Query Live Odoo Data in Perplexity Desktop via CData Connect AI

Jerod Johnson
Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism
Leverage the CData Connect AI Remote MCP Server to enable Perplexity Desktop to securely access and query live Odoo data through a conversational interface.

Perplexity is an AI-powered research and answer engine that combines web search, structured data, and connected tools through a unified conversational interface. With Perplexity Desktop for macOS, you can bring external data sources directly into your workflow using MCP, enabling fast, context-aware insights powered by live data.

Integrating Perplexity Desktop with CData Connect AI via its built-in MCP connector allows the AI to query, explore, and reason over live Odoo data without copying data out of its source system. The result is a research experience where you can ask questions about your governed enterprise data directly from Perplexity Desktop.

This article outlines how to configure Odoo connectivity in Connect AI, generate the required access token, register Connect AI's MCP Server in Perplexity Desktop, and then use the chat interface to explore live Odoo data.

About Odoo Data Integration

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

  • Access live data from both Odoo API 8.0+ and Odoo.sh Cloud ERP.
  • Extend the native Odoo features with intelligent handling of many-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many data properties. CData's connectivity solutions also intelligently handle complex data properties within Odoo. In addition to columns with simple values like text and dates, there are also columns that contain multiple values on each row. The driver decodes these kinds of values differently, depending upon the type of column the value comes from:
    • Many-to-one columns are references to a single row within another model. Within CData solutions, many-to-one columns are represented as integers, whose value is the ID to which they refer in the other model.
    • Many-to-many columns are references to many rows within another model. Within CData solutions, many-to-many columns are represented as text containing a comma-separated list of integers. Each value in that list is the ID of a row that is being referenced.
    • One-to-many columns are references to many rows within another model - they are similar to many-to-many columns (comma-separated lists of integers), except that each row in the referenced model must belong to only one in the main model.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to call server-side RFCs within Odoo.

Users frequently integrate Odoo with analytics tools such as Power BI and Qlik Sense, and leverage our tools to replicate Odoo data to databases or data warehouses.


Getting Started


Step 1: Configure Odoo connectivity for Perplexity Desktop

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

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

    To connect, set the Url to a valid Odoo site, User and Password to the connection details of the user you are connecting with, and Database to the Odoo database.

    Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
  4. Click Save & Test
  5. Navigate to the Permissions tab and update user-based permissions
    6. Updating permissions

Add a Personal Access Token

A Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI from Perplexity Desktop. 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
  4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use

Create an OAuth App in CData Connect AI

Perplexity Desktop uses OAuth 2.0 to authenticate users against the CData Connect AI MCP Server. This requires creating an OAuth App in your CData Connect AI account.

  1. Click the Gear icon () in the top-right corner of Connect AI to open Settings
  2. Navigate to OAuth Apps and click + Create App. The Create OAuth App dialog appears
  3. Fill in the following fields:
    • Name: Enter a descriptive name (e.g., PerplexityOAuth)
    • Authentication Flow: Select User-based (Authorization Code)
    • Callback URL: Enter the callback URL provided by Perplexity Desktop when adding the connector
    Creating a new OAuth App in CData Connect AI
  4. Click Confirm. CData Connect AI generates a Client ID and Client Secret
  5. Copy both values and store them securely. You will need them in Step 2 Copying the Client ID and Client Secret

With the Odoo connection configured and an OAuth App created, Perplexity Desktop can now connect to Odoo data through Connect AI.

Step 2: Configure Connect AI in Perplexity Desktop

Next, register the CData Connect AI MCP Server as a custom remote connector in Perplexity Desktop. This feature requires a Perplexity Pro, Max, or Enterprise account and the macOS desktop app. Once configured, Perplexity's AI can call the tools exposed by CData Connect AI to access live Odoo data.

  1. Download the Perplexity Desktop application for macOS and sign in with your Pro, Max, or Enterprise account
  2. Click Customize in the left sidebar and open the Connectors tab. Click + Custom connector in the top-right corner to open the Add custom connector dialog
  3. Enter a Name for the connector (e.g., CData Connect AI) and, optionally, a Description. In the MCP server URL field, enter the CData Connect AI MCP endpoint: https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp Entering the connector name and Connect AI MCP URL
  4. Expand Advanced and configure the following:
    • Authentication: Select OAuth, then enter the Client ID and Client Secret from the OAuth App created in Step 1
    • Transport: Select Streamable HTTP
    • Network access: Select Public
    Check the box acknowledging that custom connectors can introduce risks, then click Add Configuring OAuth authentication and transport
  5. The new connector appears in the Connectors list. Click + on the connector to connect it. When redirected to CData Connect AI, sign in and click Allow to grant Perplexity access The CData Connect AI connector in Perplexity Desktop

Step 3: Query your live Odoo data from Perplexity Desktop

  1. Click New Session and make sure the CData Connect AI connector is enabled for the session. The active connector appears above the prompt box
  2. Start asking questions about your Odoo data. For example:

    "Which data sources do you have access to via Connect AI?"

    Querying live data through CData Connect AI
  3. Try additional queries such as:
    • "List all the tables available in my Odoo data connection."
    • "Show the available schemas in Odoo."
    • "Retrieve the top 10 records from the Account table."
    • "Summarize the high-priority open opportunities in Odoo."

Perplexity Desktop is now fully integrated with the CData Connect AI MCP Server and can reason over live Odoo data directly from the chat interface.

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