr_level narrows to 2 (chapter), 4 (heading), or 6 (subheading); omit for all levels
• limit defaults to 50; values above 200 return all matches. truncated: true when matches exceed a smaller limit
• recommendedQueryCode on each result — the best code to pass as cmd_code in trade queries

comtrade_list_service_categories _tool

• Lists EBOPS 2010 service categories, optionally filtered by keyword or parent_code
• limit defaults to 100; values above 500 return all categories. truncated: true when matches exceed a smaller limit
• Returned id is the service_code for comtrade_get_services_trade

comtrade_get_trade_flows _tool

• Requires reporter_code, flow_code (M import / X export / RX re-export / RM re-import), and period values (YYYY or YYYYMM). Up to 120 periods are accepted but only the first 12 are served; the rest are listed in unservedPeriods
• partner_code: 0 returns the World total; omit it for a per-partner breakdown. classification supports HS, H0–H6, and SITC S1–S4/SS (commodity search is HS-only)
• cmd_code[] accepts up to 200 codes and serves the first 20, listing the rest in unservedCmdCodes; omit it or pass ["TOTAL"] for cross-commodity totals. truncated: true plus truncationHint means the response hit the 500-record cap; isReported separates directly reported rows from UN-estimated ones

comtrade_get_trade_balance _tool

• Returns balanceUsd (signed), exportsUsd, importsUsd, and coverageRatio (exports / imports) per period. Optional cmd_code[] restricts the balance to HS or SITC commodities
• Serves 12 periods and 20 codes per call (accepts up to 120 and 200), listing the rest in unservedPeriods/unservedCmdCodes. A notice warns when either flow hit the 500-record cap and the balance may be incomplete
• mirrorCaveat on every response: the balance reflects this reporter's own values, not the partner's mirror data

comtrade_get_top_partners _tool

• Takes one reporter_code, flow_code (M/X), and single period; optional single cmd_code (omit for total merchandise trade)
• Returns up to limit partners (default 10; above 50 returns all retrieved), each with rank, primaryValueUsd, and sharePercent
• truncated: true when the fetch hit the 500-record cap

comtrade_get_top_commodities _tool

• Takes one reporter_code, flow_code, and single period; aggr_level is 2 (HS chapter, default) or 4 (heading). partner_code defaults to World (0); set it to scope to one partner
• Returns up to limit categories (default 10; above 50 returns all retrieved), each with rank, primaryValueUsd, and sharePercent
• truncated: true when the fetch hit the 500-record cap

comtrade_get_data_availability _tool

• All filters optional — reporter_code, period, freq (A/M, default A), type_code (C goods / S services, default C), classification (omitted or blank resolves to HS for goods, EB10 for services)
• Returns per-dataset totalRecords, firstReleased, and lastReleased where available; omit all filters to browse goods availability
• Annual data typically publishes 3–12 months after the reference year — call this before querying recent periods

comtrade_get_services_trade _tool

• Same inputs as comtrade_get_trade_flows: reporter_code, flow_code (M/X), period values, optional partner_code (0 for all partners combined). Serves the first 12 of up to 120 periods, listing the rest in unservedPeriods
• service_code filters to one EBOPS category; resolve it with comtrade_list_service_categories
• truncated: true plus truncationHint when the response hit the 500-record cap. Country and period coverage is more limited than for goods

comtrade://countries _resource

• Complete country/area list as application/json — M49 code, ISO identifiers, validAsReporter, and isGroup
• Loaded from the same startup reference cache comtrade_lookup_countries searches

comtrade://hs-classification/{level} _resource

• level path param accepts 2 (chapters), 4 (headings), or 6 (subheadings); any other value throws a validation error
• Returns each code's description, parent, and isLeaf; full leaf enumeration is too large to inject — use comtrade_search_commodities for keyword search

Features

Built on @cyanheads/mcp-ts-core: stdio and Streamable HTTP transports, pluggable auth (none / jwt / oauth), swappable storage (in-memory, filesystem, Supabase, Cloudflare KV/R2/D1), structured logging with optional OpenTelemetry tracing.

