Query Live Presto Data in Perplexity Desktop via CData Connect AI

Jerod Johnson
Director, Technology Evangelism

Leverage the CData Connect AI Remote MCP Server to enable Perplexity Desktop to securely access and query live Presto 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 Presto 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 Presto 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 Presto data.

About Presto Data Integration

Accessing and integrating live data from Trino and Presto SQL engines has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:

Access data from Trino v345 and above (formerly PrestoSQL) and Presto v0.242 and above (formerly PrestoDB)
Read and write access all of the data underlying your Trino or Presto instances
Optimized query generation for maximum throughput.

Presto and Trino allow users to access a variety of underlying data sources through a single endpoint. When paired with CData connectivity, users get pure, SQL-92 access to their instances, allowing them to integrate business data with a data warehouse or easily access live data directly from their preferred tools, like Power BI and Tableau.

In many cases, CData's live connectivity surpasses the native import functionality available in tools. One customer was unable to effectively use Power BI due to the size of the datasets needed for reporting. When the company implemented the CData Power BI Connector for Presto they were able to generate reports in real-time using the DirectQuery connection mode.

Getting Started

Step 1: Configure Presto connectivity for Perplexity Desktop

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

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

Select Presto from the Add Connection panel

Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Presto.
Set the Server and Port connection properties to connect, in addition to any authentication properties that may be required.

To enable TLS/SSL, set UseSSL to true.

Authenticating with LDAP

In order to authenticate with LDAP, set the following connection properties:
- AuthScheme: Set this to LDAP.
- User: The username being authenticated with in LDAP.
- Password: The password associated with the User you are authenticating against LDAP with.
Authenticating with Kerberos

In order to authenticate with KERBEROS, set the following connection properties:
- AuthScheme: Set this to KERBEROS.
- KerberosKDC: The Kerberos Key Distribution Center (KDC) service used to authenticate the user.
- KerberosRealm: The Kerberos Realm used to authenticate the user with.
- KerberosSPN: The Service Principal Name for the Kerberos Domain Controller.
- KerberosKeytabFile: The Keytab file containing your pairs of Kerberos principals and encrypted keys.
- User: The user who is authenticating to Kerberos.
- Password: The password used to authenticate to Kerberos.
Click Save & Test
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 Perplexity Desktop. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each integration to maintain granular access control.

Click the gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open Settings
On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT
Give the PAT a descriptive name and click Create

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.

Click the Gear icon () in the top-right corner of Connect AI to open Settings
Navigate to OAuth Apps and click + Create App. The Create OAuth App dialog appears
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
Click Confirm. CData Connect AI generates a Client ID and Client Secret
Copy both values and store them securely. You will need them in Step 2

With the Presto connection configured and an OAuth App created, Perplexity Desktop can now connect to Presto 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 Presto data.

Download the Perplexity Desktop application for macOS and sign in with your Pro, Max, or Enterprise account
Open Settings > Connectors. If the Perplexity Helper App is not installed, you will be prompted to download it. Install the Helper App, then restart Perplexity Desktop
After restarting, return to Settings > Connectors and click Add Custom Remote Connector
In the URL field, enter the CData Connect AI MCP endpoint:
```
https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp
```
For the authentication method, select OAuth. Enter the Client ID and Client Secret from the OAuth App created in Step 1, and click Connect
You will be redirected to CData Connect AI to authorize the connection. Sign in and click Allow to grant Perplexity access
After successful authorization, you will be redirected back to Perplexity Desktop. The connector should now appear in the list with an active status

Step 3: Query your live Presto data from Perplexity Desktop

Open a new chat in Perplexity Desktop. Click the Sources toggle and enable your CData connector
Start asking questions about your Presto data. For example:
"List all the tables available in my Presto data connection."
Try additional queries such as:
- "Show the available schemas in Presto."
- "Retrieve the top 10 records from the Account table."
- "Summarize the high-priority open opportunities in Presto."

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

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CData is the data layer that makes AI work in production—live connectivity and replication across hundreds of the most critical enterprise sources, semantic context, and built-in governance. Powering AI for Databricks, Microsoft, Google, Palantir, and 10,000+ customers worldwide.