# 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.

By Brandon Gross. Published October 16, 2025.  
Tags: oracle, data agents, mcp.  
Canonical: https://kenseme.com/blog/oracle-ai-database-26ai/

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

1. **MCP server support**, so an agent can query the database step by step through a standard protocol.
2. **Select AI Agent**, an in-database framework for building agents that use database, REST and MCP tools.
3. **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.

## Sources

1. [Oracle AI Database 26ai announcement (Oracle News)](https://www.oracle.com/news/announcement/ai-world-database-26ai-powers-the-ai-for-data-revolution-2025-10-14/)