Integrate Goose with Live AlloyDB 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 AlloyDB data. You can list catalogs, explore schemas, and query records from AlloyDB data using natural language prompts, with all data access running securely against authorized sources.

This article explains how to configure AlloyDB 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 AlloyDB data from the Goose chat.

Step 1: Configure AlloyDB connectivity for Goose

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

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

2. Select AlloyDB from the Add Connection panel

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

   The following connection properties are usually required in order to connect to AlloyDB.

   • Server: The host name or IP of the server hosting the AlloyDB database.
   • User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the AlloyDB server.
   • Password: The password which will be used to authenticate with the AlloyDB server.

   You can also optionally set the following:

   • Database: The database to connect to when connecting to the AlloyDB Server. If this is not set, the user's default database will be used.
   • Port: The port of the server hosting the AlloyDB database. This property is set to 5432 by default.

   Authenticating with Standard Authentication

   Standard authentication (using the user/password combination supplied earlier) is the default form of authentication.

   No further action is required to leverage Standard Authentication to connect.

   Authenticating with pg_hba.conf Auth Schemes

   There are additional methods of authentication available which must be enabled in the pg_hba.conf file on the AlloyDB server.

   Find instructions about authentication setup on the AlloyDB Server here.

   Authenticating with MD5 Authentication

   This authentication method must be enabled by setting the auth-method in the pg_hba.conf file to md5.

   Authenticating with SASL Authentication

   This authentication method must be enabled by setting the auth-method in the pg_hba.conf file to scram-sha-256.

   Authenticating with Kerberos

   The authentication with Kerberos is initiated by AlloyDB Server when the ∏ is trying to connect to it. You should set up Kerberos on the AlloyDB Server to activate this authentication method. Once you have Kerberos authentication set up on the AlloyDB Server, see the Kerberos section of the help documentation for details on how to authenticate with Kerberos.

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

Step 3: Query live AlloyDB data from Goose

With the integration complete, use the Goose chat to interact with live AlloyDB 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 AlloyDB
   • Query the top 5 records from a table in AlloyDB data
2. Goose calls the Connect AI MCP Server and returns live results from AlloyDB data

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

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