Establishing a Connection

The CData MCP Server for Apache CouchDB defines each connection to Apache CouchDB as a named configuration that Claude can use when sending natural language queries.

You create and manage these configurations using the MCP Configuration Tool. The tool automatically handles formatting, storage, and registration with Claude Desktop.

Understanding Connection Configurations

Each connection configuration is stored in a .mcp file. This file includes the details needed to initialize the connector when Claude starts a session.

On Windows, configuration files are stored in "~/AppData/Roaming/CData/Apache CouchDB Data Provider/".
On macOS, configuration files are stored in "~/Library/Application Support/CData/Apache CouchDB 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 Claude to launch a dedicated MCP Server instance with the correct connector and options. Manual file editing is not required.

Connecting to Apache CouchDB

Set the URL connection property to the URL of your Apache CouchDB instance. For example: http://localhost:5984

If you want your users (or JWTs) to have access only to specific databases, configure the admin_only_all_dbs option in your Apache CouchDB instance to grant all users access to the "/_all_dbs" endpoint, which is required by the server for listing tables.

Authenticating to Apache CouchDB

Apache CouchDB supports three types of authentication:

Basic: Basic username/password authentication.
JWT: Authentication with a JWT.
None: Anonymous access for databases that are public.

Basic Authentication

Set the following to connect to data:

AuthScheme: Basic.
User The Apache CouchDB user account used to authenticate.
Password The Apache CouchDB password associated with the authenticating user.

JWT Authentication

Set AuthScheme to JWT.

You can either automatically generate (and, if applicable, refresh) a JWT or manually generate one:

Automatic Token Generation

Configure the server to automatically generate the tokens:

Required

JWTSubject: The name of the user to assign to the JWT.
JWTAlgorithm: The algorithm to use for the JWT signature.
JWTKeyType: The encryption key's type.
JWTKey: The encryption key used to sign the JWT generated by the server.

Optional

JWTIssuer: The issuer of the JWT.
JWTExpiration: The duration for which the JWT remains valid, in seconds.
JWTHeaders: A collection of extra headers to include in the JWT header.
JWTClaims: A collection of extra claims to include in the JWT payload.
CredentialsLocation: The filepath of the settings file containing the JWT. If a settings file does not exist in this location, the server creates a new settings file when it retrieves a JWT.

Manual Token Generation

You can generate the tokens yourself manually and pass them to the server by using the JWTToken connection property.

Generating the Key Pair

When using asymmetric algorithms to sign the tokens, you must generate a private/public key pair. For that, a cryptographic library like OpenSSL can be used. For example:

# generate private key
openssl genrsa --out private_rsa256.pem 2048

# extract public key
openssl rsa -in private_rsa256.pem -pubout > public_rsa256.pem

JWT Configurations

Refer to CouchDB JWT Authentication Documentation for the following.

The alg and sub are required claims and will always be validated by the Apache CouchDB instance. Other required claims can be configured in the server (see required_claims). In that case, you must use JWTHeaders and JWTClaims so that the server can include those additional claims when generating the JWT.

You can use roles_claim_name or the roles_claim_path options to assign roles to the JWTs.

An example configuration of the server and corresponding sample connection string are shown below:

Example Server Configuration

[chttpd]
...
authentication_handlers = {chttpd_auth, jwt_authentication_handler}, {chttpd_auth, cookie_authentication_handler}, {chttpd_auth, default_authentication_handler}
admin_only_all_dbs = false
...

[jwt_auth]
...
required_claims = exp
roles_claim_path = my.nested._couchdb\.roles
rsa:rsa_256 = -----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\nYOUR_PUBLIC_KEY\n-----END PUBLIC KEY-----\n
...

Example Connection String

Url=http://localhost:5984;
JWTSubject=JWT User 1;
JWTAlgorithm=RS256;
JWTKeyType=PEMKEY_FILE;
JWTKey=PATH_TO_FOLDER\private_rsa256.pem;
JWTHeaders=kid : rsa_256 | Custom Header 1 : Test 1;
JWTClaims= my : eyJuZXN0ZWQiOnsiX2NvdWNoZGIucm9sZXMiOlsidXNlcjIiXX19 | Custom Claim 1 : Test 1;

Anonymous Authentication

Set the following to connect to data:

AuthScheme: None.
PublicDatabases: A comma-separated list of public databases to list as tables.