MCP Toolbox for Databases is an open source Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that simplifies developing tools for database access. It handles complexities like connection pooling, authentication, and security, allowing you to create database-powered AI tools quickly and efficiently.
To install Toolbox as a binary:
# see releases page for other versions
export VERSION=0.13.0
curl -O https://storage.googleapis.com/genai-toolbox/v$VERSION/linux/amd64/toolbox
chmod +x toolbox
# see releases page for other versions
export VERSION=0.13.0
docker pull us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/database-toolbox/toolbox/toolbox:$VERSION
For macOS or Linux users:
brew install mcp-toolbox
Ensure you have the latest version of Go installed, then run:
go install github.com/googleapis/[email protected]
First, configure a tools.yaml file to define your tools, then start the server:
./toolbox --tools-file "tools.yaml"
If you installed via Homebrew, you can simply run:
toolbox --tools-file "tools.yaml"
To stop the server, press ctrl+c.
Define data sources in your tools.yaml file:
sources:
my-pg-source:
kind: postgres
host: 127.0.0.1
port: 5432
database: toolbox_db
user: toolbox_user
password: my-password
Define tools that agents can use:
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 || '%';
Group tools together in toolsets:
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');
go get github.com/googleapis/mcp-toolbox-sdk-go
package main
import (
"github.com/googleapis/mcp-toolbox-sdk-go/core"
"context"
)
func main() {
// Make sure to add the error checks
// 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)
}
You can load specific toolsets or all tools:
# This will load all tools
all_tools = client.load_toolset()
# This will only load the tools listed in 'my_second_toolset'
my_second_toolset = client.load_toolset("my_second_toolset")
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