Integrate LibreChat with Live Okta 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 Okta data. This enables you to list catalogs, explore schemas, and query records from Okta data using natural language prompts, with all data access running securely against authorized sources.

This article explains how to configure Okta 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 Okta data from the LibreChat interface.

Step 1: Configure Okta connectivity for LibreChat

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

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

2. Select Okta from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Okta.

   To connect to Okta, set the Domain connection string property to your Okta domain.

   You will use OAuth to authenticate with Okta, so you need to create a custom OAuth application.

   Creating a Custom OAuth Application

   From your Okta account:

   1. Sign in to your Okta developer edition organization with your administrator account.
   2. In the Admin Console, go to Applications > Applications.
   3. Click Create App Integration.
   4. For the Sign-in method, select OIDC - OpenID Connect.
   5. For Application type, choose Web Application.
   6. Enter a name for your custom application.
   7. Set the Grant Type to Authorization Code. If you want the token to be automatically refreshed, also check Refresh Token.
   8. Set the callback URL:
      • For desktop applications and headless machines, use http://localhost:33333 or another port number of your choice. The URI you set here becomes the CallbackURL property.
      • For web applications, set the callback URL to a trusted redirect URL. This URL is the web location the user returns to with the token that verifies that your application has been granted access.
   9. In the Assignments section, either select Limit access to selected groups and add a group, or skip group assignment for now.
   10. Save the OAuth application.
   11. The application's Client Id and Client Secret are displayed on the application's General tab. Record these for future use. You will use the Client Id to set the OAuthClientId and the Client Secret to set the OAuthClientSecret.
   12. Check the Assignments tab to confirm that all users who must access the application are assigned to the application.
   13. On the Okta API Scopes tab, select the scopes you wish to grant to the OAuth application. These scopes determine the data that the app has permission to read, so a scope for a particular view must be granted for the driver to have permission to query that view. To confirm the scopes required for each view, see the view-specific pages in Data Model < Views in the Help documentation.
   
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 LibreChat. 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 Okta connection configured and a PAT generated, LibreChat can now connect to Okta 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.

1. 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
2. Once the installation is complete, start LibreChat and open http://localhost:3080/ in your browser to access the chat interface
3. In the left navigation bar, click the MCP Settings icon, then click Add MCP
4. 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==

   
5. Check I trust this application and click Add to save the server
6. 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.

1. 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
2. At the top of the chat, click the model selector and choose your preferred LLM provider (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) and model
3. 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 Okta data through Connect AI.

Step 3: Query live Okta data from LibreChat

With the integration complete, use the LibreChat chat input to interact with live Okta data through natural language prompts handled by the configured LLM.

1. 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 Okta
   • Query the top 5 records from a table in Okta data
2. LibreChat calls the Connect AI MCP Server and returns live results from Okta data

At this point, your LibreChat instance communicates with the Connect AI MCP Server and retrieves live Okta data through remote MCP tools directly from the chat interface.

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