MCP Toolbox for Databases

Open source MCP server specializing in easy, fast, and secure tools for Databases. ## What can you do with Toolbox For Databases MCP? - **Instant database exploration**— Use prebuilt tools like`list_tables`and`execute_sql`to query your data in plain English from any MCP client. - **Custom SQL tools**— Define parameterized SQL statements in`tools.yaml`to expose safe, structured queries as MCP tools. - **Toolset grouping**— Organize tools into named`toolsets`to load only the relevant set for each agent or application. - **Reusable prompts**— Define`prompts`in`tools.yaml`for standardized LLM interactions like code review. MCP Toolbox for Databases is an open source Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that connects your AI agents, IDEs, and applications directly to your enterprise databases. - **Ready-to-use MCP Server (Build-Time):**Instantly connect Gemini CLI, Google Antigravity, Claude Code, Codex, or other MCP clients to your databases using our*prebuilt generic tools*. Talk to your data, explore schemas, and generate code without writing boilerplate. - **Custom Tools Framework (Run-Time):**A robust framework to build specialized, highly secure AI tools for your production agents. Define structured queries, semantic search, and NL2SQL capabilities safely and easily. This README provides a brief overview. For comprehensive details, see the[full documentation. ](https://mcp-toolbox.dev/)[!IMPORTANT] **Repository Name Update:**The`genai-toolbox`repository has been officially renamed to`mcp-toolbox`. To ensure your local environment reflects the new name, you may update your remote:`git remote set-url origin https://github.com/googleapis/mcp-toolbox.git` [!NOTE] This solution was originally named “Gen AI Toolbox for Databases” (github.com/googleapis/genai-toolbox) as its initial development predated MCP, but was renamed to align with the MCP compatibility. - [Why MCP Toolbox? - ](#why-mcp-toolbox)[Quick Start: Prebuilt Tools - ](#quick-start-prebuilt-tools)[Quick Start: Custom Tools - ](#quick-start-custom-tools)[Install & Run the Toolbox server - ](#install--run-the-toolbox-server)[Connect to Toolbox - ](#connect-to-toolbox)[MCP Client - ](#mcp-client)[Toolbox SDKs: Integrate with your Application - **Out-of-the-Box Database Access:**Prebuilt generic tools for instant data exploration (e.g.,`list_tables`,`execute_sql`) directly from your IDE or CLI. - **Custom Tools Framework:**Build production-ready tools with your own predefined logic, ensuring safety through Restricted Access, Structured Queries, and Semantic Search. - **Simplified Development:**Integrate tools into your Agent Development Kit (ADK), LangChain, LlamaIndex, or custom agents in less than 10 lines of code. - **Better Performance:**Handles connection pooling, integrated auth (IAM), and end-to-end observability (OpenTelemetry) out of the box. - **Enhanced Security**: Integrated authentication for more secure access to your data. - **End-to-end Observability**: Out of the box metrics and tracing with built-in support for OpenTelemetry. Stop context-switching and let your AI assistant become a true co-developer. By connecting your IDE to your databases with MCP Toolbox, you can query your data in plain English, automate schema discovery and management, and generate database-aware code. You can use the Toolbox in any MCP-compatible IDE or client (e.g., Gemini CLI, Google Antigravity, Claude Code, Codex, etc.) by configuring the MCP server. **Prebuilt tools are also conveniently available via the](#toolbox-sdks-integrate-with-your-application)[Google Antigravity MCP Storewith a simple click-to-install experience.** - Add the following to your client's MCP configuration file (usually`mcp.json`or`claude_desktop_config.json`): ``` `{ "mcpServers": { "toolbox-postgres": { "command": "npx", "args": ](https://antigravity.google/docs/mcp)[ "-y", "@toolbox-sdk/server", "--prebuilt=postgres", "--stdio" ] } } }` ``` Set the appropriate environment variables to connect, see the[Prebuilt Tools Reference. When you run Toolbox with a`--prebuilt=<database>`flag, you instantly get access to standard tools to interact with that database. You can also specify a specific toolset using the`--prebuilt=<database>/<toolset>`syntax (e.g.,`--prebuilt=postgres/data`to only load SQL tools). - **Google