Databricks

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:

Access to a Databricks workspace
A workspace admin who can create or assign a service principal
Permission to grant Can use on a SQL warehouse
Access to Unity Catalog resources (catalogs, schemas, tables) that you want Sidecar to discover
A catalog owner, metastore admin, or another principal that can grant Unity Catalog privileges
An account admin or metastore admin if the required system schemas are not enabled
Can manage access to each AI/BI dashboard that you want Sidecar to discover

1. Get the host and HTTP path

Log in to your Databricks workspace.
Navigate to SQL Warehouses.
Select the SQL Warehouse you want to use for the integration.
Click Connection details.

Copy the following values: Server Hostname — use this as the Host:

dbc-xxxxxxxx.cloud.databricks.com

HTTP Path — use this as the HTTP Path:

/sql/1.0/warehouses/xxxxxxxxxxxx

2. Create a service principal and OAuth secret

Click your username in the top bar and select Settings.
Click the Identity and access tab.
Next to Service principals, click Manage.
Create a new service principal for Sidecar. Creating it from the workspace assigns it to that workspace.
Click the created service principal, then click the Secrets tab.
Click Generate secret.
Set the secret’s lifetime in days (maximum 730 days).
Click Generate.
Copy the displayed secret and client ID, then click Done.

The secret is shown only once. The client ID is the same as the service principal’s application ID.

Use this one OAuth service principal for Sidecar’s SQL and workspace API access. Do not create a personal access token (PAT) for this integration. If you reuse an account-level service principal, assign it to this workspace before continuing.

3. Grant permissions

Grant your Sidecar service principal (the OAuth identity from step 2) the following before you test or save the integration in Sidecar. In the SQL commands below, replace <principal> with the service principal’s application ID, which is the Client ID you copied in step 2. Keep the surrounding backticks.

Grant SQL warehouse access

In Settings → Identity and access → Service principals → Manage, open the Sidecar service principal and confirm that the Databricks SQL access entitlement is enabled. In SQL Warehouses → your warehouse → Permissions, add the service principal with Can use.

Grant access to catalogs Sidecar should scan

For each Unity Catalog catalog Sidecar should discover besides system, run the following commands. Replace <catalog> and <principal>.

GRANT USE CATALOG ON CATALOG `<catalog>` TO `<principal>`;
GRANT USE SCHEMA ON CATALOG `<catalog>` TO `<principal>`;
GRANT SELECT ON CATALOG `<catalog>` TO `<principal>`;

These catalog-level grants let Sidecar discover and describe all current and future schemas, tables, and views in that catalog. To grant narrower access, grant USE CATALOG on the catalog and grant USE SCHEMA and SELECT only on the schemas or objects Sidecar should scan.

Grant access to required system tables

Sidecar reads the following system data:

system.information_schema for catalogs, schemas, tables, views, and columns
system.access.table_lineage and system.access.column_lineage for lineage
system.query.history for query activity
system.billing.usage and system.billing.list_prices for compute costs

In Catalog Explorer, confirm that the access, query, and billing schemas exist under the system catalog. If one is missing, ask an account admin or metastore admin to enable that system schema. Then run the following commands. Replace <principal>.

GRANT USE CATALOG ON CATALOG system TO `<principal>`;

GRANT USE SCHEMA ON SCHEMA system.information_schema TO `<principal>`;

GRANT USE SCHEMA ON SCHEMA system.access TO `<principal>`;
GRANT SELECT ON TABLE system.access.table_lineage TO `<principal>`;
GRANT SELECT ON TABLE system.access.column_lineage TO `<principal>`;

GRANT USE SCHEMA ON SCHEMA system.query TO `<principal>`;
GRANT SELECT ON TABLE system.query.history TO `<principal>`;

GRANT USE SCHEMA ON SCHEMA system.billing TO `<principal>`;
GRANT SELECT ON TABLE system.billing.usage TO `<principal>`;
GRANT SELECT ON TABLE system.billing.list_prices TO `<principal>`;

Create Sidecar’s write namespace

Sidecar stores derived metadata in the dedicated sidecar.default namespace. Ask a metastore admin or a principal with CREATE CATALOG on the metastore to run the following commands before you save the integration. If the sidecar catalog already exists, its owner can create the schema and grant access. Replace <principal>.

CREATE CATALOG IF NOT EXISTS sidecar;
CREATE SCHEMA IF NOT EXISTS sidecar.default;

GRANT USE CATALOG ON CATALOG sidecar TO `<principal>`;
GRANT USE SCHEMA, CREATE TABLE ON SCHEMA sidecar.default TO `<principal>`;

Sidecar owns the tables and views that it creates in this schema. Do not use this schema for customer-managed objects. For each AI/BI dashboard that Sidecar should discover:

Open the dashboard and click Share.
Add the Sidecar service principal.
Grant Can view.

Only dashboards visible to the service principal can appear in Sidecar.

4. Configure the integration

Enter the following information in the Sidecar integration setup page:

Field	Description
Host	Databricks Server Hostname
HTTP Path	SQL Warehouse HTTP Path
Client ID	Client ID of OAuth Secret
Client Secret	Secret of OAuth Secret

After entering the credentials:

Click Test Connection.
Click Save to finish the integration.

Test Connection currently verifies OAuth access to the SQL warehouse only. It does not verify system-table grants, the Sidecar write namespace, or AI/BI dashboard access. Complete every applicable grant above before you save the integration.

Result

After the integration is complete, Sidecar will be able to:

Connect to your Databricks SQL Warehouse
Discover catalogs, schemas, and tables
Discover shared AI/BI dashboards
Query metadata from Unity Catalog
Use system catalog data for query history, lineage, and billing
Store derived metadata in sidecar.default

Add Databricks MCP to Agent Console

The warehouse connection above does not automatically provide Databricks tools to agents. Follow Set up Databricks MCP to register a managed MCP server.

Source control

Data Warehouses

Transformation

BI & Analytics

Extract & Load

Communication

MCP

Project Management

Prerequisites

1. Get the host and HTTP path

2. Create a service principal and OAuth secret

3. Grant permissions

Grant SQL warehouse access

Grant access to catalogs Sidecar should scan

Grant access to required system tables

Create Sidecar’s write namespace

4. Configure the integration

Result

Add Databricks MCP to Agent Console

​Prerequisites

​1. Get the host and HTTP path

​2. Create a service principal and OAuth secret

​3. Grant permissions

​Grant SQL warehouse access

​Grant access to catalogs Sidecar should scan

​Grant access to required system tables

​Create Sidecar’s write namespace

​Share AI/BI dashboards with Sidecar

​4. Configure the integration

​Result

​Add Databricks MCP to Agent Console

Prerequisites

1. Get the host and HTTP path

2. Create a service principal and OAuth secret

3. Grant permissions

Grant SQL warehouse access

Grant access to catalogs Sidecar should scan

Grant access to required system tables

Create Sidecar’s write namespace

Share AI/BI dashboards with Sidecar

4. Configure the integration

Result

Add Databricks MCP to Agent Console