Comtrade-specific:

• Reference data (country codes, HS hierarchy, EBOPS categories) loaded from UN static files at startup — keyword search with no per-request fetches
• Authenticated (data/v1/get) and public preview (public/v1/preview) endpoints — tools fall back to the preview endpoint when no subscription key is set
• Parallel sub-request execution in workflow tools (comtrade_get_trade_balance runs export and import fetches concurrently)
• Retry with exponential backoff on transient failures, honoring an upstream Retry-After header when present
• Description enrichment — joins country and HS/EBOPS names from the reference cache, covering the preview endpoint's omission of *Desc fields

Agent-friendly output:

• truncated: true plus a recovery hint when a public preview response reaches 500 records
• isReported flag on trade flow records distinguishes directly-reported values from UN-estimated/aggregated rows
• validAsReporter on country lookups prevents constructing invalid queries with partner-only area codes
• mirrorCaveat on trade-balance output surfaces the methodological caveat without parsing error text

Getting started

Public Hosted Instance

A public instance is available at https://un-comtrade.caseyjhand.com/mcp — no installation required. It runs on the keyless public preview endpoint (500 records per upstream request), splitting served periods into paced requests at least one second apart. Balance needs two requests per period, so longer arrays take more time. Point any MCP client at it via Streamable HTTP:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "un-comtrade-mcp-server": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "https://un-comtrade.caseyjhand.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Self-Hosted / Local

Prerequisites: A UN Comtrade subscription key is optional. Without one, tools use the public preview endpoint (500 records per upstream request). A key selects authenticated access; retrieval and request limits depend on UN Comtrade and the subscription.

Add the following to your MCP client configuration file.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "un-comtrade-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": ["@cyanheads/un-comtrade-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info",
        "COMTRADE_SUBSCRIPTION_KEY": "your-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or with npx (no Bun required):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "un-comtrade-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@cyanheads/un-comtrade-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE": "stdio",
        "MCP_LOG_LEVEL": "info",
        "COMTRADE_SUBSCRIPTION_KEY": "your-key-here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or with Docker:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "un-comtrade-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=stdio",
        "-e", "COMTRADE_SUBSCRIPTION_KEY=your-key-here",
        "ghcr.io/cyanheads/un-comtrade-mcp-server:latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

For Streamable HTTP, set the transport and start the server:

MCP_TRANSPORT_TYPE=http MCP_HTTP_PORT=3010 COMTRADE_SUBSCRIPTION_KEY=... bun run start:http
# Server listens at http://localhost:3010/mcp

Prerequisites

• Bun v1.4.0 or higher (or Node.js v24+). Development and Docker images use Bun 1.4.3.
• Optional: a UN Comtrade subscription key for authenticated API access subject to subscription limits. Without one, data tools use the public preview endpoint (500 records per upstream request). Reference/lookup tools (comtrade_lookup_countries, comtrade_search_commodities, comtrade_list_service_categories) never require a key — they query static UN reference files.

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/cyanheads/un-comtrade-mcp-server.git

2. Navigate into the directory:

cd un-comtrade-mcp-server

3. Install dependencies:

bun install

4. Configure environment:

cp .env.example .env
# edit .env and set COMTRADE_SUBSCRIPTION_KEY if you have one

Configuration

All configuration is validated at startup via Zod schemas in src/config/server-config.ts.

See .env.example for the full list of optional overrides.

Running the server

Local development

• Build and run:

  shCopy

  # One-time build
  bun run rebuild
  
  # Run the built server
  bun run start:stdio
  # or
  bun run start:http
  

• Run checks and tests:

  shCopy

  bun run devcheck   # Lint, format, typecheck, security
  bun run test       # Vitest test suite
  bun run lint:mcp   # Validate MCP definitions against spec
  

Docker

docker build -t un-comtrade-mcp-server .
docker run --rm -e COMTRADE_SUBSCRIPTION_KEY=your-key -p 3010:3010 un-comtrade-mcp-server

The Dockerfile defaults to HTTP transport, stateless session mode, and logs to /var/log/un-comtrade-mcp-server. OpenTelemetry peer dependencies are installed by default — build with --build-arg OTEL_ENABLED=false to omit them.

Project structure

Development guide

See CLAUDE.md for development guidelines and architectural rules. The short version:

• Handlers throw, framework catches — no try/catch in tool logic
• Use ctx.log for request-scoped logging, ctx.state for tenant-scoped storage
• Register new tools and resources via the barrels in src/mcp-server/*/definitions/index.ts
• Wrap external API calls: validate raw → normalize to domain type → return output schema; never fabricate missing fields
• Reference data (countries, HS codes) joins must pull from the startup cache, not per-request fetches

Data license

Use UN Comtrade data in accordance with the UN Comtrade license agreement, including its redistribution terms.

Contributing

Issues are welcome. Run checks and tests before submitting:

bun run devcheck
bun run test

License

Apache-2.0 — see LICENSE for details.