Unity Catalog MCP server for AI agents

This MCP server provides an interface for Unity Catalog through the Model Context Protocol, allowing access to Unity Catalog Functions directly from Claude. It enables you to list, retrieve, create, and delete functions within Unity Catalog.

Installation and Setup

Prerequisites

To use this MCP server, you'll need:

Access to a Unity Catalog instance
Valid credentials for your Unity Catalog server

Quick Start with UV

The easiest way to run the server is using uv and its uvx utility:

# No separate installation needed - uv can run the server directly

Alternative: Using Docker

If you prefer Docker, you can run the server in a container:

docker build -t mcp/unitycatalog .
# See usage section for Docker run command

Configuration

The server requires several configuration parameters that can be set via command-line arguments or environment variables.

Required Parameters

Unity Catalog Server (-u, --uc_server or UC_SERVER env variable)
- The base URL of your Unity Catalog server
Catalog (-c, --uc_catalog or UC_CATALOG env variable)
- The name of the Unity Catalog catalog to use
Schema (-s, --uc_schema or UC_SCHEMA env variable)
- The name of the schema within the catalog

Optional Parameters

Access Token (-t, --uc_token or UC_TOKEN env variable)
- The access token for Unity Catalog server authentication
Verbosity (-v, --uc_verbosity or UC_VERBOSITY env variable)
- Sets logging level (default: warn)
Log Directory (-l, --uc_log_directory or UC_LOG_DIRECTORY env variable)
- Where to store logs (default: .mcp_server_unitycatalog)

Usage

Setting Up with Claude Desktop

To use this MCP server with Claude Desktop, add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "unitycatalog": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/<path to repo>/mcp-server-unitycatalog",
        "run",
        "mcp-server-unitycatalog",
        "--uc_server",
        "<your unity catalog url>",
        "--uc_catalog",
        "<your catalog name>",
        "--uc_schema",
        "<your schema name>"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Setting Up with VSCode Cline

For VSCode Cline, add the configuration to your cline_mcp_settings.json using the same format as above.

Using Docker

If using Docker, configure it like this:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "unitycatalog": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--rm",
        "-i",
        "mcp/unitycatalog",
        "--uc_server",
        "<your unity catalog url>",
        "--uc_catalog",
        "<your catalog name>",
        "--uc_schema",
        "<your schema name>"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

When connected, you can use these pre-defined Unity Catalog AI tools:

`uc_list_functions`

Lists all functions in the specified catalog and schema.

`uc_get_function`

Gets details of a specific function.

Input: name (string) - The name of the function

`uc_create_function`

Creates a new function in the catalog and schema.

Inputs:
- name (string) - The function name
- script (string) - Python script containing the function

`uc_delete_function`

Deletes a function from the catalog and schema.

Input: name (string) - The name of the function to delete

Additionally, all Unity Catalog Functions registered in your Unity Catalog will be available as tools.

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 "unitycatalog" '{"command":"uv","args":["--directory","/<path to your local git repository>/mcp-server-unitycatalog","run","mcp-server-unitycatalog","--uc_server","<your unity catalog url>","--uc_catalog","<your catalog name>","--uc_schema","<your schema name>"]}'

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": {
        "unitycatalog": {
            "command": "uv",
            "args": [
                "--directory",
                "/<path to your local git repository>/mcp-server-unitycatalog",
                "run",
                "mcp-server-unitycatalog",
                "--uc_server",
                "<your unity catalog url>",
                "--uc_catalog",
                "<your catalog name>",
                "--uc_schema",
                "<your schema name>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "unitycatalog": {
            "command": "uv",
            "args": [
                "--directory",
                "/<path to your local git repository>/mcp-server-unitycatalog",
                "run",
                "mcp-server-unitycatalog",
                "--uc_server",
                "<your unity catalog url>",
                "--uc_catalog",
                "<your catalog name>",
                "--uc_schema",
                "<your schema name>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect