Integrate Theia IDE with Live Power BI XMLA Data via CData Connect AI

Theia IDE is an open-source, cloud and desktop IDE platform that provides a flexible, extensible development environment with built-in AI capabilities. Its AI features support multiple LLM providers and MCP (Model Context Protocol) tool integrations, allowing developers to interact with live external data sources directly from chat-based agents inside the IDE.

By integrating Theia IDE with CData Connect AI through the built-in MCP server, Theia's AI agents gain governed, real-time access to live Power BI XMLA data. This enables developers to list catalogs, explore schemas, and query records from Power BI XMLA data without leaving the editor or writing custom integration code.

This article explains how to configure Power BI XMLA connectivity in Connect AI, generate the required personal access token, register the CData Connect AI MCP Server in Theia IDE, enable AI features with an LLM provider, and verify the integration by querying live Power BI XMLA data from the Theia AI Chat.

Step 1: Configure Power BI XMLA connectivity for Theia IDE

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

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

2. Select Power BI XMLA from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Power BI XMLA.

   By default, use Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) to connect to Microsoft Power BI XMLA. Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) is Microsoft's multi-tenant, cloud-based directory and identity management service. It is user-based authentication that requires that you set AuthScheme to EntraID (formerly AzureAD).

   For more information on other authentication schemes, refer to 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 Theia IDE. 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 Power BI XMLA connection configured and a PAT generated, Theia IDE can now connect to Power BI XMLA data through Connect AI.

Step 2: Configure Connect AI MCP in Theia IDE

Next, register the CData Connect AI Remote MCP Server in Theia IDE so that the built-in AI agents can discover and call live data tools through Connect AI.

1. Download and install the Theia IDE
2. Open Theia IDE and navigate to Settings (or press Ctrl + ,) to open the Settings view
3. In the Settings panel, expand AI Features and select MCP
4. Click Edit in settings.json to open the configuration file and paste the following JSON:

   {
       "ai-features.mcp.mcpServers": {
           "cdata": {
               "serverUrl": "https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp",
               "serverAuthToken": "Basic your_base64_encoded_email_PAT",
               "serverAuthTokenHeader": "Authorization"
           }
       }
   }

   Note: Theia IDE will use Basic authentication with Connect AI. Combine your Connect AI user email and the PAT you created earlier in the format email:PAT, base64 encode the combined string, and prefix it with Basic. For example, given [email protected]:ABC123...XYZ789, the serverAuthToken value becomes something like: Basic dXNlckBkb21haW4uY29tOkFCQzEyMy4uLlhZWjc4OQ==

   
5. Save the settings.json file

Enable AI and configure an LLM provider

Theia IDE requires AI features to be enabled and at least one LLM provider configured to power the agent's reasoning.

1. Return to Settings and under AI Features, select AI Enablement
2. Check the Enable AI box to activate Theia's AI capabilities
3. Under AI Features, choose your preferred LLM provider (e.g., Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Hugging Face) and enter your API key

With the MCP server registered and an LLM provider configured, Theia's AI agents are ready to query live Power BI XMLA data through Connect AI.

Step 3: Query live Power BI XMLA data from the Theia AI Chat

With the integration complete, use the Theia AI Chat panel to interact with live Power BI XMLA data.

1. Open the AI Chat panel from the right sidebar of the Theia IDE
2. At the bottom of the chat, click the Toggle Capabilities Configuration icon (or press Ctrl + Shift + .) to open the capabilities panel
3. Under Generic Capabilities, expand MCP and check the cdata server (and any specific tools you want to expose) to make the Connect AI tools available to the agent
4. Type @AppTester in the chat input followed by your prompt, for example:
   • List all catalogs in my cdata mcp
   • Show the available schemas and tables for Power BI XMLA
   • Query the top 5 records from a table in Power BI XMLA data
5. The agent calls the Connect AI MCP Server and returns live results from Power BI XMLA data

At this point, your Theia IDE communicates with the Connect AI MCP Server and retrieves live Power BI XMLA data through remote MCP directly from the editor.

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