Set up AI Assist

The AI Assist MCP server ships as a container image, so it runs the same way on a developer’s Windows workstation and on a Linux server. Setting it up takes four steps: a read-only database account, the image and its configuration, a connection from your IDE, and a first question to prove it works.

Choose how to run it

The same image runs in two ways:

	Local	Shared
How it runs	Your IDE starts a container for you, on demand	One container runs as a service for your team
MCP transport	stdio	Streamable HTTP, behind HTTPS
Database password	On each developer’s machine, as a Podman secret	On the server only
Sign-in	None: it runs as you	Your identity provider, through OAuth 2.1
Best for	Trying it out, and small teams	Larger teams, and environments that need central auditing

Start with a local setup. You can move to a shared server later without changing anything about the tools, and How the server works compares the two in more detail.

What you need

• A PeopleSoft database to connect to, preferably development or test, on Oracle Database or Microsoft SQL Server.
• A database administrator to create a read-only account.
• A container engine: Podman or Docker. On Windows and macOS, Podman Desktop or Docker Desktop provides one.
• An IDE or chat client that supports MCP, such as Claude Code, VS Code, Cursor, or Claude Desktop.
• Network access from where the container runs to the database’s listener port, such as 1521 for Oracle Database or 1433 for SQL Server.

Steps

1. Create the database account. Your DBA creates an account that can read the PeopleTools tables the tools use, and nothing else.

2. Get and configure the server. Load the image, store the database password, and run the built-in check command to confirm the server can connect and has exactly the access it needs.

3. Connect. For a local setup, connect your IDE. For a shared setup, run a shared server first, then connect your IDE to its URL.

4. Ask a first question. In your IDE’s chat, ask: “Use aipeoplesoft to describe the USERMAINT component.” USERMAINT, the User Profiles component, exists in every PeopleSoft system, so the answer should list its pages and records whichever applications you run.