MCP Server

The Xata MCP server lets AI assistants and agents interact with your Xata organizations, projects, and branches using the Model Context Protocol (MCP).

What is the Xata MCP server?

A hosted MCP server that runs alongside the Xata API — there is nothing to install or run locally.
Authenticated via OAuth in your browser, or with a Xata API key for headless environments.
Accessible from any MCP client that supports remote servers over Streamable HTTP.

Server URL:

https://api.xata.tech/mcp

The server uses the Streamable HTTP transport. There is no SSE endpoint and no local (npm) version of the server.

Authentication

The MCP server supports two authentication methods:

Method	Use when	Client requirement
OAuth	Interactive use in an editor/chat	Support for MCP OAuth (dynamic client registration)
API key	Automation, CI, headless agents	Support for custom HTTP headers

OAuth

With OAuth-capable clients, you only need the server URL. When your client connects for the first time, it registers itself with Xata, opens a browser window, and asks you to sign in to your Xata account and approve access. Tokens are short-lived and scoped to the MCP server.

API key

Clients that support custom headers can authenticate with a Xata API key instead:

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_XATA_API_KEY

Create a dedicated API key for MCP access rather than reusing an existing key. Store it in an environment variable or your client’s secret storage — never commit it to source control.

Set up your MCP client

Cursor

Open the command palette and search for “Cursor Settings”.
Under Tools & MCP, click New MCP Server.
Add the Xata server to the configuration file that opens:

.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "xata": {
      "url": "https://api.xata.tech/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Save the file. Cursor prompts you to authenticate — follow the browser flow and approve access to your Xata account.

Claude Code

Add the server from your terminal:

claude mcp add --transport http xata https://api.xata.tech/mcp

Then start Claude Code and run the /mcp slash command. Select the xata server and follow the browser instructions to authenticate. To use an API key instead of OAuth (for example, in CI):

claude mcp add --transport http xata https://api.xata.tech/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_XATA_API_KEY"

VS Code

MCP servers in VS Code require the GitHub Copilot and GitHub Copilot Chat extensions.

Open the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P).
Run MCP: Add Server and choose HTTP.
Enter https://api.xata.tech/mcp as the URL and xata as the name.

Alternatively, add it to your configuration manually:

.vscode/mcp.json

{
  "servers": {
    "xata": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.xata.tech/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Start the server from MCP: List Servers and allow it to authenticate when prompted.

Claude (web and desktop)

Add Xata as a custom connector:

Go to Settings → Connectors.
Click Add custom connector.
Enter https://api.xata.tech/mcp as the server URL and click Add.
Follow the prompts to sign in with your Xata account.

Custom connectors using remote MCP are not available on all Claude plans, and may require an organization owner to add them on team plans. See the Claude documentation for details.

ChatGPT

Connect ChatGPT to Xata using a custom connector:

In ChatGPT, go to Settings → Connectors → Advanced settings and enable Developer mode.
On the Connectors tab, create a new connector with the server URL:

https://api.xata.tech/mcp

Choose OAuth for authentication and complete the authorization flow when prompted.
In each chat where you want to use Xata, click the + button and enable the Xata connector under Add sources.

Codex CLI

Add the server from your terminal:

codex mcp add xata --url https://api.xata.tech/mcp

You should be prompted to authenticate — follow the instructions in the browser. Then start codex and run the /mcp slash command to confirm the server is enabled and authenticated.

Gemini CLI

Add the server from your terminal:

gemini mcp add --transport http xata https://api.xata.tech/mcp

Then start gemini and authenticate:

/mcp auth xata

OpenCode

Add the Xata server to your OpenCode configuration file:

~/.config/opencode/opencode.json

{
  "$schema": "https://opencode.ai/config.json",
  "mcp": {
    "xata": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://api.xata.tech/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Then authenticate from your terminal:

opencode mcp auth xata

Amp

Add the server from your terminal:

amp mcp add xata https://api.xata.tech/mcp

Then start amp — you should be prompted to authenticate in the browser. Run /mcp list tools to confirm the server is connected.

Windsurf

In Windsurf, open the Cascade panel and click the MCP (hammer) icon, then Configure to open the raw configuration file (~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json).
Add the Xata server entry:

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "xata": {
      "serverUrl": "https://api.xata.tech/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Save the file and click Refresh in the Cascade sidebar. Complete the OAuth flow when the browser window opens.

