Integrating Claude Code CLI with Blackbaud FE NXT Data via CData CLI

Claude Code is Anthropic's agentic command-line tool that brings AI assistance directly into your development workflow. Running natively in the terminal, it can plan and execute multi-step tasks: reading files, running commands, and making decisions across your project without constant manual input. Its ability to load and follow agent skill files makes it especially well-suited for structured workflows, making it a natural fit for connecting to external data sources through tools like CData CLI. With Claude Code, you can describe your data goals in plain language and let the agent handle driver setup, connection configuration, and query execution automatically.

This article details step-by-step directions for how to connect Blackbaud FE NXT data to Claude Code CLI through CData CLI.

Prerequisites

• Claude Code installed
• CData CLI installed

Step 1: Download skill (one-time setup)

The CData CLI should always be used with the official Skill.

• The official CData CLI Skill on GitHub can be downloaded using npx skills through the terminal:

  npx skills add CDataSoftware/cli-skills

• Follow prompts in terminal to install skill for Claude Code

Step 2: Set up project directory

A project directory should be created to contain all project files.

Navigate to directory within the terminal and start a session using the claude command

Step 3: Establish driver and connection

Describe what you hope to accomplish in this session with the CLI and Blackbaud FE NXT data. For example, consider the following prompt:

"I would like to build a command line app that connects to Blackbaud FE NXT data and checks for updates from Accounts. Make sure to include data from important columns like AccountId and AccountNumber."

This should automatically load the Skill and kick off the following process. You can always manually prompt the agent for each of the following steps.

1. Driver setup: Check for existing CData Blackbaud FE NXT driver, or search and download a new one:

   1. cdatacli drivers list

   2. cdatacli drivers search FinancialEdgeNXT

   3. cdatacli drivers download --artifact-id "artifact-id"

2. Activation: Activate Blackbaud FE NXT driver with a single command for trial or full license:

   1. cdatacli drivers activate FinancialEdgeNXT --name "name" --email "email" --trial

   2. cdatacli drivers activate FinancialEdgeNXT --name "name" --email "email" --key "product-key"

3. Establish Blackbaud FE NXT connection: Check for existing Blackbaud FE NXT connections or create a new one:

   1. cdatacli connection list

   2. cdatacli connection create --driver FinancialEdgeNXT –name "my_FinancialEdgeNXT_connection" --connectionstring "Prop1=value1;Prop2=value2;..."

4. Create Blackbaud FE NXT skill (if applicable): CData provides driver instructions for popular sources that can be used to create a source specific skill to guide the agent through best practices for the driver. Run the following command to generate a skill file and save the output to your skills directory. You can choose to save the skill either at the project level or globally. (Note: If "No instructions available for Blackbaud FE NXT" error is returned, no driver instructions exist and you can continue to use main driver skill)

   cdatacli drivers skill FinancialEdgeNXT > ~/skills/cdata-FinancialEdgeNXT/SKILL.md

Step 4: Query Blackbaud FE NXT data

With the CData Blackbaud FE NXT Driver fully setup, your agent can now begin executing queries and writing code if desired.

cdatacli query sql --connection "my_Blackbaud FE NXT data_connection" --sql "SELECT * FROM table"

Query Blackbaud FE NXT data directly from your terminal with CData CLI

Claude Code and CData CLI together give your AI coding agent a direct path to live Blackbaud FE NXT data without custom middleware, scheduled syncs, or manual setup at each step. Describe your goal, and the agent handles driver configuration, connection setup, and query execution from start to finish in the terminal.

Download the free CData CLI and start a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Blackbaud FE NXT today.