Integrating Antigravity CLI with Blackbaud FE NXT data via CData CLI

CData CLI gives AI coding agents direct, command-line-native access to CData Drivers across hundreds of data sources, allowing agents to manage licenses, configure connections, run SQL queries, and explore schema metadata, all without leaving the terminal.

Antigravity CLI is Google's terminal-first AI coding agent and the successor to Gemini CLI, built on the Antigravity 2.0 platform. It brings multi-step reasoning, multi-file editing, tool calling, and persistent history directly to your terminal, allowing it to autonomously plan and execute complex development tasks without requiring a graphical interface. Its support for integrations and agent skills makes it well-suited for structured, tool-driven workflows, making it a natural fit for connecting to external data sources through CData CLI.

By describing your data goals in plain language, Antigravity CLI can handle the full setup process, from driver configuration and license activation to connection creation and query execution, without manual intervention at each step.

This article details step-by-step directions for how to connect Blackbaud FE NXT data to Antigravity CLI through CData CLI.

Prerequisites

1. Antigravity CLI installed
2. CData CLI installed

Step 1: Download the skill (one-time setup)

Always use CData CLI with the official skill.

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

   npx skills add CDataSoftware/cli-skills

2. Follow the prompts in the terminal to install for Antigravity CLI. 👁 Install for Antigravity
   

Step 2: Set up the project directory

Create a project directory to contain all project files.

1. Navigate to the directory within the terminal and start a session with the agy command: 👁 Start an Antigravity session
   

Step 3: Establish the driver and connection

Describe what you want to accomplish in this session with the CLI and Blackbaud FE NXT data.

I would like to build a command line app that connects to Blackbaud FE NXT data and checks for updates from Accounts. Make sure to include data from important columns like AccountId and AccountNumber.

This prompt automatically loads the skill and kicks off the following process. You can always manually prompt the agent for each of the following steps.

1. Driver setup: Check for existing CData Blackbaud FE NXT driver, or search and download a new one:

• cdatacli drivers list

• cdatacli drivers search --driver "Blackbaud FE NXT"

• cdatacli drivers download --artifact-id <artifact-id>

2. Activation: Activate the Blackbaud FE NXT driver with a single command for a trial or full license:

• cdatacli drivers activate "Blackbaud FE NXT" --name "<name>" --email "<email>" --trial

• cdatacli drivers activate "Blackbaud FE NXT" --name "<name>" --email "<email>" --key "<product-key>"

3. Establish the Blackbaud FE NXT connection: Check for existing Blackbaud FE NXT connections or create a new one:

• cdatacli connection list

• cdatacli connection create --driver "Blackbaud FE NXT" --name <my_financialedgenxt_connection> --connectionstring "Prop1=value1;Prop2=value2;..."

4. Create a Blackbaud FE NXT skill (if applicable): CData provides driver instructions for popular sources. You can use these to generate a source-specific skill file that guides the agent through best practices for the driver.
• Run the following command and save the output to your skills directory, either at the project level or globally.

  (Note: If you receive a "No instructions available for Blackbaud FE NXT" message, no driver instructions exist for this source. You can continue using the main driver skill.)

  cdatacli drivers skill "Blackbaud FE NXT" > ~/skills/cdata-financialedgenxt/SKILL.md

Step 4: Query Blackbaud FE NXT data

With the CData driver fully configured, your agent can now execute queries and write code against live Blackbaud FE NXT data:

cdatacli query sql --connection <my_financialedgenxt_connection> --sql "SELECT * FROM table"

Query Blackbaud FE NXT data directly from your terminal with CData CLI

Antigravity CLI and CData CLI together give your AI coding agent a direct path to live Blackbaud FE NXT data without custom middleware, scheduled syncs, or manual setup at each step. Describe your goal in plain language, 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 Blackbaud FE NXT today.