How to Query Live XML Data in Claude Desktop

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an emerging, open-source standard for connecting LLMs with external services and data sources. Through MCP Servers, AI clients can perform actions like opening Jira tickets, posting Slack messages, committing GitHub branches and more. With CData Code Assist MCP, these capabilities expand exponentially.

CData Code Assist MCP provides schema-aware context to AI tools — whether you're using it for AI-assisted code generation in IDEs like Cursor, or for querying live data through chat interfaces like Claude Desktop.

In this article, we guide the reader through installing CData Code Assist MCP for XML, configuring the connection to XML, and asking questions of the data in Claude Desktop.

Prerequisites

You need to download Claude Desktop (download) and create an account before continuing.

Overview

Here's a quick overview of the steps:

1. Download and install the CData Code Assist MCP for XML
2. Configure the connection to XML
3. Ask questions about the data in Claude Desktop

Step 1: Download and install CData Code Assist MCP

1. To begin, navigate to https://www.cdata.com/solutions/codeassist/ and download the CData Code Assist MCP for XML. 👁 Downloading the CData Code Assist MCP installer
   
2. Find and double-click the installer to begin the installation. 👁 Running the installer for CData Code Assist MCP (Google Sheets is shown.)
   
3. Follow the prompts to complete the installation. 👁 Completing the CData Code Assist MCP installation (Google Sheets is shown).
   

When the installation is complete, you are ready to configure Code Assist MCP by connecting to XML.

Step 2: Configure the connection to XML

1. After installation, the Code Assist MCP configuration wizard should open automatically. 👁 The Code Assist MCP configuration wizard.
   

   NOTE: If the wizard does not open automatically, search for "CData Code Assist MCP" in the Windows search bar and double-click the application. 👁 Opening the Code Assist MCP configuration wizard (Google Sheets is shown).
   

2. Click the dropdown menu in MCP Configuration > Configuration Name and select "
3. Name the configuration (e.g. "cdataxml") and click "OK."

   NOTE: This name is used as the name for the MCP server and as the prefix for all of the MCP Server's tools.

   👁 Naming the configuration.
   

4. Connecting to XML

   Connecting to Local or Cloud-Stored (Box, Google Drive, Amazon S3, SharePoint) XML Files

   CData Drivers let you work with XML files stored locally and stored in cloud storage services like Box, Amazon S3, Google Drive, or SharePoint, right where they are.

   Setting connection properties for local files

   Set the URI property to local folder path.

   Setting connection properties for files stored in Amazon S3

   To connect to XML file(s) within Amazon S3, set the URI property to the URI of the Bucket and Folder where the intended XML files exist. In addition, at least set these properties:

   • AWSAccessKey: AWS Access Key (username)
   • AWSSecretKey: AWS Secret Key

   Setting connection properties for files stored in Box

   To connect to XML file(s) within Box, set the URI property to the URI of the folder that includes the intended XML file(s). Use the OAuth authentication method to connect to Box.

   Dropbox

   To connect to XML file(s) within Dropbox, set the URI proprerty to the URI of the folder that includes the intended XML file(s). Use the OAuth authentication method to connect to Dropbox. Either User Account or Service Account can be used to authenticate.

   SharePoint Online (SOAP)

   To connect to XML file(s) within SharePoint with SOAP Schema, set the URI proprerty to the URI of the document library that includes the intended XML file. Set User, Password, and StorageBaseURL.

   SharePoint Online REST

   To connect to XML file(s) within SharePoint with REST Schema, set the URI proprerty to the URI of the document library that includes the intended XML file. StorageBaseURL is optional. If not set, the driver will use the root drive. OAuth is used to authenticate.

   Google Drive

   To connect to XML file(s) within Google Drive, set the URI property to the URI of the folder that includes the intended XML file(s). Use the OAuth authentication method to connect and set InitiateOAuth to GETANDREFRESH.

   The property is the controlling property over how your data is represented into tables and toggles the following basic configurations.

   • Document (default): Model a top-level, document view of your XML data. The data provider returns nested elements as aggregates of data.
   • FlattenedDocuments: Implicitly join nested documents and their parents into a single table.
   • Relational: Return individual, related tables from hierarchical data. The tables contain a primary key and a foreign key that links to the parent document.

   See the Modeling XML Data chapter for more information on configuring the relational representation. You will also find the sample data used in the following examples. The data includes entries for people, the cars they own, and various maintenance services performed on those cars.

   Enter the appropriate connection properties in the configuration wizard.

   👁 Configuring the Server to connect with a specific Spreadsheet.
   
5. Click "Connect" to authenticate with XML.
6. Finally, click "Save Configuration" to save the configuration. 👁 Saving the Code Assist MCP configuration.
   

   NOTE: This saves the configuration details to a separate file and updates the Claude Desktop configuration file (claude_desktop_config.json) to start Code Assist MCP when the Claude Desktop client starts.

With Code Assist MCP configured, you are ready to start asking questions of your live data from Claude.

Step 3: Ask AI for answers from live XML data

Now that we have installed Code Assist MCP and configured a connection, we are ready to start with XML data in Claude Desktop.

1. Open Claude Desktop. It may take a moment for Code Assist MCP to start, but you will see the list of servers and tools available in the Claude interface (look for the settings icon below the prompt bar). 👁 The MCP servers menu showing available connections in Claude Desktop
   

   You can individually enable and disable specific tools by clicking on the server name. 👁 The expanded tool list for Code Assist MCP in Claude Desktop
   

2. Now that you have connected, you can ask Claude questions about the XML data. For example: "Can you give me a quantitative analysis about my closed-won opportunities by industry?"

   NOTE: Claude may need to explore the XML data to make sense of it before it can begin answering questions of the data. The tabular model presented by CData alongside the database tools available simplify the data exploration and analysis for an LLM.

   👁 Claude Desktop displaying a quantitative analysis of live data
   

Build with Code Assist MCP. Deploy with CData Drivers.

Download Code Assist MCP for free and give your AI tools schema-aware access to live XML data during development. When you're ready to move to production, CData XML Drivers deliver the same SQL-based access with enterprise-grade performance, security, and reliability.

Visit the CData Community to share insights, ask questions, and explore what's possible with MCP-powered AI workflows.