Access Live Paylocity Data in Roo Code via CData Connect AI

Roo Code is an open-source AI coding agent that runs inside VS Code with real file system access, terminal control, and multi-step workflows. It works across entire project workspaces through specialized modes like Code, Architect, and Orchestrator. Available as a VS Code Extension for local development, or as Cloud Agents that integrate with Slack and GitHub. Roo Code natively supports MCP, connecting external tools and data sources via STDIO or Streamable HTTP.

By default, Roo Code has no access to live enterprise data. CData Connect AI bridges this gap by exposing 350+ data sources. Once connected, Roo can introspect live schemas, validate queries, and generate code directly inside VS Code, retrieved by real enterprise data.

Step 1: Configure Paylocity connectivity for Roo Code

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

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

2. Select Paylocity from the Add Connection panel

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

   Set the following to establish a connection to Paylocity:

   • RSAPublicKey: Set this to the RSA Key associated with your Paylocity, if the RSA Encryption is enabled in the Paylocity account.

     This property is required for executing Insert and Update statements, and it is not required if the feature is disabled.

   • UseSandbox: Set to true if you are using sandbox account.
   • CustomFieldsCategory: Set this to the Customfields category. This is required when IncludeCustomFields is set to true. The default value for this property is PayrollAndHR.
   • Key: The AES symmetric key(base 64 encoded) encrypted with the Paylocity Public Key. It is the key used to encrypt the content.

     Paylocity will decrypt the AES key using RSA decryption.
     It is an optional property if the IV value not provided, The driver will generate a key internally.

   • IV: The AES IV (base 64 encoded) used when encrypting the content. It is an optional property if the Key value not provided, The driver will generate an IV internally.

   Connect Using OAuth Authentication

   You must use OAuth to authenticate with Paylocity. OAuth requires the authenticating user to interact with Paylocity using the browser. For more information, refer to the OAuth section in the Help documentation.

   The Pay Entry API

   The Pay Entry API is completely separate from the rest of the Paylocity API. It uses a separate Client ID and Secret, and must be explicitly requested from Paylocity for access to be granted for an account. The Pay Entry API allows you to automatically submit payroll information for individual employees, and little else. Due to the extremely limited nature of what is offered by the Pay Entry API, we have elected not to give it a separate schema, but it may be enabled via the UsePayEntryAPI connection property.

   Please be aware that when setting UsePayEntryAPI to true, you may only use the CreatePayEntryImportBatch & MergePayEntryImportBatchgtable stored procedures, the InputTimeEntry table, and the OAuth stored procedures. Attempts to use other features of the product will result in an error. You must also store your OAuthAccessToken separately, which often means setting a different OAuthSettingsLocation when using this connection property.

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 Roo Code. 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 Paylocity connection configured and a PAT generated, Roo Code can now connect to Paylocity data through Connect AI.

Step 2: Configure Connect AI in Roo Code

CData Connect AI can be integrated with Roo Code by registering the MCP Server directly in the Roo Code MCP configuration panel. Once registered, Roo Code agents can call live Paylocity data through MCP tools without additional setup.

Method 1: Direct MCP configuration

Users can register the CData Connect AI MCP Server directly in the Roo Code MCP settings. Once registered, agents in any project can query live Paylocity data through MCP tools without additional setup.

1. Open VS Code with the Roo Code extension installed
2. Click the Roo Code icon in the Activity Bar
3. Navigate to Settings, then choose MCP Servers in the Roo Code pane and turn on Enable MCP Servers, now click Edit Global MCP to open the MCP configuration file
4. In the mcp_settings.json file, add the following inside the mcpServers object, replacing base64encode with your Base64-encoded email:PAT

   {
       "mcpServers": {
           "cdata-mcp": {
               "type": "streamable-http",
               "url": "https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp",
               "headers": {
                   "Authorization": "Basic base64encode(USERNAME:PAT)"
               }
           }
       }
   }
           

   
5. Save the file to register the MCP server
6. Return to the MCP Servers panel and confirm that cdata-mcp is listed and its toggle is enabled. If it is not enabled, toggle it on

With the CData MCP Server registered and enabled, Roo Code agents can now query and act on live Paylocity data through Connect AI in any project.

Query live Paylocity data from Roo Code

With the MCP server configured, start a conversation in the Roo Code chat panel to interact with live Paylocity data.

1. Open the Roo Code chat and enter a prompt to explore your data, for example:
   • List all available catalogs in my cdata-mcp connection.
   • Show the schemas and tables available for Paylocity.
   • Query the top 5 records from Paylocity data.
2. The agent calls the CData Connect AI MCP Server and returns live results from Paylocity data

Method 2: Build an application with natural language

Users can direct Roo Code to build a full application that connects to the CData Connect AI MCP Server through a natural language prompt. The agent gathers the required endpoint and credentials interactively, then generates a working application wired to live Paylocity data — all from the Roo Code chat panel inside VS Code.

1. Open the Roo Code panel in VS Code and select your preferred model from the dropdown
2. Enter a prompt that describes the application you want to build. For example:

   I would like to build a small application that connects to a remote MCP 
   HTTPS server. I already have the MCP endpoint URL and the required 
   credentials. The application should:
     - Establish a connection to the remote MCP server
     - Authenticate using the provided credentials
     - Retrieve and list all available catalogs from the MCP
   
   Please make sure the credentials are stored securely in a .env file
   and not hardcoded in the application.
           

3. Roo Code will prompt you to provide the MCP endpoint URL and authentication credentials. Supply the following values:
   • MCP Endpoint URL: https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp
   • Authorization: Basic base64(email:PAT)
4. Roo Code creates the project directory, initializes a Node.js project, installs the necessary packages, and stores credentials securely in a .env file

At this point, Roo Code has built an application that communicates with the CData Connect AI MCP Server and retrieves live Paylocity data, all from a single natural language prompt inside VS Code.

Get CData Connect AI

To access 350+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from Roo Code, try CData Connect AI today! Sign up for a free 14-day trial of CData Connect AI, and as always, our world-class Support Team is available to assist you with any questions you may have.