Cloud:**AlloyDB, BigQuery, Cloud SQL (PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQL Server), Spanner, Firestore, Knowledge Catalog (formerly known as Dataplex). - **Other Databases:**PostgreSQL, MySQL,](https://mcp-toolbox.dev/documentation/configuration/prebuilt-configs/)[MariaDB, SQL Server, Oracle, MongoDB, Redis, Elasticsearch, CockroachDB, ClickHouse, Couchbase, Neo4j, Snowflake, Trino, and more. For a full list of available tools and their capabilities across all supported databases, see the](https://mcp-toolbox.dev/integrations/mariadb/source/)[Prebuilt Tools Reference. *See the](https://mcp-toolbox.dev/documentation/configuration/prebuilt-configs/)[Install & Run the Toolbox serversection for different execution methods like Docker or binaries.* ](#install--run-the-toolbox-server)[!TIP] For users looking for a managed solution,[Google Cloud MCP Serversprovide a managed MCP experience with prebuilt tools; you can](https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/databases/managed-mcp-servers-for-google-cloud-databases)[learn more about the differences here. Toolbox can also be used as a framework for customized tools. The primary way to configure Toolbox is through the`tools.yaml`file. If you have multiple files, you can tell Toolbox which to load with the`--config tools.yaml`flag. You can find more detailed reference documentation to all resource types in the](https://mcp-toolbox.dev/dev/reference/faq/)[Resources. The`sources`section of your`tools.yaml`defines what data sources your Toolbox should have access to. Most tools will have at least one source to execute against. ``` `kind: source name: my-pg-source type: postgres host: 127.0.0.1 port: 5432 database: toolbox_db user: toolbox_user password: my-password` ``` For more details on configuring different types of sources, see the](https://mcp-toolbox.dev/documentation/configuration/)[Sources. The`tools`section of a`tools.yaml`define the actions an agent can take: what type of tool it is, which source(s) it affects, what parameters it uses, etc. ``` `kind: tool name: search-hotels-by-name type: 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 '%' || $1 || '%';` ``` For more details on configuring different types of tools, see the](https://mcp-toolbox.dev/documentation/configuration/sources/)[Tools. The`toolsets`section of your`tools.yaml`allows you to define groups of tools that you want to be able to load together. This can be useful for defining different groups based on agent or application. ``` `kind: toolset name: my_first_toolset tools: - my_first_tool - my_second_tool --- kind: toolset name: my_second_toolset tools: - my_second_tool - my_third_tool` ``` The`prompts`section of a`tools.yaml`defines prompts that can be used for interactions with LLMs. ``` `kind: prompt name: code_review description: "Asks the LLM to analyze code quality and suggest improvements." messages: - content: > Please review the following code for quality, correctness, and potential improvements: \n\n{{.code}} arguments: - name: "code" description: "The code to review"` ``` For more details on configuring prompts, see the](https://mcp-toolbox.dev/documentation/configuration/tools/)[Prompts. You can run Toolbox directly with a](https://mcp-toolbox.dev/documentation/configuration/prompts/)[configuration file: ``` `npx @toolbox-sdk/server --config tools.yaml` ``` This runs the latest version of the Toolbox server with your configuration file. ](#quick-start-custom-tools)[!NOTE] This method is optimized for convenience rather than performance. For a more standard and reliable installation, please use the binary or container image as described in[Install & Run the Toolbox server. For the latest version, check the](#install--run-the-toolbox-server)[releases pageand use the following instructions for your OS and CPU architecture.Linux (AMD64) To install Toolbox as a binary on Linux (AMD64): ``` `# see releases page for other versions export VERSION=1.9.0 curl -L -o toolbox https://storage.googleapis.com/mcp-toolbox-for-databases/v$VERSION/linux/amd64/toolbox chmod +x toolbox` ``` To install Toolbox as a binary on macOS (Apple Silicon): ``` `# see releases page for other versions export VERSION=1.9.0 curl -L -o toolbox https://storage.googleapis.com/mcp-toolbox-for-databases/v$VERSION/darwin/arm64/toolbox chmod +x toolbox` ``` To install Toolbox