Integrate Theia IDE with Live SQL Server Data via CData Connect AI

Theia IDE is an open-source, cloud and desktop IDE platform that provides a flexible, extensible development environment with built-in AI capabilities. Its AI features support multiple LLM providers and MCP (Model Context Protocol) tool integrations, allowing developers to interact with live external data sources directly from chat-based agents inside the IDE.

By integrating Theia IDE with CData Connect AI through the built-in MCP server, Theia's AI agents gain governed, real-time access to live SQL Server data. This enables developers to list catalogs, explore schemas, and query records from SQL Server data without leaving the editor or writing custom integration code.

This article explains how to configure SQL Server connectivity in Connect AI, generate the required personal access token, register the CData Connect AI MCP Server in Theia IDE, enable AI features with an LLM provider, and verify the integration by querying live SQL Server data from the Theia AI Chat.

Step 1: Configure SQL Server connectivity for Theia IDE

Connectivity to SQL Server from Theia IDE is made possible through Connect AI's Remote MCP Server. To interact with SQL Server data from Theia IDE, start by creating and configuring a SQL Server connection in Connect AI.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
👁 Adding a connection in Connect AI

2. Select SQL Server from the Add Connection panel
👁 Selecting 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)
   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab and update 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 Theia IDE. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each integration to maintain granular access control.

1. Click the gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open Settings
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT
3. Give the PAT a descriptive name and click Create
👁 Creating a new PAT

4. Copy the token when displayed and store it securely. It will not be shown again

With the SQL Server connection configured and a PAT generated, Theia IDE can now connect to SQL Server data through Connect AI.

Step 2: Configure Connect AI MCP in Theia IDE

Next, register the CData Connect AI Remote MCP Server in Theia IDE so that the built-in AI agents can discover and call live data tools through Connect AI.

1. Download and install the Theia IDE
2. Open Theia IDE and navigate to Settings (or press Ctrl + ,) to open the Settings view
3. In the Settings panel, expand AI Features and select MCP 👁 Navigating to MCP under AI Features in Theia Settings
   
4. Click Edit in settings.json to open the configuration file and paste the following JSON:

   {
    "ai-features.mcp.mcpServers": {
    "cdata": {
    "serverUrl": "https://mcp.cloud.cdata.com/mcp",
    "serverAuthToken": "Basic your_base64_encoded_email_PAT",
    "serverAuthTokenHeader": "Authorization"
    }
    }
   }

   Note: Theia IDE will use Basic authentication with Connect AI. Combine your Connect AI user email and the PAT you created earlier in the format email:PAT, base64 encode the combined string, and prefix it with Basic. For example, given [email protected]:ABC123...XYZ789, the serverAuthToken value becomes something like: Basic dXNlckBkb21haW4uY29tOkFCQzEyMy4uLlhZWjc4OQ==

   👁 Pasting the CData Connect AI MCP Server configuration in settings.json
   
5. Save the settings.json file

Enable AI and configure an LLM provider

Theia IDE requires AI features to be enabled and at least one LLM provider configured to power the agent's reasoning.

1. Return to Settings and under AI Features, select AI Enablement
2. Check the Enable AI box to activate Theia's AI capabilities 👁 Enabling AI in Theia IDE settings
   
3. Under AI Features, choose your preferred LLM provider (e.g., Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Hugging Face) and enter your API key

With the MCP server registered and an LLM provider configured, Theia's AI agents are ready to query live SQL Server data through Connect AI.

Step 3: Query live SQL Server data from the Theia AI Chat

With the integration complete, use the Theia AI Chat panel to interact with live SQL Server data.

1. Open the AI Chat panel from the right sidebar of the Theia IDE
2. At the bottom of the chat, click the Toggle Capabilities Configuration icon (or press Ctrl + Shift + .) to open the capabilities panel
3. Under Generic Capabilities, expand MCP and check the cdata server (and any specific tools you want to expose) to make the Connect AI tools available to the agent 👁 Enabling the MCP capabilities in the AI Chat
   
4. Type @AppTester in the chat input followed by your prompt, for example:
   • List all catalogs in my cdata mcp
   • Show the available schemas and tables for SQL Server
   • Query the top 5 records from a table in SQL Server data
5. The agent calls the Connect AI MCP Server and returns live results from SQL Server data 👁 Querying live data from the Theia AI Chat
   

At this point, your Theia IDE communicates with the Connect AI MCP Server and retrieves live SQL Server data through remote MCP directly from the editor.

Get CData Connect AI

To access hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, try CData Connect AI today! Start a free 14-day trial of CData Connect AI today, and as always, our world-class Support Team is available to assist you with any questions you may have.