QUICK_START.md

5-Minute Quick Start with Claude

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🎯 Goal: Get a working MCP server connected to Claude Desktop in 5 minutes

✅ Prerequisites (2 minutes)

Before starting, ensure you have:

1. Teradata Database Access

   • Host URL, username, password
   • Get a free sandbox if needed

2. Required Software

   • Claude Desktop installed
   • uv installed
     • macOS: brew install uv
     • Windows: winget install astral-sh.uv, alternatively pip install uv

🚀 Step 1: Test the Server (1 minute)

Run this command to validate that you have uvx working and can access the MCP Server package:

uvx teradata-mcp-server --help

If that works, test with your database:

uvx teradata-mcp-server --database_uri "teradata://username:password@host:1025/database"

You should see "NFO Starting MCP server 'teradata-mcp-server' with transport 'stdio'" messages. Press Ctrl+C to stop.

🔧 Step 2: Configure Claude Desktop (2 minutes)

1. Open Claude Desktop
2. Go to Settings → Developer → Edit Config
3. Add this configuration (update with your database details):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "teradata": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["teradata-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "DATABASE_URI": "teradata://USERNAME:PASSWORD@HOST:1025/DATABASE"
      }
    }
  }
}

4. Save and restart Claude Desktop

✨ Step 3: Test It Works (30 seconds)

In Claude Desktop, try this prompt:

List the first 5 tables in my database

You should see Claude connect to your Teradata database and return results!

🎉 Success! What's Next?

You now have a working Teradata MCP Server! Here are your next options:

For Quick Exploration

• Try different profiles: Change "all" to "dataScientist" or "dba" in your config
• Connect other clients: Visual Studio Code, Google Gemini

For Production Setup

• Security: Configure authentication for team deployments
• Custom Tools: Add business-specific tools for your domain
• Advanced Install: Docker deployment for production

For Development

• Custom Functions: Add your own tools
• Contributing: Developer Guide

🆘 Troubleshooting

Server won't start?

• Check your DATABASE_URI format
• Check if the tool works with the --help arguments. Eg. teradata-mcp-server --version
• Force update to the latest version uvx teradata-mcp-server --no-cache
• Rollback to a prior version changing your config file: "args": ["teradata-mcp-server==0.1.3", "--profile", "all"],
• See Installation Guide for alternative methods

Claude can't see tools?

• Restart Claude Desktop after config changes
• Check Claude's system messages for connection errors
• Try the test command from Step 1 first

Want more help?

• 📹 Video tutorials
• 📖 Detailed installation guide
• 🔧 Configuration options

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This quick start gets you running fast. For production deployments or team setups, see the Installation Guide.