Build Paylocity-Powered Applications in GitHub Copilot with CData Code Assist MCP

GitHub Copilot is an AI-powered coding assistant that integrates directly into Visual Studio Code and other IDEs. With support for MCP, GitHub Copilot can connect to local tools and enterprise data sources, enabling natural language interaction with live systems during development.

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard for connecting LLM clients to external services through structured tool interfaces. MCP servers expose capabilities such as schema discovery and live querying, allowing AI agents to retrieve and reason over real-time data safely and consistently.

In this article, we guide you through installing the CData Code Assist MCP for Paylocity, configuring the connection to Paylocity, connecting the Code Assist MCP add-on to GitHub Copilot, and querying live Paylocity data from within Visual Studio Code.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio Code is installed on your machine
• GitHub Copilot Chat extension is enabled in Visual Studio Code
• CData Code Assist MCP for Paylocity has been installed

Step 1: Download and install the CData Code Assist MCP for Paylocity

1. To begin, download the CData Code Assist MCP for Paylocity
2. Find and double-click the installer to begin the installation
3. Run the installer and follow the prompts to complete the installation

When the installation is complete, you are ready to configure your Code Assist MCP add-on by connecting to Paylocity.

Step 2: Configure the connection to Paylocity

1. After installation, open the CData Code Assist MCP for Paylocity configuration wizard

   NOTE: If the wizard does not open automatically, search for "CData Code Assist MCP for Paylocity" in the Windows search bar and open the application.

   
2. In MCP Configuration > Configuration Name, either select an existing configuration or choose to create a new one
3. Name the configuration (e.g. "cdata_paylocity") and click OK

4. Enter the appropriate connection properties in the configuration wizard

   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.

5. Click Connect to authenticate with Paylocity through OAuth
6. Click Save & Test to finalize the connection

This process creates a .mcp configuration file that GitHub Copilot will reference when launching the Code Assist MCP add-on. Now with your Code Assist MCP add-on configured, you are ready to connect it to GitHub Copilot.

Step 3: Connect the Code Assist MCP add-on to GitHub Copilot

1. Download and install Visual Studio Code and enable the GitHub Copilot Chat extension

Option 1: Manually add the MCP configuration

1. Open or create the mcp.json file:
   • For global configuration: %%APPDATA%%/Roaming/Code/User/mcp.json
   • For project-specific configuration: /.vscode/mcp.json
2. Add the JSON code shown below and save the file

{
  "servers": {
    "cdata_paylocity": {
      "command": "C:\Program Files\CData\CData Code Assist MCP for Paylocity\jre\bin\java.exe",
      "args": [
        "-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8",
        "-jar",
        "C:\Program Files\CData\CData Code Assist MCP for Paylocity\lib\cdata.mcp.paylocity.jar",
        "cdata_paylocity"
      ]
    }
  }
}

NOTE: The command value should point to your Java 17+ java.exe executable, and the JAR path should point to the installed CData Code Assist MCP add-on .jar file. The final argument must match the MCP configuration name you saved in the CData configuration wizard (e.g. "cdata_paylocity").

Option 2: Copy the MCP configuration from the CData Code Assist MCP for Paylocity UI

1. After saving and testing your connection in the configuration wizard, click Next
2. Select Github Copilot from the AI MCP Tool dropdown
3. Follow the MCP Client Instructions to create the required configuration file
4. Copy the displayed JSON code and paste it into your configuration file

Step 4: Query live Paylocity data in GitHub Copilot

1. Launch Visual Studio Code and open the GitHub Copilot Chat interface. Select the tool icon to enable the configured Code Assist MCP add-on
2. Ask questions about your Paylocity data using natural language. For example:

   "List all tables available in my Paylocity data data connection."

   
3. Start building with natural language prompts:

   For my project, data from the Employee is very important. Pull data from the most important columns like FirstName and LastName.
   

GitHub Copilot is now fully integrated with CData Code Assist MCP for Paylocity and can use the MCP tools to explore schemas and execute live queries against Paylocity.

Build with Code Assist MCP. Deploy with CData Drivers.

Download Code Assist MCP for free and give your AI tools schema-aware access to live Paylocity data during development. When you're ready to move to production, CData Paylocity Drivers deliver the same SQL-based access with enterprise-grade performance, security, and reliability.

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