Interact with Live Databricks Data in Warp via CData Connect AI

Yazhini G
Yazhini G
Technical Marketing Engineer
Use the CData Connect AI Remote MCP Server to let Warp securely interact with live Databricks data directly from the terminal and agent workflow.

Warp is an agentic development environment that combines a modern terminal with an AI agent. It supports large language model (LLM) interactions and Model Context Protocol (MCP) server integrations, so the agent can reach live external data sources without leaving the terminal.

By integrating Warp with CData Connect AI through its built-in MCP Server, the Warp Agent gets governed, real-time access to live Databricks data. You can explore Databricks data, ask questions in plain language, and work with your records without writing custom integration code.

This article walks through configuring Databricks connectivity in Connect AI, configuring the CData MCP Server in Warp, and interacting with live Databricks data from the Warp Agent.

About Databricks Data Integration

Accessing and integrating live data from Databricks has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:

  • Access all versions of Databricks from Runtime Versions 9.1 - 13.X to both the Pro and Classic Databricks SQL versions.
  • Leave Databricks in their preferred environment thanks to compatibility with any hosting solution.
  • Secure authenticate in a variety of ways, including personal access token, Azure Service Principal, and Azure AD.
  • Upload data to Databricks using Databricks File System, Azure Blog Storage, and AWS S3 Storage.

While many customers are using CData's solutions to migrate data from different systems into their Databricks data lakehouse, several customers use our live connectivity solutions to federate connectivity between their databases and Databricks. These customers are using SQL Server Linked Servers or Polybase to get live access to Databricks from within their existing RDBMs.

Read more about common Databricks use-cases and how CData's solutions help solve data problems in our blog: What is Databricks Used For? 6 Use Cases.


Getting Started


Step 1: Configure Databricks connectivity for Warp

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

  1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
  2. Adding a connection in Connect AI
  3. Select Databricks from the Add Connection panel
  4. Selecting data source
  5. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Databricks.

    To connect to a Databricks cluster, set the properties as described below.

    Note: The needed values can be found in your Databricks instance by navigating to Clusters, and selecting the desired cluster, and selecting the JDBC/ODBC tab under Advanced Options.

    • Server: Set to the Server Hostname of your Databricks cluster.
    • HTTPPath: Set to the HTTP Path of your Databricks cluster.
    • Token: Set to your personal access token (this value can be obtained by navigating to the User Settings page of your Databricks instance and selecting the Access Tokens tab).
    Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
  6. Click Save & Test
  7. Navigate to the Permissions tab and update user-based permissions
  8. Updating permissions

Add a Personal Access Token

A Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI from Warp. 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. Creating a new PAT
  5. Copy the token when displayed and store it securely. It will not be shown again

With the Databricks connection configured and a PAT generated, Warp can now connect to Databricks data through Connect AI.

Step 2: Configure Connect AI in Warp

Enable the Warp Agent, configure an LLM provider, and the Connect AI MCP endpoint in Warp so the agent can discover and call live data tools.

  1. Download and install Warp, and then sign up or log in to your Warp account
  2. Click the Tabs panel icon at the top left of the window, or press Ctrl + Shift + B Opening the Tabs panel in Warp
  3. Click Settings, expand Agents, select Warp Agent, and toggle Warp Agent on Enabling the Warp Agent in Settings

Configure an LLM provider

The Warp Agent needs an LLM provider to interpret your prompts and decide which MCP tools to call. Add an API key for your preferred provider.

  1. On the same Warp Agent page, scroll down to the Custom Inference section
  2. Enter the API key for the LLM provider of your choice (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google) Adding an LLM API key under Custom Inference

Add the Connect AI MCP Server

  1. Under Agents, click MCP servers, and then click Add Adding a new MCP server in Warp
  2. In the Add New MCP Server editor, paste the following JSON configuration:
    {
      "mcpServers": {
        "CData_Connect_AI": {
          "url": "https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp",
          "headers": {
            "Authorization": "Basic your_base64_encoded_email_PAT"
          }
        }
      }
    }

    Note: Combine your Connect AI email and PAT in the format email:PAT, Base64 encode the combined string, and prefix it with Basic. For example, given [email protected]:ABC123...XYZ, the header value becomes something like: Basic dXNlckBteWRvbWFpbjphSzkvbVB4Mi9Rcjd2TjQ...

    Configuring Connect AI MCP Server
  3. Click Save to add the MCP server
  4. Under My MCPs, confirm that CData_Connect_AI appears with the toggle enabled and the tools available Verifying the Connect AI MCP Server is enabled in Warp

With the MCP server and an LLM provider configured, the Warp Agent is ready to interact with live Databricks data through Connect AI.

Step 3: Interact with live Databricks data from the Warp Agent

Use natural language prompts in the Warp Agent to explore live Databricks data.

  1. Click the icon in the left navigation bar and select Agent Starting a new agent conversation in Warp
  2. Enter a prompt to interact with your data, for example:
    • List the sources available in my CData_Connect_AI mcp connection
    • Show me what I can explore in Databricks
    • Fetch the five most recent records from Databricks data
    Entering a prompt in the Warp Agent
  3. The agent calls the Connect AI MCP Server and returns live results from Databricks data Interacting with live data from the Warp Agent

Your Warp Agent now calls the Connect AI MCP Server to interact with live Databricks data through remote MCP tools, all from the terminal.

Get CData Connect AI

To interact with hundreds of SaaS and enterprise data sources directly from your AI agents and cloud applications, try CData Connect AI. Download a free 14-day trial of CData Connect AI, and our Support Team is available to answer any questions.

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