Integrate Cursor with Live Dynamics 365 Business Central Data via CData Connect AI

Yazhini G
Technical Marketing Engineer

Leverage the CData Connect AI Remote MCP Server to enable Cursor to securely access and act on live Dynamics 365 Business Central data from within the editor.

Cursor is an AI-powered code editor that embeds conversational and agent-style assistance alongside your development workflow. By extending Cursor with MCP (Model Context Protocol) tools, you can give its AI agents secure access to external systems such as APIs and databases.

Integrating Cursor with CData Connect AI via the built-in CData MCP Server allows the editor's AI to query, analyze, and act on live Dynamics 365 Business Central data without copying data into the IDE. The result is a development experience where you can chat with your governed enterprise data directly from Cursor.

This article outlines how to configure Dynamics 365 Business Central connectivity in Connect AI, generate the required access token, register the CData MCP Server in Cursor, and then use the AI chat pane to explore live Dynamics 365 Business Central data.

Step 1: Configure Dynamics 365 Business Central connectivity for Cursor

Connectivity to Dynamics 365 Business Central from Cursor is made possible through CData Connect AI's Remote MCP Server. To interact with Dynamics 365 Business Central data from Cursor, start by creating and configuring a Dynamics 365 Business Central connection in CData Connect AI.

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

Select Dynamics 365 Business Central from the Add Connection panel

Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central.
To authenticate to Dynamics 365 Business Central, you must select an AuthScheme and provide the required properties (OAuth by default).

All Methods

Specify the OrganizationUrl. If you have multiple companies in your organization, you must also specify the Company to indicate which company you would like to connect to. Company does not need to be specified if you have only one company.

Access Key

To authenticate with an Access Key, set AuthScheme to "AccessKey" and provide the User and AccessKey properties.

To obtain the User and AccessKey values, navigate to the Users page in Dynamics 365 Business Central and then click on Edit. The User Name and Web Service Access Key values are what you will enter as the User and AccessKey connection string properties. Note that the User Name is not your email address. It is a shortened user name.

If you wish to authenticate through other methods, refer to the Help documentation.
Click Save & Test
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 Cursor. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each integration to maintain granular access control.

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

The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use

With the Dynamics 365 Business Central connection configured and a PAT generated, Cursor can now connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central data through the CData MCP Server.

Step 2: Configure the CData MCP Server in Cursor

Next, configure Cursor to use the CData MCP Server. Cursor reads MCP configuration from an mcp.json file in the user configuration directory and exposes the registered servers under the Tools & MCP settings. Once configured, Cursor's AI chat can call the tools exposed by CData Connect AI.

Download the Cursor desktop application and complete the sign-up flow for your account
From the top menu, click Settings to open the settings panel
In the left navigation, open the Tools & MCP tab and click Add Custom MCP
Cursor opens an mcp.json file in the editor

Add the following configuration. Make sure to base64-encode your email:PAT before inserting into the header:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cdata-mcp": {
      "url": "https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Basic your_base64_encoded_email_PAT"
      }
    }
  }
}

Configuring mcp.json with CData MCP Server

Save the file
Return to Settings and then select Tools & MCP. You can now see cdata-mcp enabled with an active indicator

Step 3: Chat with CData Connect AI from Cursor

From the top bar, click Toggle AI Pane to open the chat window
Test the connection by entering "List connections"
You can also run queries like "Query Dynamics 365 Business Central data and list the high priority accounts"