How to Access Live Act CRM Data in Visual Studio Code via Cline

Cline is an autonomous coding agent right in your IDE, capable of creating/editing files, running commands, using the browser, and more with your permission every step of the way. When paired with CData Code Assist MCP for Act CRM, you get live access to CRM data within your IDE, enabling you to build, test, and validate data-driven features using real-time schema and records without ever leaving your development environment.

CData Code Assist MCP provides schema-aware context to AI tools — whether you're using it for AI-assisted code generation in IDEs like Cursor and Cline, or for querying live data through chat interfaces like Claude Desktop.

This article outlines how to run CData Code Assist MCP for Act CRM on WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) and connect to it from the Cline extension in Visual Studio Code on Windows.

Background

Code Assist MCP is typically designed for clients like Claude Desktop. However, when attempting to use it via the Cline extension in Windows VS Code, the following error occurred:

MCP error -32000: Connection closed

This issue is suspected to be caused by I/O handling problems in the stdio transport implementation on the Windows version of the Cline extension.

• Related GitHub Issue: https://github.com/cline/cline/issues/3464
• Additionally, environment variables such as PATH may not be inherited correctly when launching processes like Java or Node.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio Code installed on Windows
• Cline extension installed and configured in VS Code
• Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) installed with a working Linux distribution (e.g., Ubuntu)
• Java 21+ JRE installed in WSL
• CData Code Assist MCP for Act CRM installed on Windows

Step 1: Authenticate with Act CRM (on Windows)

Before running Code Assist MCP in WSL, you must complete authentication flow in a Windows environment. This ensures all necessary credentials are generated and stored properly. Find and run "CData Code Assist MCP for Act CRM" or execute the JAR file to open the configuration wizard.

java -jar "C:\Program Files\CData\CData Code Assist MCP for Act CRM 20XX\lib\cdata.mcp.actcrm.jar"

Connecting 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 Code Assist MCP

Name your configuration (e.g. cdataactcrm), enter the required connection properties, and click "Connect."

👁 The Code Assist MCP configuration wizard (Google Sheets is shown).

Upon successful connection, the following directory and files will be created:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\CData\actcrm Provider\
 |-- cdataactcrm.mcp
 |-- (other supporting config files)

Step 2: Copy the Code Assist MCP Configuration into WSL

Next, copy the entire configuration folder from Windows into your WSL environment.

mkdir -p ~/.config/CData/
cp -r /mnt/c/Users/<username>/AppData/Roaming/CData/"actcrm Provider" ~/.config/CData/

Ensure the destination path matches exactly: ~/.config/CData/actcrm Provider/.

Step 3: Install Code Assist MCP on WSL

Install Java and place the Code Assist MCP JAR in the desired location within WSL:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install openjdk-21-jre-headless
sudo mkdir -p /opt/cdata/mcp_actcrm/lib
sudo cp /mnt/c/Program\ Files/CData/CData\ Code\ Assist\ MCP\ for\ Act CRM\ 20XX/lib/cdata.mcp.actcrm.jar /opt/cdata/mcp_actcrm/lib/

Step 4: Configure Cline

Now, configure the Cline extension to launch Code Assist MCP inside WSL using the wsl command.

Create or update cline_mcp_settings.json with the following content:

{
 "mcpServers": {
 "cdataactcrm": {
 "autoApprove": ["*"],
 "disabled": false,
 "timeout": 60,
 "type": "stdio",
 "command": "wsl",
 "args": [
 "-d",
 "Ubuntu", // Replace with your installed WSL distro name
 "--",
 "/usr/bin/java",
 "-jar",
 "/opt/cdata/mcp_actcrm/lib/cdata.mcp.actcrm.jar",
 "cdataactcrm"
 ],
 "env": {
 "JAVA_TOOL_OPTIONS": "-Xmx2g"
 }
 }
 }
}

Note: Replace Ubuntu with your actual WSL distribution name (e.g., Ubuntu-22.04). Run wsl -l in PowerShell or CMD to confirm.

Step 5: Interact with Live Data in Cline

From within Visual Studio Code, you can now run MCP commands through the Cline extension.

cdataactcrm_get_tables
cdataactcrm_get_columns Activities

If configured correctly, these commands will return a list of available Act CRM objects and metadata, allowing you to interact with your CRM schema in real time.

Try natural language prompts like:

• "Generate a React form to create a new Act CRM Lead."
• "Write a Python function to pull Opportunities closed this quarter."

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 Act CRM data during development. When you're ready to move to production, CData Act CRM Drivers deliver the same SQL-based access with enterprise-grade performance, security, and reliability.

Visit the CData Community to share insights, ask questions, and explore what's possible with MCP-powered AI workflows.