Connect Claude to your database

What you need

• A SQL database: PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, SQL Server, Oracle, SQLite or Snowflake.
• Claude Code or Claude Desktop. Claude Desktop also needs Node.js for the mcp-remote bridge.
• Faucet, which runs with npx, Homebrew, Docker, Go or a downloaded binary.

1. Start Faucet and connect your database

npx @faucetdb/faucet serve

Open http://localhost:8080, create an admin account, then add your database: enter the host, port, database, username and password, click Test connection, and save. Prefer the terminal? Add the database before starting the server:

faucet db add --name mydb --driver postgres \
  --host localhost --user app --password-prompt --database mydb
faucet serve

Per-database details are in the setup guides for PostgreSQL, MySQL and MariaDB, SQL Server, Oracle, SQLite and Snowflake.

2. Create a read-only key for Claude

faucet role create --name claude-readonly --verbs GET --service mydb
faucet key create --role claude-readonly --label claude   # prints the key once

In the admin UI, create a role with Read only access, then create a key for it on the API keys page. Roles are fail-closed: anything the role doesn’t grant is denied. Give Claude write access later, table by table, only if it needs it.

3a. Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http faucet http://localhost:8080/mcp \
  --header "X-API-Key: faucet_YOUR_KEY"

Add --scope user to use Faucet in every project, or --scope project to share it with your team through .mcp.json.

3b. Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop only launches local commands, so the mcp-remote bridge forwards its requests to Faucet with your key. Open Settings → Developer → Edit config, or edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "faucet": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "http://localhost:8080/mcp", "--header", "X-API-Key:faucet_YOUR_KEY"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. For a Faucet server on another machine over plain http://, add "--allow-http" to the args.

The admin UI’s AI agents page generates both configs (and ones for Cursor, VS Code and Windsurf) with your key filled in.

4. Ask Claude about your data

Claude sees eight tools. With a read-only key it uses the first four:

Try prompts such as “Which tables are in mydb?” or “Show the ten most recent orders that are still pending.” Tools carry read-only and destructive hints, so Claude can ask before any write.

Database on-prem or on another server?

Run Faucet on a machine that can reach the database, and point Claude at that machine’s /mcp URL. If Claude runs outside your network, expose only Faucet over HTTPS (a reverse proxy, Cloudflare Tunnel or ngrok), never the database port. Every /mcp request still needs a valid key, and you can revoke a key at any time with faucet key revoke.

Why not claude.ai connectors?

Custom connectors in claude.ai on the web need either no authentication or OAuth. Faucet’s MCP endpoint uses API keys and doesn’t offer OAuth yet, so use Claude Code or Claude Desktop, which both send your key as a header.