Oracle AI Database 26ai ships with MCP support and data annotations
Oracle released AI Database 26ai as its long-term support release, with MCP server support, an in-database agent framework and annotations that describe what data means.
Oracle's new database release says, in plain terms, that column names are not enough for an agent. Oracle AI Database 26ai, announced on October 14, 2025, replaces 23ai as the long-term support release. Customers on 23ai move to it through the October 2025 release update, with no upgrade project and no application re-certification.
What is in it
- MCP server support, so an agent can query the database step by step through a standard protocol.
- Select AI Agent, an in-database framework for building agents that use database, REST and MCP tools.
- Data Annotations, which let you record what data means so natural-language answers are more accurate.
Oracle's announcement marks several features as planned rather than shipping today, so check the per-feature status before relying on one.
Why it matters
Data Annotations put the meaning of data next to the data, in the main release of a major database. Annotations on columns are a good start. Most of what goes wrong in agent answers sits a level up: how tables relate as business concepts, which events change a record's status, which department's definition is the official one. None of that fits on a single column.