Access Live Act CRM 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 hundreds of 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 Act CRM connectivity for Roo Code

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

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a connection in Connect AI

2. Select Act CRM from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting data source

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Act CRM.

   The and properties, under the Authentication section, must be set to valid Act! user credentials. In addition to the authentication values, see the following:

   • Connecting to Act! Premium

     In addition to the authentication values, the to Act! is also required; for example https://eup1-iis-04.eu.hosted.act.com/.

     Additionally, you must specify the you will connect to. This is found by going to the About Act! Premium menu of your account, at the top right of the page, in the ? menu. Use the Database Name in the window that appears.

   • Connecting to Act! Premium Cloud

     To connect to your Act! Premium Cloud account, you also need to specify the property. This property is found in the URL address of the Cloud account; for example https://eup1-iis-04.eu.hosted.act.com/ActCloudName/.

   Note that retrieving ActCRM metadata can be expensive. It is advised that you set the property to store the metadata locally.

   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab and update user-based permissions
👁 Updating 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
👁 Creating a new PAT

4. Copy the token when displayed and store it securely. It will not be shown again

With the Act CRM connection configured and a PAT generated, Roo Code can now connect to Act CRM 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 Act CRM 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 Act CRM 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 👁 Opening MCP configuration in Roo Code
   
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)"
    }
    }
    }
   }
    

   👁 Configuring the CData MCP Server in Roo Code
   
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
👁 Confirm that CData MCP Server is listed

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

Query live Act CRM data from Roo Code

With the MCP server configured, start a conversation in the Roo Code chat panel to interact with live Act CRM 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 Act CRM.
   • Query the top 5 records from Act CRM data.
2. The agent calls the CData Connect AI MCP Server and returns live results from Act CRM data
👁 Roo Code agent returning live data from CData Connect AI

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 Act CRM 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 👁 Roo Code agent building an application connected to CData Connect AI
   

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

Get CData Connect AI

To access hundreds of 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.