carto-connect-datawarehouse

CARTO runs spatial analytics in the user's own data warehouse. A connection is the bridge between CARTO and that warehouse: it carries credentials, target project/database scoping, and sometimes a service account or PAT. Most other CARTO operations (querying, importing, building maps, running workflows) require an existing connection.

Task	MCP	CLI (fallback)
List / inspect connections	`explore_data` (`list_connections` on any session; `get_connection` is OAuth-only)	`carto connections list` / `get`
Create / update a connection	`manage_connections` (`create`, `update`) — OAuth session only	`carto connections create` / `update`
Delete a connection	`delete` (kind=connection) — OAuth session only	`carto connections delete`

Access-path routing. With the MCP server attached, list over explore_data (list_connections); create/update over manage_connections; delete over delete. On a token session only list_connections is available — get_connection and the write tools (manage_connections, delete) need OAuth, so fall back to the carto connections CLI. Also use the CLI when the server isn't attached or for scripted setups. The engine-choice guidance and pitfalls below apply on either path. Detection signals: carto-basics/references/access-paths.md.

When to use this skill

The user wants to connect a new warehouse to CARTO.
The user is debugging a connection (auth failures, missing tables, permission errors).
A downstream skill needs a connection name and you don't yet know which engine the user has.
The user is rotating credentials or moving from one project/database to another.