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⇱ Integrating Claude Code CLI with Dynamics 365 Data via CData CLI

Integrating Claude Code CLI with Dynamics 365 Data via CData CLI

👁 Justin Floyd
Justin Floyd
Product Business Analyst
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.

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 Dynamics 365 data to Claude Code CLI through CData CLI.

Prerequisites

About Dynamics 365 Data Integration

CData simplifies access and integration of live Microsoft Dynamics 365 data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:

  • Read and write data in the full Dynamics 365 ecosystem: Sales, Customer Service, Finance & Operations, Marketing, and more.
  • Extend the native features of Dynamics CRM with customizable caching and intelligent query aggregation and separation.
  • Authenticate securely with Dynamics 365 in a variety of ways, including Microsoft Entra ID, Azure Managed Service Identity credentials, and Azure Service Principal using either a client secret or a certificate.
  • Use SQL stored procedures to manage their Dynamics 365 entities - listing, creating, and removing associations between entities.

CData customers use our Dynamics 365 connectivity solutions for a variety of reasons, whether they're looking to replicate their data into a data warehouse (alongside other data sources) or analyze live Dynamics 365 data from their preferred data tools inside the Microsoft ecosystem (Power BI, Excel, etc.) or with external tools (Tableau, Looker, etc.).


Getting Started


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
👁 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

👁 Start Claude Code in the terminal

Step 3: Establish driver and connection

Describe what you hope to accomplish in this session with the CLI and Dynamics 365 data. For example, consider the following prompt:

"I would like to build a command line app that connects to Dynamics 365 data and checks for updates from GoalHeadings. Make sure to include data from important columns like GoalHeadingId 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 Dynamics 365 driver, or search and download a new one: 
    1. cdatacli drivers list
    2. cdatacli drivers search --driver "Dynamics 365"
    3. cdatacli drivers download --artifact-id <artifact-id>
  2. Activation: Activate Dynamics 365 driver with a single command for trial or full license: 
    1. cdatacli drivers activate "Dynamics 365" --name "<name>" --email "<email>" --trial
    2. cdatacli drivers activate "Dynamics 365" --name "<name>" --email "<email>" --key "<product-key>"
  3. Establish Dynamics 365 connection: Check for existing Dynamics 365 connections or create a new one: 
    1. cdatacli connection list
    2. cdatacli connection create --driver "Dynamics 365" --name my_dynamics365_connection --connectionstring "Prop1=value1;Prop2=value2;..."
  4. Create Dynamics 365 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 Dynamics 365" error is returned, no driver instructions exist and you can continue to use main driver skill) 
    cdatacli drivers skill "Dynamics 365" > ~/skills/cdata-dynamics365/SKILL.md

Step 4: Query Dynamics 365 data

With the CData Dynamics 365 Driver fully setup, your agent can now begin executing queries and writing code if desired.

cdatacli query sql --connection my_dynamics365_connection --sql "SELECT * FROM GoalHeadings"

Query Dynamics 365 data directly from your terminal with CData CLI

Claude Code and CData CLI together give your AI coding agent a direct path to live Dynamics 365 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 Dynamics 365 today.

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the Dynamics 365 Driver to get started:

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Learn more:

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Dynamics 365 JDBC Driver

Rapidly create and deploy powerful Java applications that integrate with Dynamics 365.