Integrate Devin with Live Databricks Data Using CData Connect AI
Devin is an AI software engineer from Cognition that plans, writes, and tests code in autonomous sessions. It supports the model context protocol (MCP) through its built-in MCP marketplace, allowing you to install remote MCP servers and give Devin access to external tools and live data sources.
By integrating Devin with CData Connect AI through the built-in MCP Server, Devin gains governed, real-time access to live Databricks data. You can list catalogs, explore schemas, and query records from Databricks data using natural language prompts, with all data access running securely against authorized sources.
This article explains how to configure Databricks connectivity in Connect AI, install the CData Connect AI MCP Server from the Devin MCP marketplace, and verify the integration by querying live Databricks data from a Devin session.
About Databricks Data Integration
Accessing and integrating live data from Databricks has never been easier with CData. Customers rely on CData connectivity to:
- Access all versions of Databricks from Runtime Versions 9.1 - 13.X to both the Pro and Classic Databricks SQL versions.
- Leave Databricks in their preferred environment thanks to compatibility with any hosting solution.
- Secure authenticate in a variety of ways, including personal access token, Azure Service Principal, and Azure AD.
- Upload data to Databricks using Databricks File System, Azure Blog Storage, and AWS S3 Storage.
While many customers are using CData's solutions to migrate data from different systems into their Databricks data lakehouse, several customers use our live connectivity solutions to federate connectivity between their databases and Databricks. These customers are using SQL Server Linked Servers or Polybase to get live access to Databricks from within their existing RDBMs.
Read more about common Databricks use-cases and how CData's solutions help solve data problems in our blog: What is Databricks Used For? 6 Use Cases.
Getting Started
Step 1: Configure Databricks connectivity for Devin
Connectivity to Databricks from Devin is made possible through Connect AI's Remote MCP Server. To interact with Databricks data from Devin, start by creating and configuring a Databricks connection in Connect AI.
- Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
- Select Databricks from the Add Connection panel
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Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to Databricks.
To connect to a Databricks cluster, set the properties as described below.
Note: The needed values can be found in your Databricks instance by navigating to Clusters, and selecting the desired cluster, and selecting the JDBC/ODBC tab under Advanced Options.
- Server: Set to the Server Hostname of your Databricks cluster.
- HTTPPath: Set to the HTTP Path of your Databricks cluster.
- Token: Set to your personal access token (this value can be obtained by navigating to the User Settings page of your Databricks instance and selecting the Access Tokens tab).
- Click Save & Test
- Navigate to the Permissions tab and update user-based permissions
With the Databricks connection configured, Devin can now connect to Databricks data through Connect AI.
Step 2: Install the Connect AI MCP Server in Devin
Next, install the CData Connect AI MCP Server from the Devin MCP servers list so your sessions can discover and call live data tools through Connect AI.
Note: Installing MCP servers in Devin requires the Manage MCP Servers permission. If you don't have this permission, use the Suggest option or contact your organization admin.
- Log into Devin and navigate to Settings and Connections, then select the MCP servers tab
- Search for CData Connect AI in the marketplace and select the verified listing
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Click Install and enable. When prompted, complete the OAuth flow to authenticate with your Connect AI account
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Once installed, confirm the Enable in sessions toggle is on and click Test tools. Devin validates the connection and lists the available Connect AI tools, such as getCatalogs, getSchemas, getTables, and queryData
With the MCP server installed and enabled, the Connect AI tools are available to every Devin session in your workspace.
Step 3: Query live Databricks data from Devin
With the integration complete, start a Devin session and interact with live Databricks data through natural language prompts.
- From the Devin home page, start a new session
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In the session prompt, ask Devin to work with your Connect AI data, for example:
- Can you list the connections in CData Connect AI
- Show the available schemas and tables for Databricks
- Query the top 5 records from a table in Databricks
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Devin calls the Connect AI MCP Server and returns live results from Databricks data directly in the session. You can follow the tool calls, inputs, and outputs in the Progress panel
At this point, Devin communicates with the Connect AI MCP Server and retrieves live Databricks data through remote MCP tools directly from your sessions, whether you're exploring data, building features against it, or automating engineering tasks.
Get started with CData Connect AI
To access hundreds of SaaS, big data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, try CData Connect AI today. Download a free 14-day trial of CData Connect AI, and our Support Team is available to help with any questions you have.