Integrate Goose with Live ADP Data via CData Connect AI

Goose is an open source AI agent that runs locally on your machine and works with a wide range of LLM providers. It supports the model context protocol (MCP) through its extensions framework, so you can add external tools and data sources and give the agent access to live systems beyond the model's training data.

By integrating Goose with CData Connect AI through the built-in MCP Server, Goose gains governed, real-time access to live ADP data. You can list catalogs, explore schemas, and query records from ADP data using natural language prompts, with all data access running securely against authorized sources.

This article explains how to configure ADP connectivity in Connect AI, generate the required personal access token, install and set up Goose, add the Connect AI MCP Server as a custom extension, and verify the integration by querying live ADP data from the Goose chat.

Step 1: Configure ADP connectivity for Goose

Connectivity to ADP from Goose is made possible through Connect AI's Remote MCP Server. To interact with ADP data from Goose, start by creating and configuring a ADP connection in Connect AI.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select ADP from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to ADP.

   Connect to ADP by specifying the following properties:

   • OAuthClientId: The client Id of the custom OAuth application you obtained from ADP.
   • OAuthClientSecret: The custom OAuth application's client secret.
   • SSLClientCert: Set this to the certificate provided during registration.
   • SSLClientCertPassword: Set this to the password of the certificate.
   • UseUAT: The connector makes requests to the production environment by default. If using a developer account, set UseUAT = true.
   • RowScanDepth: The maximum number of rows to scan for the custom fields columns available in the table. The default value will be set to 100. Setting a high value may decrease performance.

   The connector uses OAuth to authenticate with ADP. OAuth requires the authenticating user to interact with ADP using the browser. OAuth access can be configured in ADP through ADP API Central. For more information, refer ADP's API Central Quick Start Guide and the OAuth section in CData's Help documentation.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab and update user-based permissions

Add a Personal Access Token

A Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI from Goose. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each integration to maintain granular access control.

1. Click the gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open Settings
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT
3. Give the PAT a descriptive name and click Create

4. Copy the token when displayed and store it securely. It will not be shown again

With the ADP connection configured and a PAT generated, Goose can now connect to ADP data through Connect AI.

Step 2: Install and set up Goose

Next, install Goose, choose an LLM provider, and add the Connect AI Remote MCP Server as a custom extension so the agent can discover and call live data tools through Connect AI.

1. Download and install Goose by following the official installation guide, then launch the application
2. On the Welcome to goose screen, choose an AI provider. Select Use Free/Local Providers to run a local model, or Connect to a Provider to configure a provider such as OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google, and enter the required API key
3. In the left navigation, click Extensions, then click + Add custom extension
4. In the extension dialog, configure the server with the following values:
   • Extension Name: CData MCP, or any name of your choice
   • Type: Streamable HTTP
   • Endpoint: https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp
5. Under Request Headers, add the following two headers and click + Add after each pair:
   • Authorization: Basic your_base64_encoded_email_PAT
   • Content-Type: application/json

   Note: Goose will use Basic authentication with Connect AI. Combine your Connect AI user email and the PAT you created earlier in the format email:PAT, base64 encode the combined string, and prefix it with Basic. For example, given [email protected]:ABC123...XYZ789, the Authorization header value becomes something like: Basic dXNlckBkb21haW4uY29tOkFCQzEyMy4uLlhZWjc4OQ==

   
6. Click Save to save the configuration
7. Return to the chat, click the extensions icon at the bottom of the chat input, and confirm that the configured MCP is enabled

With the MCP server added and an LLM provider configured, Goose is ready to query live ADP data through Connect AI.

Step 3: Query live ADP data from Goose

With the integration complete, use the Goose chat to interact with live ADP data through natural language prompts handled by the configured LLM.

1. With the CData MCP extension enabled, type a prompt in the chat, for example:
   • List catalogs from my CData MCP
   • Show the available schemas and tables for ADP
   • Query the top 5 records from a table in ADP data
2. Goose calls the Connect AI MCP Server and returns live results from ADP data

At this point, your Goose agent communicates with the Connect AI MCP Server and retrieves live ADP data through remote MCP tools directly from the chat.

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