Integrate LibreChat with Live Jira Data via CData Connect AI
LibreChat is an open-source, self-hosted AI chat platform that brings together multiple LLM providers, agents, and assistants behind a single interface. It also supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP), so you can connect external tools and data sources directly to the chat and pull in live data from the systems you already work with.
By integrating LibreChat with CData Connect AI through the built-in MCP Server, LibreChat gains governed, real-time access to live Jira data. This enables you to list catalogs, explore schemas, and query records from Jira data using natural language prompts, with all data access running securely against authorized sources.
This article explains how to configure Jira connectivity in Connect AI, generate the required personal access token, install LibreChat, register the Connect AI MCP Server, configure an LLM provider, and verify the integration by querying live Jira data from the LibreChat interface.
About Jira Data Integration
CData simplifies access and integration of live Jira data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:
- Gain bi-directional access to their Jira objects like issues, projects, and workflows.
- Use SQL stored procedures to perform functional actions like changing issues status, creating custom fields, download or uploading an attachment, modifying or retrieving time tracking settings, and more.
- Authenticate securely using a variety of methods, including username and password, OAuth, personal access token, API token, Crowd or OKTA SSO, LDAP, and more.
Most users leverage CData solutions to integrate Jira data with their database or data warehouse, whether that's using CData Sync directly or relying on CData's compatibility with platforms like SSIS or Azure Data Factory. Others are looking to get analytics and reporting on live Jira data from preferred analytics tools like Tableau and Power BI.
Learn more about how customers are seamlessly connecting to their Jira data to solve business problems from our blog: Drivers in Focus: Collaboration Tools.
Getting Started
Step 1: Configure Jira connectivity for LibreChat
Connectivity to Jira from LibreChat is made possible through Connect AI's Remote MCP Server. To interact with Jira data from LibreChat, start by creating and configuring a Jira connection in Connect AI.
- Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
- Select Jira from the Add Connection panel
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Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Jira.
To connect to JIRA, provide the User and Password. Additionally, provide the Url; for example, https://yoursitename.atlassian.net.
- 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 LibreChat. 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
- Copy the token when displayed and store it securely. It will not be shown again
With the Jira connection configured and a PAT generated, LibreChat can now connect to Jira data through Connect AI.
Step 2: Install LibreChat and configure Connect AI MCP
Next, install LibreChat locally and configure the Connect AI Remote MCP Server so that the chat interface can discover and call live data tools through Connect AI.
- Install LibreChat by following the official installation guide. If you are using the npm setup, make sure MongoDB and MeiliSearch are installed and running locally
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Once the installation is complete, start LibreChat and open http://localhost:3080/ in your browser to access the chat interface
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In the left navigation bar, click the MCP Settings icon, then click Add MCP
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In the Add MCP panel, configure the server with the following values:
- Name: CData MCP, or any name of your choice
- Description: Optional description for the server
- MCP Server URL: https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp
- Transport: Streamable HTTPS
- Authentication: API Key
- Header Format: Basic
- API Key: base64-encoded value of email:PAT
Note: LibreChat will use Basic authentication with Connect AI. Combine your Connect AI user email and the PAT you created earlier in the format email:PAT, then base64 encode the combined string and paste it in the API Key field. For example, [email protected]:ABC123...XYZ789 base64-encoded becomes something like: dXNlckBkb21haW4uY29tOkFCQzEyMy4uLlhZWjc4OQ==
- Check I trust this application and click Add to save the server
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The CData MCP server now appears in the left navigation bar. Click the connect icon next to it to establish the connection to Connect AI
Enable the MCP server and configure an LLM provider
LibreChat requires at least one LLM provider to power the chat. Enable the MCP server in the chat input and add an API key for your preferred provider so the model can interpret prompts and call MCP tools through Connect AI.
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In the chat interface, click the MCP selector at the bottom of the input box and confirm that CData MCP is checked so the tools are exposed to the chat
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At the top of the chat, click the model selector and choose your preferred LLM provider (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) and model
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Click Set API Key next to the chosen provider, paste your provider API key, and click Submit
With the MCP server and an LLM provider configured, LibreChat is ready to query live Jira data through Connect AI.
Step 3: Query live Jira data from LibreChat
With the integration complete, use the LibreChat chat input to interact with live Jira data through natural language prompts handled by the configured LLM.
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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 Jira
- Query the top 5 records from a table in Jira data
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LibreChat calls the Connect AI MCP Server and returns live results from Jira data
At this point, your LibreChat instance communicates with the Connect AI MCP Server and retrieves live Jira data through remote MCP tools directly from the chat interface.
Get CData Connect AI
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