Establishing a Connection

The CData MCP Server for Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT defines each connection to Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT 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/Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT Data Provider/".
On macOS, configuration files are stored in "~/Library/Application Support/CData/Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT 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.

Authenticating to Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT (OAuth)

Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT uses the OAuth authentication standard. In all flows, you must:

set AuthScheme to OAuth
set the SubscriptionKey to your Subscription Key
enable Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT on an authorization account to retrieve results

The rest of this document assumes that you have done so.

Desktop Applications

You can create a custom OAuth Application for connecting to the Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT. See Creating a Custom OAuth App for information about creating custom applications and reasons for doing so.

After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:

InitiateOAuth: Set this to GETANDREFRESH, which instructs the server to automatically attempt to get and refresh the OAuth access token.
CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URL in your custom OAuth application settings.
OAuthClientId: Set this to the Client Id in your custom OAuth application settings.
OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the Client Secret in the custom OAuth application settings.

When you connect the server opens the OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application. The server then completes the OAuth process as follows:

Extracts the access token from the callback URL.
Obtains a new access token when the old one expires.
Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation that persist across connections.

Web Applications

When connecting via a Web application, you need to create and register a custom OAuth application with Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT. You can then use the server to acquire and manage the OAuth token values. See Creating a Custom OAuth App for more information about custom applications.

Get an OAuth Access Token

Set the following connection properties to obtain the OAuthAccessToken:

OAuthClientId: Set this to the Client Id in your application settings.
OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the Client Secret in your application settings.

Then call stored procedures to complete the OAuth exchange:

Call the GetOAuthAuthorizationURL stored procedure. Set the AuthMode input to WEB and set the CallbackURL input to the Redirect URI you specified in your app settings. If necessary, set the Permissions parameter to request custom permissions. The stored procedure returns the URL to the OAuth endpoint.
Navigate to the URL that the stored procedure returned in Step 1. Log in to the custom OAuth application and authorize the web application. Once the application has been authenticated, the browser redirects you to the callback URL.
Call the GetOAuthAccessToken stored procedure. Set AuthMode to WEB and the Verifier input to the "code" parameter in the query string of the callback URL. If necessary, set the Permissions parameter to request custom permissions.

To connect to data, set the OAuthAccessToken connection property to the access token returned by the stored procedure. When the access token expires after ExpiresIn seconds, call GetOAuthAccessToken again to obtain a new access token.

Headless Machines

To configure the driver to use OAuth with a user account on a headless machine, you need to authenticate on another device that has an internet browser.

Choose one of two options:
- Option 1: Obtain the OAuthVerifier value as described in "Obtain and Exchange a Verifier Code" below.
- Option 2: Install the server on a machine with an Internet browser and transfer the OAuth authentication values after you authenticate through the usual browser-based flow, as described in "Transfer OAuth Settings" below.
Then configure the server to automatically refresh the access token on the headless machine.

Option 1: Obtain and Exchange a Verifier Code

To obtain a verifier code, you must authenticate at the OAuth authorization URL.

Follow the steps below to authenticate from the machine with an Internet browser and obtain the OAuthVerifier connection property.

When using a custom OAuth application, create the Authorization URL by setting the following properties:
- InitiateOAuth: Set to OFF.
- OAuthClientId: Set to the client Id assigned when you registered your application.
- OAuthClientSecret: Set to the client secret assigned when you registered your application.
Then call the GetOAuthAuthorizationURL stored procedure with the appropriate CallbackURL. Open the URL returned by the stored procedure in a browser.
Log in and grant permissions to the server. You are then redirected to the callback URL, which contains the verifier code.
Save the value of the verifier code. Later you will set this in the OAuthVerifier connection property.

Next, you need to exchange the OAuth verifier code for OAuth refresh and access tokens. Set the following properties:

On the headless machine, set the following connection properties to obtain the OAuth authentication values:

InitiateOAuth: Set this to REFRESH.
OAuthVerifier: Set this to the verifier code.
OAuthClientId: Set this to the Client Id in your custom OAuth application settings.
OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the Client Secret in the custom OAuth application settings.
OAuthSettingsLocation: Set this to persist the encrypted OAuth authentication values to the specified location.

After the OAuth settings file is generated, you need to re-set the following properties to connect:

InitiateOAuth: Set this to REFRESH.
OAuthClientId: Set this to the client Id assigned when you registered your application.
OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client secret assigned when you registered your application.
OAuthSettingsLocation: Set this to the location containing the encrypted OAuth authentication values. Make sure this location gives read and write permissions to the server to enable the automatic refreshing of the access token.

Option 2: Transfer OAuth Settings

Prior to connecting on a headless machine, you need to create and install a connection with the driver on a device that supports an Internet browser. Set the connection properties as described in "Desktop Applications" above.

After completing the instructions in "Desktop Applications", the resulting authentication values are encrypted and written to the location specified by OAuthSettingsLocation. The default filename is OAuthSettings.txt.

Once you have successfully tested the connection, copy the OAuth settings file to your headless machine.

On the headless machine, set the following connection properties to connect to data:

InitiateOAuth: Set this to REFRESH.
OAuthClientId: Set this to the client Id assigned when you registered your application.
OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the client secret assigned when you registered your application.
OAuthSettingsLocation: Set this to the location of your OAuth settings file. Make sure this location gives read and write permissions to the server to enable the automatic refreshing of the access token.