Toolbox for Databases MCP server

This open source MCP server for databases allows you to efficiently develop AI tools that can access your data by handling complex aspects like connection pooling, authentication, and more.

Installation

Binary Installation

Choose the appropriate method for your operating system:

Linux (AMD64)

export VERSION=0.20.0
curl -L -o toolbox https://storage.googleapis.com/genai-toolbox/v$VERSION/linux/amd64/toolbox
chmod +x toolbox

macOS (Apple Silicon)

export VERSION=0.20.0
curl -L -o toolbox https://storage.googleapis.com/genai-toolbox/v$VERSION/darwin/arm64/toolbox
chmod +x toolbox

macOS (Intel)

export VERSION=0.20.0
curl -L -o toolbox https://storage.googleapis.com/genai-toolbox/v$VERSION/darwin/amd64/toolbox
chmod +x toolbox

Using Homebrew

brew install mcp-toolbox

Running the Server

1. Create a tools.yaml configuration file
2. Start the server:

./toolbox --tools-file "tools.yaml"

To stop the server, press ctrl+c.

Configuration

The primary configuration is done through the tools.yaml file, which defines your data sources, tools, and toolsets.

Sources

Define your data sources:

sources:
  my-pg-source:
    kind: postgres
    host: 127.0.0.1
    port: 5432
    database: toolbox_db
    user: toolbox_user
    password: my-password

Tools

Define the actions an agent can take:

tools:
  search-hotels-by-name:
    kind: postgres-sql
    source: my-pg-source
    description: Search for hotels based on name.
    parameters:
      - name: name
        type: string
        description: The name of the hotel.
    statement: SELECT * FROM hotels WHERE name ILIKE '%' || $1 || '%';

Toolsets

Group tools that you want to load together:

toolsets:
    my_first_toolset:
        - my_first_tool
        - my_second_tool
    my_second_toolset:
        - my_second_tool
        - my_third_tool

Integrating with Your Application

Python

Core SDK

pip install toolbox-core

from toolbox_core import ToolboxClient

# update the url to point to your server
async with ToolboxClient("http://127.0.0.1:5000") as client:
    # these tools can be passed to your application!
    tools = await client.load_toolset("toolset_name")

JavaScript/TypeScript

Core SDK

npm install @toolbox-sdk/core

import { ToolboxClient } from '@toolbox-sdk/core';

// update the url to point to your server
const URL = 'http://127.0.0.1:5000';
let client = new ToolboxClient(URL);

// these tools can be passed to your application!
const tools = await client.loadToolset('toolsetName');

Go

Core SDK

go get github.com/googleapis/mcp-toolbox-sdk-go

package main

import (
  "github.com/googleapis/mcp-toolbox-sdk-go/core"
  "context"
)

func main() {
  // update the url to point to your server
  URL := "http://127.0.0.1:5000";
  ctx := context.Background()

  client, err := core.NewToolboxClient(URL)
  
  // Framework agnostic tools
  tools, err := client.LoadToolset("toolsetName", ctx)
}

Using with Gemini CLI Extensions

To install Gemini CLI Extensions for MCP Toolbox:

gemini extensions install https://github.com/gemini-cli-extensions/mcp-toolbox

This allows you to interact with your data sources through natural language directly from the command line.

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "toolbox-for-databases" '{"command":"toolbox","args":["--tools-file","tools.yaml"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "toolbox-for-databases": {
            "command": "toolbox",
            "args": [
                "--tools-file",
                "tools.yaml"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "toolbox-for-databases": {
            "command": "toolbox",
            "args": [
                "--tools-file",
                "tools.yaml"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect