MCP Server Setup

MCP Server Setup#

The ibm_watsonx_data_integration_mcp package is an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for IBM watsonx.data integration. It enables AI assistants to interact with your data integration workflows directly, without needing to write SDK code.

Requirements#

  • Python: 3.12

Installation#

There are three ways to run the MCP server depending on your preferred toolchain.

Using uv as a Tool#

If you don’t have uv, install it first:

pip install uv

Install (this will install all dependencies and may take a few minutes):

uv tool install --python 3.12 ibm_watsonx_data_integration_mcp

Verify the installation:

data-intg-mcp --help

You should see output similar to:

usage: data-intg-mcp [-h] [--clear-cache]

MCP Server for IBM watsonx.data Integration

options:
  -h, --help     show this help message and exit
  --clear-cache  Clear all cached documentation before starting (resources_cache/ and docs/)

MCP server configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "data-intg-mcp": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "tool",
        "run",
        "data-intg-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "WATSONX_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Using pip with a Virtual Environment#

python3.12 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install ibm_watsonx_data_integration_mcp

This will install the MCP server and all its dependencies into the virtual environment.

Verify the installation:

data-intg-mcp --help

You should see output similar to:

usage: data-intg-mcp [-h] [--clear-cache]

MCP Server for IBM watsonx.data Integration

options:
  -h, --help     show this help message and exit
  --clear-cache  Clear all cached documentation before starting (resources_cache/ and docs/)

MCP server configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "data-intg-mcp": {
      "command": "<Path to .venv>/bin/data-intg-mcp",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "WATSONX_API_KEY": "YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Client Integration#

Once you’ve added the MCP server configuration to your client, the server will start automatically when the client launches. You’ll know the server has finished initializing when you see the following message in the logs:

[INFO] Documentation bootstrap complete

Claude Desktop#

Navigate to Claude → Settings → Developer → Edit Config and add one of the MCP server configurations above to your claude_desktop_config.json file.

Bob (VS Code)#

Navigate to VS Code → Open Bob → Settings (⚙️) → MCP → Open Global MCPs and add one of the MCP server configurations above to your Bob MCP config file.

Authentication#

Set your WATSONX_API_KEY in the env block of your MCP client configuration. The server validates this key on startup.

Note

For information on how to generate an IBM Cloud API key, see Authentication.

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