Introduction
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server, introduced by Anthropic, lets AI agents and other applications access tools and contextual data that are not directly available to the core AI model. It acts as a secure gateway, providing a standard interface for tool invocation and resource sharing. This allows vendors and users to extend AI agents' and LLMs' capabilities and knowledge.
For example, connecting GitHub’s MCP server to your AI agent allows it, and the LLM, to translate a natural language request such as "List my open pull requests" into the correct tool invocations, which normally translate to API requests behind the scenes, and return the requested information.
Use the Foundational MCP server to connect your AI tools to the full context of your data environment. The server provides:
End-to-end lineage
Usage information for models and dashboards
Code definitions for tables, models, and upstream operational databases
Ownership and metadata details
Other metadata related to your data assets
Configure Foundational MCP
Generate an API token
Salesforce supports token based OAuth authentication, so your first step will be generating an API token. Follow the instructions in the Create API Tokens article.
Specific parameters:
choose an indicative name like "Salesforce MCP token"
Set the longest expiration permitted by your organization to ensure a smooth, ongoing connection.
If your agent isn't meant to modify Foundational, choose read only permissions and avoid the admin settings.
Keep the Client ID & Secret key accessible. You won't be able to recover them after leaving the generation screen
Add the MCP connection to Salesforce
Navigate into Salesforce's settings by clicking on the gear on the right screen, then Open Advanced Setup.
On the left navigation panel, search for MCP, choose MCP Servers (the exact location depends on your Salesforce account tier)
Click on Add MCP Server At the top right corner, and select Register External MCP server
Fill the MCP's details:
MCP Server Name - Foundational
Server URL*: https://mcp.foundational.io/mcp
Authentication Method: OAuth 2.0
Identity Provider URL*: https://auth.foundational.io/oauth/token
Scope: keep empty
Client ID & Client Secret - the API token you just generated
* for self-hosted enterprise deployments - use your dedicated endpoint instead of the above URLs
The next step is selecting which tools to expose. We recommend enabling all of the tools, but you can customize it to your needs if you're conservative in context tokens. When you're done, Hit "Allow and Continue"
Optional: apply policies to the MCP server.
You're done!