Supported repositories

AI Power Tools works through EA. The server does not open repositories itself, so what you can do is EA's own capability plus the operations that read or write the repository's database directly. EA offers three connection types, and this document uses EA's own terms for them. Where an operation depends on the connection type, that is stated on the operation and summarized here.

EA identifies the open repository by its connection. The server reports it in get_repository_info as the project path and repository type.

Local file

A local file is a .qea or .qeax file. Both are SQLite-backed, and the server treats them the same way. A local file is the connection type with the fullest support, and the only one for some operations.

• add_image requires a local file. EA's automation interface has no route to the image library, so the operation writes the image with a database statement. The way to write binary data differs between database engines, and sending the wrong form makes EA raise a modal dialog that blocks every later call. The operation therefore refuses other backends with unsupported_repository_backend, and names list_images and set_element_image as remedies. Both of those work on every connection type, so artwork loaded through EA's own Image Manager is usable from any repository. Where computer use is available, the assistant can load the artwork through the Image Manager for you. Otherwise you load it. set_element_icon loads an image with add_image when the model lacks it, so it carries the same restriction.
• Direct queries use the SQLite dialect. execute_sql returns EA's result as rows. Use SQLite functions, for example LENGTH. A statement EA cannot parse opens a modal dialog and hangs the session.
• create_model creates a .qea file.
• Baselines work end to end on a local file.
• Preview images of diagrams are saved to a diagrams folder next to the project file.

EA also opens older local file formats (.eap, .eapx and .feap). They use other database engines, Jet for .eap and .eapx and Firebird for .feap, so for them add_image is refused and direct queries use that engine's dialect.

Server connection

With a server connection, EA connects directly to a shared repository held in a database. EA opens the connection, and the AI Power Tools MCP Server for Sparx EA attaches to EA.

• Direct queries use that database's dialect. LIMIT, TOP and function names differ between SQLite, Jet and SQL Server. The server does not rewrite your query.
• add_image is refused. Load artwork through EA's Image Manager, then use list_images and set_element_image.
• The server's column check applies to every connection type. A query is checked against EA's schema before it reaches EA, with a suggestion when a column name is wrong.
• Preview images are not saved, because there is no project folder to write next to.

Cloud connection

Pro Cloud Server is middleware. It lets EA reach the repository database over HTTPS instead of through a direct database connection. It is not a special kind of server, and it does not necessarily run in the cloud.

For AI Power Tools, a cloud connection behaves the same as a server connection. EA opens the connection, and the AI Power Tools MCP Server for Sparx EA attaches to EA either way. Everything listed under Server connection applies: direct queries use the dialect of the database behind Pro Cloud Server, add_image is refused, and preview images are not saved. The one difference is reporting: building views in the EA repository's own database connects to that database directly, not through EA, and a cloud connection normally gives you no direct database access. See Reporting by connection type.

• The server does not open the connection. EA does. Open the repository in EA, yourself or through the assistant where computer use is available, and let the server attach (How the server connects to Enterprise Architect).
• Connection, authentication and proxy requirements belong to Pro Cloud Server and Sparx.
• For procedures that differ on a cloud connection (dialogs, availability, security), use ea-help, which resolves the repository type before it reads Sparx's guide.

Reporting by connection type

The reporting business layer is delivered in one of three ways (Reporting database and BI). Which of them are open to you depends on the connection type and on the access you have, not on preference.

• Views in the EA repository's database are built by connecting to SQL Server directly, with the Windows authentication of the account that runs the AI Power Tools MCP Server for Sparx EA. EA's own tables must be in the database's default dbo schema; a database that does not hold them is refused. The views live in a schema of their own, and EA's tables are never altered.
• A separate reporting database and Parquet files read a scoped copy of EA's tables through Enterprise Architect, so they work whatever database holds the repository. EA must be running with the repository open. The reporting database itself is always SQL Server, and a database that holds an EA repository's own tables is refused as a target. Reading the copy has been measured on a repository held in SQL Server and on one held in MySQL behind a cloud connection.
• Someone who could use views in the EA database may still choose another way, for example to keep views out of the production database. Every way leaves out the excluded packages.

Summary: what depends on the connection type