Exasol MCP Server

Provides an LLM access to the Exasol database via MCP tools. Includes the tools for reading the database metadata and executing data reading queries.

Features

• Collects the metadata.
  • Enumerates the existing database objects, including schemas, tables, views, functions and UDF scripts.
  • Provides a filtering mechanisms to use with object enumeration.
  • Describes the database objects: for tables returns the list of columns and constraints; for functions and scripts - the list of input and output parameters.
• Executes provided data reading SQL query. Disallows any other type of query.

Prerequisites

• Python >= 3.10.
• MCP Client application, e.g. Claude Desktop.

Installation

Ensure the uv package is installed. If uncertain call

uv --version

To install uv on macOS please use brew, i.e.

brew install uv

For other operating systems, please follow the instructions in the uv official documentation.

Using the server with the Claude Desktop.

To enable the Claude Desktop using the Exasol MCP server, the latter must be listed in the configuration file claude_desktop_config.json. A similar configuration file would exist for most other MCP Client applications.

To find the Claude Desktop configuration file, click on the Settings and navigate to the “Developer” tab. This section contains options for configuring MCP servers and other developer features. Click the “Edit Config” button to open the configuration file in the editor of your choice.

Add the Exasol MCP server to the list of MCP servers as shown in this configuration example.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exasol_db": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["exasol-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "EXA_DSN": "my-dsn, e.g. demodb.exasol.com:8563",
        "EXA_USER": "my-user-name",
        "EXA_PASSWORD": "my-password"
      }
    },
    "other_server": {}
  }
}

With these settings, uv will execute the latest version of the exasol-mcp-server in an ephemeral environment, without installing it.

Alternatively, the exasol-mcp-server can be installed using the command:

uv tool install exasol-mcp-server@latest

For further details on installing and upgrading the server using uv see the uv Tools documentation.

If the server is installed, the Claude configuration file should look like this:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exasol_db": {
      "command": "exasol-mcp-server",
      "env": "same as above"
    }
  }
}

Please note that any changes to the Claude configuration file will only take effect after restarting Claude Desktop.

Configuration settings:

In the above example the server is configured to run using default settings. The way the server runs can be fine-tuned by providing customised settings in json format.

Most importantly, the server configuration specifies if reading the data using SQL queries is enabled. Note that reading is disabled by default. To enable the data reading, set the enable_read_query property to true:

{
  "enable_read_query": true
}

The server configuration settings can also be used to enable/disable or filter the listing of a particular type of database objects. Similar settings are defined for the following object types:

schemas,
tables,
views,
functions,
scripts

The settings include the following properties:

• enable: a boolean flag that enables or disables the listing.
• like_pattern: filters the output by applying the specified SQL LIKE condition to the object name.
• regexp_pattern: filters the output by matching the object name with the specified regular expression.

In the following example, the listing of schemas is limited to only one schema, the listings of functions and scripts are disabled and the visibility of tables is limited to tables with certain name pattern.

{
  "schemas": {
    "like_pattern": "MY_SCHEMA"
  },
  "tables": {
    "like_pattern": "MY_TABLE%"
  },
  "functions": {
    "enable": false
  },
  "scripts": {
    "enable": false
  }
}

The customised settings can be specified directly in the MCP Client configuration file using another environment variable - EXA_MCP_SETTINGS:

{
  "env": {
    "EXA_DSN": "my-dsn",
    "EXA_USER": "my-user-name",
    "EXA_PASSWORD": "my-password",
    "EXA_MCP_SETTINGS": "{\"schemas\": {\"like_pattern\": \"MY_SCHEMA\"}"
  }
}

Note that double quotes in the json text must be escaped, otherwise the environment variable value will be interpreted, not as a text, but as a part of the outer json.

Alternatively, the settings can be written in a json file. In this case, the EXA_MCP_SETTINGS should contain the path to this file, e.g.

{
  "env": {
    "EXA_DSN": "my-dsn",
    "EXA_USER": "my-user-name",
    "EXA_PASSWORD": "my-password",
    "EXA_MCP_SETTINGS": "path_to_settings.json"
  }
}

The following json shows the default settings.

{
  "schemas": {
    "enable": true,
    "like_pattern": "",
    "regexp_pattern": ""
  },
  "tables": {
    "enable": true,
    "like_pattern": "",
    "regexp_pattern": ""
  },
  "views": {
    "enable": false,
    "like_pattern": "",
    "regexp_pattern": ""
  },
  "functions": {
    "enable": true,
    "like_pattern": "",
    "regexp_pattern": ""
  },
  "scripts": {
    "enable": true,
    "like_pattern": "",
    "regexp_pattern": ""
  },
  "enable_read_query": false
}

The default values do not need to be repeated in the customised settings.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Safe Harbor Statement: Exasol MCP Server & AI Solutions

Exasol’s AI solutions (including MCP Server) are designed to enable intelligent, autonomous, and highly performant access to data through AI and LLM-powered agents. While these technologies unlock powerful new capabilities, they also introduce potentially significant risks.

By granting AI agents access to your database, you acknowledge that the behavior of large language models (LLMs) and autonomous agents cannot be fully predicted or controlled. These systems may exhibit unintended or unsafe behavior—including but not limited to hallucinations, susceptibility to adversarial prompts, and the execution of unforeseen actions. Such behavior may result in data leakage, unauthorized data generation, or even data modification or deletion.

Exasol provides the tools to build AI-native workflows; however, you, as the implementer and system owner, assume full responsibility for managing these solutions within your environment. This includes establishing appropriate governance, authorization controls, sandboxing mechanisms, and operational guardrails to mitigate risks to your organization, your customers, and their data.