Integrate Devin with Live QuickBooks 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 QuickBooks data. You can list catalogs, explore schemas, and query records from QuickBooks data using natural language prompts, with all data access running securely against authorized sources.
This article explains how to configure QuickBooks connectivity in Connect AI, install the CData Connect AI MCP Server from the Devin MCP marketplace, and verify the integration by querying live QuickBooks data from a Devin session.
About QuickBooks Data Integration
CData simplifies access and integration of live QuickBooks data. Our customers leverage CData connectivity to:
- Access both local and remote company files.
- Connect across editions and regions: QuickBooks Premier, Professional, Enterprise, and Simple Start edition 2002+, as well as Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and UK editions from 2003+.
- Use SQL stored procedures to perform actions like voiding or clearing transactions, merging lists, searching entities, and more.
Customers regularly integrate their QuickBooks data with preferred tools, like Power BI, Tableau, or Excel, and integrate QuickBooks data into their database or data warehouse.
Getting Started
Step 1: Configure QuickBooks connectivity for Devin
Connectivity to QuickBooks from Devin is made possible through Connect AI's Remote MCP Server. To interact with QuickBooks data from Devin, start by creating and configuring a QuickBooks connection in Connect AI.
- Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection
- Select QuickBooks from the Add Connection panel
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Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to QuickBooks.
QuickBooks runs on-premises, so Connect AI requires the Connect Gateway to reach it. Install and start the gateway on the same machine (or network) as QuickBooks, then set the URL connection property to the Remote Connector address (e.g., http://remotehost:8166) and enter your User and Password.
- Click Save & Test
- Navigate to the Permissions tab and update user-based permissions
With the QuickBooks connection configured, Devin can now connect to QuickBooks 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 QuickBooks data from Devin
With the integration complete, start a Devin session and interact with live QuickBooks 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 QuickBooks
- Query the top 5 records from a table in QuickBooks
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Devin calls the Connect AI MCP Server and returns live results from QuickBooks 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 QuickBooks 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.