Integrating Claude Code CLI with Zoho Projects Data via CData CLI

Claude Code is Anthropic's agentic command-line tool that brings AI assistance directly into your development workflow. Running natively in the terminal, it can plan and execute multi-step tasks: reading files, running commands, and making decisions across your project without constant manual input. Its ability to load and follow agent skill files makes it especially well-suited for structured workflows, making it a natural fit for connecting to external data sources through tools like CData CLI. With Claude Code, you can describe your data goals in plain language and let the agent handle driver setup, connection configuration, and query execution automatically.

This article details step-by-step directions for how to connect Zoho Projects data to Claude Code CLI through CData CLI.

Prerequisites

• Claude Code installed
• CData CLI installed

Step 1: Download skill (one-time setup)

The CData CLI should always be used with the official Skill.

• The official CData CLI Skill on GitHub can be downloaded using npx skills through the terminal:

  npx skills add CDataSoftware/cli-skills

• Follow prompts in terminal to install skill for Claude Code

Step 2: Set up project directory

A project directory should be created to contain all project files.

Navigate to directory within the terminal and start a session using the claude command

Step 3: Establish driver and connection

Describe what you hope to accomplish in this session with the CLI and Zoho Projects data. For example, consider the following prompt:

"I would like to build a command line app that connects to Zoho Projects data and checks for updates from Portals. Make sure to include data from important columns like Id and Name."

This should automatically load the Skill and kick off the following process. You can always manually prompt the agent for each of the following steps.

1. Driver setup: Check for existing CData Zoho Projects driver, or search and download a new one:

   1. cdatacli drivers list

   2. cdatacli drivers search ZohoProjects

   3. cdatacli drivers download --artifact-id "artifact-id"

2. Activation: Activate Zoho Projects driver with a single command for trial or full license:

   1. cdatacli drivers activate ZohoProjects --name "name" --email "email" --trial

   2. cdatacli drivers activate ZohoProjects --name "name" --email "email" --key "product-key"

3. Establish Zoho Projects connection: Check for existing Zoho Projects connections or create a new one:

   1. cdatacli connection list

   2. cdatacli connection create --driver ZohoProjects –name "my_ZohoProjects_connection" --connectionstring "Prop1=value1;Prop2=value2;..."

4. Create Zoho Projects skill (if applicable): CData provides driver instructions for popular sources that can be used to create a source specific skill to guide the agent through best practices for the driver. Run the following command to generate a skill file and save the output to your skills directory. You can choose to save the skill either at the project level or globally. (Note: If "No instructions available for Zoho Projects" error is returned, no driver instructions exist and you can continue to use main driver skill)

   cdatacli drivers skill ZohoProjects > ~/skills/cdata-ZohoProjects/SKILL.md

Step 4: Query Zoho Projects data

With the CData Zoho Projects Driver fully setup, your agent can now begin executing queries and writing code if desired.

cdatacli query sql --connection "my_Zoho Projects data_connection" --sql "SELECT * FROM table"

Query Zoho Projects data directly from your terminal with CData CLI

Claude Code and CData CLI together give your AI coding agent a direct path to live Zoho Projects data without custom middleware, scheduled syncs, or manual setup at each step. Describe your goal, and the agent handles driver configuration, connection setup, and query execution from start to finish in the terminal.

Download the free CData CLI and start a free, 30-day trial of the CData JDBC Driver for Zoho Projects today.