The CData JDBC Driver turns Zoho Projects into relational models, so cross-project questions that the UI makes awkward — open tasks by owner, milestones slipping, hours logged against a bug list — become one SELECT. The server is read-only, so a model can explore the data freely without being able to close a task by accident.
A Java MCP server that puts CData's JDBC Driver for Zoho Projects behind three read-only tools: list the tables, list a table's columns, and run a SQL SELECT. The driver is what does the work — it exposes Zoho Projects as relational SQL models — and the server hands those models to your client so you can ask questions in plain language instead of writing SQL yourself.
- `get_tables` returns the tables available in the data source, as CSV with a header row
- `get_columns` returns the columns of one table, in the same CSV shape
- `run_query` executes a SQL SELECT and returns the rows
- Every tool name is prefixed with the server name from your `.prp` file, so several CData servers can run side by side without colliding
- Questions like "how many open tickets do I have" go straight to the client — it picks the tools and writes the SQL
Build the server with `mvn clean install`, which produces `CDataMCP-jar-with-dependencies.jar`. Separately download the CData JDBC Driver for Zoho Projects and license it: run `java -jar cdata.jdbc.zohoprojects.jar --license` and enter your name, email and either `TRIAL` or a licence key. Then write a `.prp` file naming `DriverClass=cdata.jdbc.zohoprojects.ZohoProjectsDriver` plus the `JdbcUrl` you build in the driver's connection-string utility, and point your client at `java -jar` with the jar and that file. Transport is stdio, so the server has to run on the same machine as the client.