The MCP Toolbox for Databases is an open-source MCP server that simplifies building AI tools for database access. It handles connection pooling, authentication, and other complexities, allowing you to develop tools faster and more securely.
To install the latest version of Toolbox as a binary:
# see releases page for other versions
export VERSION=0.8.0
curl -O https://storage.googleapis.com/genai-toolbox/v$VERSION/linux/amd64/toolbox
chmod +x toolbox
You can also install Toolbox as a container:
# see releases page for other versions
export VERSION=0.8.0
docker pull us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/database-toolbox/toolbox/toolbox:$VERSION
After installing, you'll need to configure your tools in a YAML file, then start the server:
./toolbox --tools-file "tools.yaml"
Toolbox enables dynamic reloading by default. To disable, use the
--disable-reloadflag.
Use toolbox help for a full list of available options. To stop the server, press ctrl+c.
The sources section defines what data sources your Toolbox should access:
sources:
my-pg-source:
kind: postgres
host: 127.0.0.1
port: 5432
database: toolbox_db
user: toolbox_user
password: my-password
The tools section defines 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 || '%';
The toolsets section allows you to define groups of tools:
toolsets:
my_first_toolset:
- my_first_tool
- my_second_tool
my_second_toolset:
- my_second_tool
- my_third_tool
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")
pip install toolbox-langchain
from toolbox_langchain 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 = client.load_toolset()
pip install toolbox-llamaindex
from toolbox_llamaindex 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 = client.load_toolset()
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');
The MCP Toolbox enables powerful database interactions for AI assistants, including:
By connecting your AI tools to Toolbox using MCP, you can create database assistants that significantly improve your development workflow.
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.
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.
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"
]
}
}
}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.
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.
To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:
1. Find your configuration file:
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json2. 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