With the Data API builder, you can easily generate an API on top of an existing database. However typing out the configuration settings in the dab-config.json isn't much fun. The auto-entities features I talked about before can certainly help, but that is not always the right solution. With the integrated GUI in the MSSQL extension for Visual Studio Code, you can replace the manual JSON configuration with a visual interface that handles entity selection, CRUD permission mapping, API type targeting, and Docker-based local deployment — all without leaving the editor.
This post covers exactly what the UI does, what it generates, and where it falls short.
Entry points
The DAB configuration view is accessible from two places:
- Object Explorer — right-click a database node → Build Data API (Preview)...
- Schema Designer — Design API button (top-right toolbar) or the Backend icon in the left panel
Both open the same configuration surface.
Entity selection
Tables are listed grouped by schema, with collapsible schema rows and a n/total badge showing how many entities in that schema are currently enabled.
- Schema-level checkboxes support tri-state (all / none / mixed) and toggle all tables in the group
- Per-entity rows expose: enable toggle, entity name, source table, per-action CRUD checkboxes, and an advanced settings gear
- A filter input at the top searches across entity name, schema, and source table (case-insensitive); the enabled count badge updates live
Remark: the UI supports tables only at the moment. Views and stored procedures are not available in the designer.
Configuration
CRUD
CRUD permissions are set independently per entity via inline checkboxes (Create, Read, Update, Delete). Header-level checkboxes apply a given action across all enabled entities, also with tri-state support.
API Types
API type selection sits at the top of the view:
| Option | Output |
| REST | REST endpoints + Swagger UI |
| GraphQL | GraphQL endpoints + Nitro playground |
| MCP | Model Context Protocol endpoints |
| All | Toggles all three |
At least one type must be selected before deploying.
Advanced Entity Settings
The gear icon on each entity row opens an Advanced Entity Configuration dialog:
| Field | Default | Effect |
| Entity Name | Table name | Controls the name used in API routes and response payloads |
| Authorization Role | Anonymous | Toggle between Anonymous and Authenticated |
| Custom REST Path | api/{entityName} | Overrides the default REST route |
| Custom GraphQL Type | Table name | Overrides the default GraphQL type name |
This maps directly to the entities block in the DAB JSON config — useful if you want clean API surface names that don't expose internal table naming conventions.
Configuration preview
The View Config button opens a Definition panel — a read-only render of the DAB JSON configuration that would be deployed. It:
- Reflects entity selection, API types, CRUD permissions, and advanced settings in real time
- Stays in sync bidirectionally with the UI and the Copilot chat interface
- Scopes output to enabled entities only
Open in Editor promotes it to a full VS Code editor tab; Copy puts it on the clipboard. The generated file is standard DAB config format, so it's portable if you want to take it outside the extension.
Local deployment
Deployment runs DAB as a Docker container.
The wizard runs sequentially:
- Prerequisites check — verifies Docker is installed, Docker Desktop is running, and the Docker engine is ready
- Container Settings — optional container name (autogenerated default provided) and port (default
5000); the connection string is pulled automatically from the active MSSQL connection - Deployment — pulls the DAB image, starts the container, checks readiness
On success, the wizard surfaces endpoint URLs per API type:
| API Type | Endpoint | In-editor action |
| REST | http://localhost:{port}/api | Opens Swagger UI in browser |
| GraphQL | http://localhost:{port}/graphql | Opens Nitro playground in Simple Browser |
| MCP | http://localhost:{port}/mcp | Writes MCP server config to .vscode/mcp.json |
Authentication constraint: the Docker container only supports SQL authentication. Connections using Microsoft Entra interactive methods (ActiveDirectoryInteractive, etc.) are blocked — the container environment can't open a browser for the sign-in flow. The extension surfaces a notification if your active connection uses an unsupported auth type. SQL database in Microsoft Fabric is similarly unsupported, since Fabric requires Entra authentication exclusively.
GitHub Copilot integration
A Chat button in the toolbar opens a Copilot chat session scoped to the DAB configuration context.
Natural language prompts update entity selection and permissions directly:
"Enable all SalesLT entities for read operations"
"Expose only the Customer and Product tables with full CRUD permissions"
"Set all entities in the dbo schema to read-only"
"Can you also enable MCP for the Data API builder API?"State is fully bidirectional: Copilot changes propagate to the UI and Definition panel immediately, and UI changes are visible to Copilot in the same session. Requires the GitHub Copilot and GitHub Copilot Chat extensions to be installed and authenticated.
As with any AI-generated configuration, review the Definition panel output before deploying — the generated JSON is inspectable and portable.
What gets generated
The output is a standard DAB JSON configuration file. If you're already familiar with DAB config structure, the UI maps cleanly onto it: entity names, source tables, CRUD permissions, REST/GraphQL/MCP runtime sections, authorization roles, and custom path overrides all correspond directly to known config fields. Nothing proprietary is introduced — the file is fully portable and can be checked into source control or handed off to a deployment pipeline.