Interact with Live IBM Cloud Object Storage Data in Meta Muse via CData Connect AI

Muse is Meta's personal AI agent for iOS, Android, and the web, built on the Muse Spark models. It connects to remote model context protocol (MCP) servers, so you can point Muse at a governed data source and let it discover and call live data tools.

Connect Muse to CData Connect AI through its Remote MCP Server, and Muse gains governed, real-time access to live IBM Cloud Object Storage data. You can explore data, fetch records, and interact with objects using natural language prompts, with every request running against authorized sources.

This article shows you how to configure IBM Cloud Object Storage connectivity in Connect AI, generate a personal access token, create a custom connector to the Connect AI Remote MCP Server in Muse, and interact with live IBM Cloud Object Storage data from Muse.

Step 1: Configure IBM Cloud Object Storage connectivity for Meta Muse

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

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

2. Select IBM Cloud Object Storage from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to IBM Cloud Object Storage.

   Register a New Instance of Cloud Object Storage

   If you do not already have Cloud Object Storage in your IBM Cloud account, follow the procedure below to install an instance of SQL Query in your account:

   1. Log in to your IBM Cloud account.
   2. Navigate to the page, choose a name for your instance and click Create. You will be redirected to the instance of Cloud Object Storage you just created.

   Connecting using OAuth Authentication

   There are certain connection properties you need to set before you can connect. You can obtain these as follows:

   API Key

   To connect with IBM Cloud Object Storage, you need an API Key. You can obtain this as follows:

   1. Log in to your IBM Cloud account.
   2. Navigate to the Platform API Keys page.
   3. On the middle-right corner click "Create an IBM Cloud API Key" to create a new API Key.
   4. In the pop-up window, specify the API Key name and click "Create". Note the API Key as you can never access it again from the dashboard.

   Cloud Object Storage CRN

   If you have multiple accounts, specify the CloudObjectStorageCRN explicitly. To find the appropriate value, you can:

   • Query the Services view. This will list your IBM Cloud Object Storage instances along with the CRN for each.
   • Locate the CRN directly in IBM Cloud. To do so, navigate to your IBM Cloud Dashboard. In the Resource List, Under Storage, select your Cloud Object Storage resource to get its CRN.

   Connecting to Data

   You can now set the following to connect to data:

   • InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
   • ApiKey: Set this to your API key which was noted during setup.
   • CloudObjectStorageCRN (Optional): Set this to the cloud object storage CRN you want to work with. While the connector attempts to retrieve this automatically, specifying this explicitly is recommended if you have more than Cloud Object Storage account.

   When you connect, the connector completes the OAuth process.

   1. Extracts the access token and authenticates requests.
   2. Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation to be persisted across connections.
   
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 Muse. 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 IBM Cloud Object Storage connection configured and a PAT generated, Muse can now connect to IBM Cloud Object Storage data through Connect AI.

Step 2: Create a custom connector to the Connect AI MCP Server in Meta Muse

Muse has no manual "add MCP server" form. Instead, you ask Muse in plain language to build a custom connector that points at the Connect AI Remote MCP Server, a hosted, public HTTPS endpoint that speaks streamable HTTP. Muse builds the connector on its secure VM using the official MCP SDK, then discovers and calls the available Connect AI data tools.

1. Open Muse on iOS, Android, or the web and start a new chat
2. Ask Muse to build a custom connector to the Connect AI Remote MCP Server, giving it the server URL and noting that the endpoint is a hosted MCP server over streamable HTTP, for example:
   Create a custom connector to CData Connect AI. It is a hosted MCP server over streamable HTTP at https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp and it requires an Authorization header.
3. When Muse prompts for credentials, it opens a secure entry flow, separate from the chat, that saves the value in its Secure Credentials Store. Enter the Authorization header value in the format Basic your_base64_encoded_email_PAT

   Note: For the Authorization value, base64 encode email:PAT and prefix it with Basic. Enter it only in Muse's secure credential prompt, never in the chat.

4. Muse connects to the Connect AI MCP Server and lists the available data tools. Review the custom connector confirmation, then click Continue. When Muse offers to save the integration as a skill, choose yes so the connector is available in every future chat

With the custom connector saved, the Connect AI tools are available to Muse in any chat.

Step 3: Interact with live IBM Cloud Object Storage data from Meta Muse

With the integration complete, interact with live IBM Cloud Object Storage data directly from Muse through natural language prompts.

1. In a Muse chat, type a prompt that uses the Connect AI connector, for example:
   • Use the CData Connect AI connector to list all available connections
   • Show the available objects and fields for IBM Cloud Object Storage
   • Fetch the top 5 records from IBM Cloud Object Storage
2. Approve the tool call in the Sentinel dialog when prompted
3. Muse calls the Connect AI MCP Server and returns live results from IBM Cloud Object Storage data

At this point, Muse communicates with the Connect AI MCP Server and retrieves live IBM Cloud Object Storage data through remote MCP tools directly from your chats.

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