as a binary on macOS (Intel): ``` `# see releases page for other versions export VERSION=1.9.0 curl -L -o toolbox https://storage.googleapis.com/mcp-toolbox-for-databases/v$VERSION/darwin/amd64/toolbox chmod +x toolbox` ``` To install Toolbox as a binary on Windows (Command Prompt): ``` `:: see releases page for other versions set VERSION=1.9.0 curl -o toolbox.exe "https://storage.googleapis.com/mcp-toolbox-for-databases/v%VERSION%/windows/amd64/toolbox.exe"` ``` To install Toolbox as a binary on Windows (PowerShell): ``` `# see releases page for other versions $VERSION = "1.9.0" curl.exe -o toolbox.exe "https://storage.googleapis.com/mcp-toolbox-for-databases/v$VERSION/windows/amd64/toolbox.exe"` ``` To install Toolbox as a binary on Windows ARM64 (Command Prompt): ``` `:: see releases page for other versions set VERSION=1.9.0 curl -o toolbox.exe "https://storage.googleapis.com/mcp-toolbox-for-databases/v%VERSION%/windows/arm64/toolbox.exe"` ``` To install Toolbox as a binary on Windows ARM64 (PowerShell): ``` `# see releases page for other versions $VERSION = "1.9.0" curl.exe -o toolbox.exe "https://storage.googleapis.com/mcp-toolbox-for-databases/v$VERSION/windows/arm64/toolbox.exe"` ``` ``` `# see releases page for other versions export VERSION=1.9.0 docker pull us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/database-toolbox/toolbox/toolbox:$VERSION` ``` To install Toolbox using Homebrew on macOS or Linux: To install from source, ensure you have the latest version of](https://github.com/googleapis/mcp-toolbox/releases)[Go installed, and then run the following command: ``` `go install github.com/googleapis/mcp-toolbox@v1.9.0` ``` ``` `# Install Gemini CLI npm install -g @google/gemini-cli # Install the extension gemini extensions install https://github.com/gemini-cli-extensions/cloud-sql-postgres # Run Gemini CLI gemini` ``` Interact with your custom tools using natural language through the Gemini CLI. ``` `# Install the extension gemini extensions install https://github.com/gemini-cli-extensions/mcp-toolbox` ``` ](https://go.dev/doc/install)[Configurea`tools.yaml`to define your tools, and then execute`toolbox`to start the server: ``` `./toolbox --config "tools.yaml"` ``` ⓘ Note Toolbox enables dynamic reloading by default. To disable, use the`--disable-reload`flag. To run the server after pulling the](#quick-start-custom-tools)[container image: ``` `export VERSION=0.24.0 # Use the version you pulled docker run -p 5000:5000 \ -v $(pwd)/tools.yaml:/app/tools.yaml \ us-central1-docker.pkg.dev/database-toolbox/toolbox/toolbox:$VERSION \ --config "/app/tools.yaml"` ``` ⓘ Note The`-v`flag mounts your local`tools.yaml`into the container, and`-p`maps the container's port`5000`to your host's port`5000`. To run the server directly from source, navigate to the project root directory and run: ⓘ Note This command runs the project from source, and is more suitable for development and testing. It does**not**compile a binary into your`$GOPATH`. If you want to compile a binary instead, refer the](#install-toolbox)[Developer Documentation. If you installed Toolbox using](https://github.com/googleapis/genai-toolbox/blob/HEAD/DEVELOPER.md#building-the-binary)[Homebrew, the`toolbox`binary is available in your system path. You can start the server with the same command: To run Toolbox directly without manually downloading the binary (requires Node.js): ``` `npx @toolbox-sdk/server --config tools.yaml` ``` ``` `# Run Gemini CLI gemini # List extensions /extensions list # List MCP servers /mcp list` ``` You can use`toolbox help`for a full list of flags! To stop the server, send a terminate signal (`ctrl+c`on most platforms). For more detailed documentation on deploying to different environments, check out the resources in the](https://brew.sh/)[Deploy Toolbox section Once your Toolbox server is up and running, you can load tools into your MCP-compatible client or application. Add the following configuration to your MCP client configuration: ``` `{ "mcpServers": { "toolbox": { "type": "http", "url": "http://127.0.0.1:5000/mcp", } } }` ``` If you would like to connect to a specific toolset, replace url with "](https://mcp-toolbox.dev/documentation/deploy-to/)[http://127.0.0.1:5000/mcp/{toolset_name}". ### Toolbox SDKs: Integrate with your Application](http://127.0.0.1:5000/mcp/%7Btoolset_name%7D)