Establishing a Connection
The CData Code Assist MCP for IBM Cloud Object Storage defines each connection to IBM Cloud Object Storage as a named configuration that an MCP Client (such as Claude Desktop) can use when sending natural language queries.
You create and manage these configurations using the CData Code Assist MCP Configuration Tool. The tool automatically handles formatting, storage, and registration with MCP clients.
Understanding Connection Configurations
Each connection configuration is stored in a .mcp file. This file includes the details needed to initialize the connector when an MCP Client starts a session.
- On Windows, configuration files are stored in "~/AppData/Roaming/CData/IBM Cloud Object Storage Data Provider/".
- On macOS, configuration files are stored in "~/Library/Application Support/CData/IBM Cloud Object Storage Data Provider/".
The .mcp file is a text file that contains a list of connection properties and a timestamp. For example:
#Tue May 20 15:48:40 EDT 2025 AuthScheme=Basic User=myUser Password=myPassword Security Token=myToken
The configuration tool handles these settings automatically. Each saved configuration enables an MCP client to launch a dedicated MCP server instance with the correct connector and options. Manual file editing is not required.
Connecting to IBM Cloud Object Storage
To connect to IBM Cloud Object Storage data, set these parameters:- InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.
- ApiKey: The API key which was noted during setup (see Before You Connect).
- CloudObjectStorageCRN (Optional): The cloud object storage CRN established during setup (see Before You Connect). The server attempts to retrieve this automatically, but if you have more than one Cloud Object Storage account, we recommend that you specify this explicitly.
When you connect, the server completes the OAuth process.
- Extracts the access token and authenticates requests.
- Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation to be persisted across connections.