Integrating GitHub Copilot CLI with Dynamics 365 data via CData CLI

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.

GitHub Copilot CLI is the terminal interface for GitHub Copilot, giving developers direct access to an AI agent without leaving the command line. It can autonomously complete multi-step tasks driven by natural language instructions, including reading and modifying files, running shell commands, managing pull requests on GitHub, and delegating work to specialized custom agents. Its support for agent skills and custom instructions 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, GitHub Copilot 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 Dynamics 365 data to GitHub Copilot 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 the skill (one-time setup)

Always use CData CLI with the official skill.

The official CData CLI Skill is available on GitHub and installs through npx skills in the terminal:
```
npx skills add CDataSoftware/cli-skills
```
Follow the prompts in the terminal to install for GitHub Copilot. 👁 Install for GitHub Copilot

Step 2: Set up the project directory

Create a project directory to contain all project files.

Navigate to the directory within the terminal and start a session with the copilot command: 👁 Start a session
👁 GitHub Copilot CLI UI

Step 3: Establish the driver and connection

Describe what you want to accomplish in this session with the CLI and Dynamics 365 data.

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

Driver setup: GitHub Copilot CLI checks for an existing CData Dynamics 365 driver, or searches and downloads a new one:

```
cdatacli drivers list
```

cdatacli drivers search --driver "Dynamics 365"

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

Activation: Activate the Dynamics 365 driver with a single command for a trial or full license:

cdatacli drivers activate "Dynamics 365" --name "<name>" --email "<email>" --trial

cdatacli drivers activate "Dynamics 365" --name "<name>" --email "<email>" --key "<product-key>"

Establish the Dynamics 365 connection: Check for existing Dynamics 365 connections or create a new one:

```
cdatacli connection list
```

cdatacli connection create --driver Dynamics365 --name my_dynamics365_connection --connectionstring "Prop1=value1;Prop2=value2;..."

Create a Dynamics 365 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 Dynamics 365" message, no driver instructions exist for this source. You can continue using the main driver skill.)
```
cdatacli drivers skill "Dynamics 365" > ~/skills/cdata-dynamics365/SKILL.md
```

Step 4: Query Dynamics 365 data

With the CData driver fully configured, your agent can now execute queries and write code against live Dynamics 365 data:

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

Query Dynamics 365 data directly from your terminal with CData CLI

GitHub Copilot CLI 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 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 Dynamics 365 today.

Ready to get started?

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

Download Now

Learn more:

👁 Dynamics 365 Icon
Dynamics 365 JDBC Driver

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

URL: https://www.cdata.com/kb/tech/dynamics365-jdbc-cli-github-copilot.rst