Integrating Claude Code with Cosmos DB Data via CData Connect AI
Claude Code is an AI-powered development environment that brings intelligent code generation, automation, and interactive reasoning directly into your workflow. By integrating it with CData Connect AI, you can enable Claude Code to securely access, query, and interact with live enterprise data, such as Cosmos DB, through a standardized MCP tool interface.
CData Connect AI is a managed MCP platform that exposes your enterprise data sources through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This allows Claude Code to work with catalogs, schemas, tables, metadata, and SQL-enabled data access from more than 350 data sources, without requiring ETL pipelines or custom integration code.
This article explains how to register the CData Connect AI MCP endpoint in Claude Code, configure your Cosmos DB or other data source connection, and begin issuing real-time data queries directly from the coding environment. We explore how Claude Code uses the built-in MCP tools, such as getCatalogs, getSchemas, getTables, and queryData to help you write, debug, and automate development workflows powered by live Cosmos DB data securely and interactively.
Prerequisites
- An account in CData Connect AI
- A Claude Code account.
- Visual Studio Code installed on your system.
Step 1: Configure Cosmos DB connectivity for Claude Code
For Claude Code to access Cosmos DB, create a connection to Cosmos DB in CData Connect AI. This connection is then exposed to Claude Code using the remote MCP server.
- Log in to Connect AI click Sources, and then click + Add Connection
- From the available data sources, choose Cosmos DB
-
Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Cosmos DB
To obtain the connection string needed to connect to a Cosmos DB account using the SQL API, log in to the Azure Portal, select Azure Cosmos DB, and select your account. In the Settings section, click Connection String and set the following values:
- AccountEndpoint: The Cosmos DB account URL from the Keys blade of the Cosmos DB account
- AccountKey: In the Azure portal, navigate to the Cosmos DB service and select your Azure Cosmos DB account. From the resource menu, go to the Keys page. Find the PRIMARY KEY value and set AccountKey to this value.
- Click Save & Test
- Once authenticated, open the Permissions tab in the Cosmos DB connection and configure user-based permissions as required
Generate a Personal Access Token (PAT)
Claude Code authenticates to Connect AI using an account email and a Personal Access Token (PAT). Creating separate PATs for each integration is recommended to maintain access control granularity.
- In Connect AI, select the Gear icon in the top-right to open Settings
- Under Access Tokens, select Create PAT
- Provide a descriptive name for the token and select Create
- Copy the token and store it securely. The PAT will only be visible during creation
With the Cosmos DB connection configured and a PAT generated, Claude Code is prepared to connect to Cosmos DB data through the CData MCP server.
Step 2: Install Claude Code
Claude Code is distributed as an npm package. You can install it globally.
To install Claude Code on your system, open PowerShell, Terminal, or CMD as an Administrator and run:
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
Verify the installation using the following command:
npm list -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
Expected output should be:
C:\Users\User\AppData\Roaming pm `-- @anthropic-ai/[email protected]
Step 3: Authenticate Claude Code with Claude.ai
Link your local Claude Code environment with your Claude.ai account to enable secure access. In the terminal, run:
claude login
Claude Code outputs a URL, like:
Please visit https://claude.ai/login?code=
Follow these steps:
- Click the URL or paste it into your browser.
- Log in to Claude.ai.
- Claude.ai displays a verification code.
- Return to your terminal and enter/paste the provided verification code when prompted.
Once verified, you'll need to authenticate with Claude Code using an authentication code. Once done, your terminal should display:
You're all set up for Claude Code.
Claude Code is now linked to your Claude.ai account.
Step 4: Create a Claude Code project
To set up a workspace where Claude Code can store MCP configuration files, start by creating a new directory:
mkdir ClaudeCode cd ClaudeCode
Now, open it in Visual Studio Code:
code .
Step 5: Launch Claude Code and register the CData Connect AI MCP server
Before Claude Code can interact with Cosmos DB, you must register your CData Connect AI MCP endpoint. Claude Code uses this remote MCP server to securely access metadata, schemas, tables, and live query results.
Now register the CData Connect AI MCP server by running the following command in your Claude Code project directory:
claude mcp add connectmcp https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp \ --transport http \ --header "Authorization: Basic base64encoded(EMAIL:PAT)" \ --header "Content-Type: application/json"
Once added, verify that Claude recognizes your MCP server:
claude mcp list
If successful, you should see:
connectmcp: https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp (HTTP) - ✓ OK
Start the Claude Code assistant and verify that it detects your MCP server. To run, use the given command:
claude
Once Claude Code loads, you should see:
Loaded MCP Server: connectmcp
This confirms that Claude Code is now connected to your CData Connect AI instance.
Step 6: Explore Cosmos DB metadata
You can now use Claude Code's natural-language interface to list catalogs, schemas, and tables in Cosmos DB. Ask Claude:
List all CosmosDB catalogs using getCatalogs.
Claude automatically calls the appropriate MCP tool when you issue a request.
Try additional queries such as:
- "Show the available schemas."
- "List all tables in the Cosmos DB connection."
- "Retrieve the top 10 records from the Account table."
Claude Code uses the following MCP tools to interact with Cosmos DB in real time:
- getCatalogs
- getSchemas
- getTables
- queryData
These tools allow Claude Code to retrieve metadata and query live Cosmos DB data.
Step 7: Generate code and automation workflows
Use real Cosmos DB metadata to build working scripts directly inside your IDE.
Example prompt:
Write a Python script that queries Salesforce Contacts where LastName starts with 'A' using the MCP queryData tool.
Claude Code writes accurate code because it has:
- direct access to Cosmos DB schemas
- live query testing
- metadata introspection
All delivered through CData Connect AI.
Step 8: Build data-driven development workflows
Use Claude Code to generate, refine, and automate code that works with your Cosmos DB data using CData Connect AI.
With the CData Connect AI integration in place, Claude Code can help you build development workflows that rely on your Cosmos DB data. Although Claude Code does not include built-in real-time data connectivity, your configured MCP connection through CData Connect AI provides it with access to the metadata and query results for your request.
You can use Claude Code to automate tasks such as:
- generating scripts for data exploration
- creating integration test scaffolding
- validating queries against your Cosmos DB schema
- producing code for data extraction or transformation workflows
In this setup, Claude Code acts as an intelligent coding assistant that uses live Cosmos DB data from CData Connect AI to help you write and refine data-driven logic.
Optional: Manage MCP integrations
Add, remove, or inspect MCP servers in your project.
List MCP servers using the following command:
claude mcp list
To remove one, use:
claude mcp remove connectmcp
Modify the config by editing:
.claude/mcp.json
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