Chat-based RAP Business Object Generation in VS Code

[berin_]

With ABAP Development Tools (ADT) for VS Code, you can now generate complete RAP Business Objects directly from chat prompts. Describe your business scenario in natural language, and GitHub Copilot generates the corresponding RAP artifacts in your ABAP system.

The generated artifacts include:

• Database tables
• CDS views
• Behavior definitions
• Service definitions
• Service bindings

This feature is enabled by the extension’s built-in MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, which exposes ABAP backend APIs as tools that AI agents can invoke directly. This lets them create and connect the necessary RAP artifacts on your behalf.

Getting Started

For more information about setting up ADT for VS Code, configuring GitHub Copilot Agent Mode, using the ADT MCP server, and troubleshooting common issues, refer to the guide.

Prerequisites:

Before you begin, ensure that you have the following:

• ABAP Development Tools for VS Code installed from the VS Code Marketplace
• An ABAP system connection configured in the extension (steps shown below)

• GitHub Copilot with Agent Mode enabled

Enable the ADT MCP Server

First, verify that the ADT MCP server is enabled. To do so:

1. Open the Settings and Search for ADT MCP Server in the search bar
2. Check the box Enable ADT MCP Server

Configuring ADT MCP Server

The ADT MCP server is not automatically configured for GitHub Copilot. To configure the ADT MCP Server, open the Command Palette and run MCP: List Servers, then start the ADT MCP server.

When the ADT MCP server is running and successfully connected, the following notification appears in the lower-right corner:

Once connected, the available ABAP MCP tools appear in GitHub Copilot. You can verify this by opening Configure Tools in the GitHub Copilot chat, where you can view and select the tools that are active for your session.

If MCP tools don't appear after setup please refer to troubleshooting

Generating a RAP Business Object

Note: Before running the generation, ensure that your target package already exists. Currently, new packages must be created in ADT for Eclipse. Creating packages directly from ADT for VS Code will be supported in a future release.

With the ADT MCP server running, open GitHub Copilot Chat in Agent Mode and describe the RAP Business Object you want to generate. For best results you can take a look at agent prompt best practices.

An example prompt would be:

“ Generate a RAP Business Object for conference and tech event management, including a database table, CDS views,

 behavior definition, and an OData V4 UI service.

• Use the Package TEST_BB_CONFERENCE_MGT
• Use the following specification:
  • Entity 1: Event (root entity)
  • Entity 2: Session, child of Event
  • Entity 3: Speaker, child of Event
  • Entity 4: Registration, child of Session“

After your prompt, Copilot will:

• List available destinations (abap_list_destinations)
• Retrieve the schema (abap_generators-get_schema)
• Validate (abap_creation-run_validation)
• Create a transport request (abap_transport-create)
• Generate all objects (abap_generators-generate_objects)
• Activate objects (abap_activate_objects)

After the generation completes, refresh your ABAP project by opening the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and running ABAP: Refresh. The generated RAP artifacts will then appear in your workspace under the target package.

Once the service binding appears in your workspace, use the Publish CodeLens action to publish the service directly from VS Code. After publishing, the OData service is available for consumption.

Then, use the Preview CodeLens to launch a live preview of your Fiori elements application directly in your browser:

Your generated application is then displayed in the browser:

All generated artifacts are created directly in your ABAP system as standard repository objects. They are identical to the RAP artifacts you would create manually, fully editable in ADT for VS Code, and can be extended using the standard RAP development workflow.

Summary

Chat-based RAP Business Object generation enables you to create complete RAP Business Objects directly from natural language prompts in ADT for VS Code. Combined with GitHub Copilot Agent Mode and the ADT MCP server, it automates the creation of the required RAP artifacts while keeping them fully editable as standard ABAP repository objects.

For more information, including setup instructions and configuration details, see the ABAP Development Tools for Visual Studio Code | SAP Help Portal