Use Manus AI to Talk to Your SQL Server Data via CData Connect AI

Manus AI is an autonomous AI agent platform that helps users accomplish complex tasks through natural language from browsing the web to executing code and interacting with external services. When combined with CData Connect AI remote MCP, users can leverage Manus AI to interact with their SQL Server data in real-time, without any data replication.

This article explains how to connect to SQL Server using the CData Connect AI MCP Server and configure Manus AI to conversationally explore (or Vibe Query) their SQL Server data. With Connect AI, users can build AI agents with access to live SQL Server data, plus hundreds of other sources.

Step 1: Configure SQL Server connectivity for Manus AI

Connectivity to SQL Server from Manus AI is made possible through CData Connect AI Remote MCP. To interact with SQL Server data from Manus AI, we start by creating and configuring a SQL Server connection in CData Connect AI.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Connections and click Add Connection 👁 Adding a Connection
   
2. Select "SQL Server" from the Add Connection panel 👁 Selecting a data source
   
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SQL Server.

   Connecting to Microsoft SQL Server

   Connect to Microsoft SQL Server using the following properties:

   • Server: The name of the server running SQL Server.
   • User: The username provided for authentication with SQL Server.
   • Password: The password associated with the authenticating user.
   • Database: The name of the SQL Server database.

   Connecting to Azure SQL Server and Azure Data Warehouse

   You can authenticate to Azure SQL Server or Azure Data Warehouse by setting the following connection properties:

   • Server: The server running Azure. You can find this by logging into the Azure portal and navigating to "SQL databases" (or "SQL data warehouses") -> "Select your database" -> "Overview" -> "Server name."
   • User: The name of the user authenticating to Azure.
   • Password: The password associated with the authenticating user.
   • Database: The name of the database, as seen in the Azure portal on the SQL databases (or SQL warehouses) page.

   SSH Connectivity for SQL Server

   You can use SSH (Secure Shell) to authenticate with SQL Server, whether the instance is hosted on-premises or in supported cloud environments. SSH authentication ensures that access is encrypted (as compared to direct network connections).

   SSH Connections to SQL Server in Password Auth Mode

   To connect to SQL Server via SSH in Password Auth mode, set the following connection properties:

   • User: SQL Server User name
   • Password: SQL Server Password
   • Database: SQL Server database name
   • Server: SQL Server Server name
   • Port: SQL Server port number like 3306
   • UserSSH: "true"
   • SSHAuthMode: "Password"
   • SSHPort: SSH Port number
   • SSHServer: SSH Server name
   • SSHUser: SSH User name
   • SSHPassword: SSH Password

   SSH Connections to SQL Server in Public Key Auth Mode

   To connect to SQL Server via SSH in Password Auth mode, set the following connection properties:

   • User: SQL Server User name
   • Password: SQL Server Password
   • Database: SQL Server database name
   • Server: SQL Server Server name
   • Port: SQL Server port number like 3306
   • UserSSH: "true"
   • SSHAuthMode: "Public_Key"
   • SSHPort: SSH Port number
   • SSHServer: SSH Server name
   • SSHUser: SSH User name
   • SSHClientCret: the path for the public key certificate file
   👁 Configuring a connection (Salesforce is shown)
   Click Save & Test
4. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add SQL Server Connection page and update the 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 Manus AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create. 👁 Creating a new PAT
   
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, we are ready to connect to SQL Server data from Manus AI.

Step 2: Get started with Manus AI

Navigate to Manus and sign in to your Manus AI account. Once logged in, you are ready to configure the CData Connect AI MCP Server as a custom connector.

Step 3: Add the CData Connect AI MCP Server as a connector

Manus AI supports connecting to external MCP servers via its Connectors settings. There are two methods to add the CData Connect AI MCP Server: Import by JSON or Direct Configuration. Both methods are explained below.

1. In Manus AI, click on the profile icon and navigate to Settings 👁 Navigating to Manus AI settings
   
2. Go to the Connectors section and click Add Connectors 👁 Navigating to Custom MCP connectors
   
3. Locate Custom MCP 👁 Click Custom MCP
   
4. Click Add custom MCP to select the configuration options 👁 Add custom MCP
   

Option A: Import by JSON

Use this method to quickly configure the MCP Server by pasting a JSON configuration snippet.

1. Select Import by JSON from the connector setup options.
2. Paste the following JSON into the configuration field, replacing the placeholder values with your Connect AI credentials:

   {
    "mcpServers": {
    "cdata-connect-ai": {
    "transport": "sse",
    "url": "https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp",
    "headers": {
    "Authorization": "Basic USER_NAME:YOUR_CONNECTAI_PAT;"
    }
    }
    }
   }
    

   Replace url with the Connect AI MCP URL, USER_NAME with your Connect AI email address, and YOUR_CONNECTAI_PAT with the Personal Access Token created in Step 1. 👁 Importing MCP configuration via JSON in Manus AI
   
3. Click Import to apply the configuration.

Option B: Direct Configuration

Use this method to manually enter the MCP Server connection properties through the Manus AI interface.

1. Select Direct Configuration from the connector setup options.
2. Fill in the following fields:
   • Server Name: CData Connect AI
   • Transport Type: HTTP
   • Server URL: https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp
   • Custom Headers: Add a header with the name Authorization and the value Basic Base64Encoded(username:pat), replacing the placeholder with your Base64-encoded Connect AI email and PAT combination.
   👁 Configuring the CData Connect AI MCP Server directly in Manus AI
   
3. Optionally, enter a Note to provide Manus AI with instructions on how and when to use this MCP connector.
4. Click Save to establish the connection to the CData Connect AI MCP Server. Once saved, the connector will appear as active in your Connectors list.

Step 4: Query your SQL Server data using natural language

With the CData Connect AI MCP configured in Manus AI, users can now interact with their SQL Server data using natural language in any new Manus AI chat session.

1. Open a new chat in Manus AI.
2. Start asking questions about the SQL Server data. For example:
   • Show me all customers from the last 30 days
   • What are my top performing products?
   • Analyze sales trends for Q4
   • List all active projects with their current status
3. Manus AI will use the CData Connect AI MCP Server to query your SQL Server data in real-time and provide responses based on live data. 👁 Chatting with live data in Manus AI
   

Get CData Connect AI

To get live data access to hundreds of SaaS, big data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, try CData Connect AI today!