Zed

Open Settings → AI → MCP Servers and click Add Server → Add Remote Server, or edit your settings file directly:

settings.json

{
  "context_servers": {
    "xata": {
      "url": "https://api.xata.tech/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Zed prompts you to authenticate against the server using the standard MCP OAuth flow.

Cline

Open Cline in VS Code and click the MCP Servers icon.
In the Remote Servers tab, enter xata as the name, https://api.xata.tech/mcp as the URL, and choose Streamable HTTP as the transport. Or edit the configuration JSON directly:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "xata": {
      "type": "streamableHttp",
      "url": "https://api.xata.tech/mcp"
    }
  }
}

The transport type must be streamableHttp (camelCase). Omitting it causes Cline to fall back to the legacy SSE transport, which the Xata MCP server does not support.

Other MCP clients

Any MCP client can connect if it supports:

Remote MCP servers over Streamable HTTP (not SSE)
OAuth with dynamic client registration, or custom HTTP headers for API key authentication

Consult your client’s documentation for where to configure remote MCP servers, and use https://api.xata.tech/mcp as the URL.

Verify the connection

After connecting, ask your assistant:

Use the Xata MCP server to tell me who I’m authenticated as.

The assistant should call the user_info tool and return your user identity (or the API key identity, if you authenticated with a key). If it does, the connection is working.

Available tools

The Xata MCP server exposes the following tools:

Tool	Description
`user_info`	Returns the identity of the authenticated caller — your user ID and email for OAuth, or the API key ID.
`search_operations`	Find a Xata REST API operation by intent (for example, “list branches” or “invite member”).
`describe_operation`	Return the parameters and request/response schemas for a specific operation.
`call_operation`	Invoke a Xata REST API operation. Operations that modify or delete resources require `confirm=true`.
`run_sql`	Run SQL against a branch. Read-only by default; pass `write=true` to run statements that mutate data.
`describe_schema`	List the tables and columns of a branch.
`list_skills`	List the available Xata skills — guided workflows for common multi-step tasks.
`get_skill`	Read the instructions for a specific skill.
`search_xata`	Search the Xata documentation.
`query_docs_filesystem_xata`	Read Xata documentation pages by path.

Security

Prefer OAuth for interactive clients; tokens are short-lived and can be revoked by disconnecting the server in your client.
For automation, use a dedicated API key and rotate it regularly.
Some tools can modify your data: call_operation can change or delete resources (and requires confirm=true to do so), and run_sql can mutate data when called with write=true. Review the actions your assistant proposes before approving them, and keep a human in the loop for any write or delete.

Troubleshooting

Authentication keeps failing or loops. Remove the Xata server from your client, restart the client, and add the server again to trigger a fresh OAuth flow. The server connects but no tools show up. Make sure you completed the authentication step — most tools require a valid session before they appear. Re-run your client’s authentication flow, then refresh its tool list. See Available tools for the full set. Your client can’t connect at all. Confirm the URL is exactly https://api.xata.tech/mcp and that your client supports Streamable HTTP. SSE-only clients are not supported. The server doesn’t appear in your client. Check the client’s MCP configuration file syntax — the JSON shape differs between clients (mcpServers vs servers vs context_servers, url vs serverUrl) — and check the client’s logs. Most clients require a full restart after configuration changes.

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Platform

Tutorials

Migration Guides

Automations

Guides

Updates

What is the Xata MCP server?

Authentication

OAuth

API key

Set up your MCP client

Cursor

Claude Code

VS Code

Claude (web and desktop)

ChatGPT

Codex CLI

Gemini CLI

OpenCode

Amp

Windsurf

Zed

Cline

Other MCP clients

Verify the connection

Available tools

Security

Troubleshooting

​What is the Xata MCP server?

​Authentication

​OAuth

​API key

​Set up your MCP client

​Cursor

​Claude Code

​VS Code

​Claude (web and desktop)

​ChatGPT

​Codex CLI

​Gemini CLI

​OpenCode

​Amp

​Windsurf

​Zed

​Cline

​Other MCP clients

​Verify the connection

​Available tools

​Security

​Troubleshooting

What is the Xata MCP server?

Authentication

OAuth

API key

Set up your MCP client

Cursor

Claude Code

VS Code

Claude (web and desktop)

ChatGPT

Codex CLI

Gemini CLI

OpenCode

Amp

Windsurf

Zed

Cline

Other MCP clients

Verify the connection

Available tools

Security

Troubleshooting