Integrate Open WebUI with Live Cosmos DB Data via CData Connect AI

Open WebUI is an open-source, self-hosted AI chat platform that brings together hosted LLM APIs and locally served models under a single, customizable interface. It supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP) through its tool server framework, allowing you to configure external tools and data sources so that chats can reach beyond the model's training data and interact with live systems.

By integrating Open WebUI with CData Connect AI through the built-in MCP Server, Open WebUI gains governed, real-time access to live Cosmos DB data. This enables users to list catalogs, explore schemas, and query records from Cosmos DB data using natural language prompts, with all data access running securely against authorized sources.

This article explains how to configure Cosmos DB connectivity in Connect AI, generate the required personal access token, install Open WebUI, register the Connect AI MCP Server, configure an LLM provider, and verify the integration by querying live Cosmos DB data from the Open WebUI chat interface.

Step 1: Configure Cosmos DB connectivity for Open WebUI

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

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

2. Select Cosmos DB from the Add Connection panel

3. 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.
   
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 Open WebUI. 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 Cosmos DB connection configured and a PAT generated, Open WebUI can now connect to Cosmos DB data through Connect AI.

Step 2: Install Open WebUI and configure Connect AI MCP

Next, install Open WebUI locally and configure the Connect AI Remote MCP Server as a tool server so that the chat interface can discover and call live data tools through Connect AI.

1. Install Open WebUI by following the official Quick Start guide
2. Once the installation is complete, start Open WebUI and open it in your browser to access the chat interface
3. Click your profile icon in the top right and select Admin Panel
4. In the top navigation bar of the Admin Panel, click Settings
5. Select Integrations from the left menu, then click the icon next to Manage Tool Servers to add a new connection
6. In the Add Connection panel, configure the server with the following values:
   • Type: MCP Streamable HTTP
   • Name: CData MCP, or any name of your choice
   • ID: cdata-mcp
   • URL: https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp
   • Auth: None
7. Expand the Advanced section and paste the following JSON into the Headers field:

   {
       "Authorization": "Basic your_base64_encoded_email_PAT",
       "Content-Type": "application/json"
   }
   		

   Note: Open WebUI 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==

   
8. Click Save to register the tool server

Enable the MCP server and configure an LLM provider

Open WebUI requires at least one LLM provider to power the chat. Enable the MCP server from the chat input and configure an API key for your preferred provider so the model can interpret prompts and call MCP tools through Connect AI.

1. Return to the chat interface, click the Integrations icon at the bottom of the chat input, select Tools, and toggle CData MCP on to expose the tools to the chat
2. At the top of the chat, click the model selector and choose your preferred LLM provider and model. Add your provider API key when prompted so the model can be used in the chat

With the MCP server and an LLM provider configured, Open WebUI is ready to query live Cosmos DB data through Connect AI.

Step 3: Query live Cosmos DB data from Open WebUI

With the integration complete, use the Open WebUI chat input to interact with live Cosmos DB data through natural language prompts handled by the configured LLM.

1. With the CData MCP server enabled and a model selected, type a prompt in the chat input, for example:
   • List all catalogs in my cdata mcp
   • Show the available schemas and tables for Cosmos DB
   • Query the top 5 records from a table in Cosmos DB data
2. Open WebUI calls the Connect AI MCP Server and returns live results from Cosmos DB data

At this point, your Open WebUI instance communicates with the Connect AI MCP Server and retrieves live Cosmos DB data through remote MCP tools directly from the chat interface.

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