Agent Memory Techniques for Oracle AI Database Key Takeaways Database agent memory should be modeled as durable application data, not just as embeddings in a vector table. Oracle AI Database can combine vectors, relational columns, JSON metadata, Oracle Text, property graphs, and timestamps in one…

Is Oracle the best database for small to mid size shops? Key Takeaways Oracle AI Database is worth a serious look for small and midsize teams when one application needs relational data, JSON, search, vectors, spatial queries, REST endpoints, and internal app tooling without operating a stack of…

Polyglot, automated ORDS tests with Testcontainers Did you know you can locally test Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) with free Oracle AI Database resources? If you rely on mock servers (or don't run automated tests at all!), you're dealing with a thin layer of comfort. Using container-driven ORDS…

An Agent Skill that uses Kafka Java APIs for Oracle AI Database In my own work, I found most coding agents weren't generating high-quality code for Oracle AI Database's Kafka Java API (OKafka). You can get results, but they're not idiomatic, and miss subtleties. This is why I created the…

An app that keeps its data in one place : multi-model database pattern The code for this article on multi-model database patterns lives in the oracle-database-code-samples repo, under the support-ticket-intelligence sample.  When I add a graph database to an application, I'm not just adding a…

Mongo Over Relational Data: JSON Relational Duality Views Can your MongoDB client be used against a document-shaped contract while the system of record stays relational? JSON Relational Duality Views expose document APIs over relational data. Those same document APIs accessed through Oracle REST…

5 Oracle AI Database Dev Tools I’d Put in a Starter Kit Developers need the shortest path from claim to proof. Can I start a database locally? Can I connect from my app? Can I run my tests against it? Can I inspect the schema without guessing? Can I use it with scripts, agents, and CI? Can I…

Oracle Spatial helps you answer questions like: What landmarks fall inside this map window? What is the exact distance between these two places? What objects are near this location? @anders-swanson.bsky.social shows you how to starting using it with JDBC

SQLcl MCP for Oracle AI Database using LangChain Want to ask to use Model Context Protocol (MCP) to orchestrate Oracle AI Database from Python apps? In this article, we'll build a small agent using… https://andersswanson.dev/2026/05/04/sqlcl-mcp-for-oracle-ai-database-using-langchain/

The Exploit Window is Shrinking. Converged Databases Shrink the Attack Surface I often talk about converged, multi-model databases from the perspective of developer productivity. Owning one platform that handles many data types like relational, JSON, graph, vector yields fewer moving parts when…

Database Per Service with Oracle AI Database PDBs Using Oracle AI Database Pluggable Databases (PDBs) to give each Spring Boot service its own clear data boundary. Key Takeaways Learn database-per-service design with separate studentpdb and coursepdb PDBs. Each Spring Boot service owns its own…

Using Agent Skills to develop with Oracle AI Database Skills are reusable, task-specific workflows for your agents: each skill is a directory centered on a SKILL.md file, with optional scripts,references, and assets packaged together. Skills bring context efficient capabilities to agents in a…

Agent Memory with LangChain4j and Oracle AI Database One of the quickest ways to make an impressive agent demo is to prepare a clever prompt. One of the quickest ways to make that same agent fall apart in production is to give it no durable memory. In this article, we'll build a small,…

Full-Text JSON Search with Oracle Text Did you know Oracle AI Database supports rich, full-text search and indexing, without the need to operate an external document store? In this article, we'll implement full-text search on Oracle's JSON data type, following the jdbc-json-oracle-text sample…

Oracle AI Database: Property Graphs and JDBC Want to query graph-shaped relationships in Oracle AI Database from plain JDBC? You can do exactly that with built-in graph capabilities. In this article, we'll walk through a sample that shows how to use property graphs in Oracle AI Database, building…

Test ORDS locally with Testcontainers, Oracle AI Database Free, and MongoDB Want to run Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) for integration tests, local experiments, or prototyping? This sample combines ORDS and Oracle AI Database Free in a disposable test environment with Testcontainers and one…

Get Started with Spatial Data in Oracle AI Database Using JDBC Spatial data is a database feature that sounds niche right up until you need it. When your application must answer questions like "what landmarks fall inside this map window?", "what is the exact distance between these two…

New Java sample: `jdbc-property-graph` for Oracle AI Database Property Graphs. It shows relational-table graph modeling, `CREATE PROPERTY GRAPH`, `GRAPH_TABLE`, and local testing with Java 21+, Docker, Maven, Testcontainers, and Oracle AI Database Free. github.com/anders-swans...

Common Strategies to Improve Spring Boot Performance If your Spring Boot apps feel slow, the fix is usually not one magic JVM flag or a major database rewrite.  Most gains come from removing avoidable work, making startup leaner, and making sure the app behaves predictably under load. That is why…

Generate JSON Relational Duality Views from JPA entities Oracle AI Database's JSON Relational Duality Views (or simply duality views) let you treat relational tables and JSON documents as two sides of the same model: build your relational schema, and use comprehensive, normalized JSON documents on…

Hands-on CRUD with JDBC and JSON Relational Duality Views JSON Relational Duality Views are one of my favorite Oracle AI Database features (I’ll call them “duality views” from here on out). Duality views let you model data once, then serve it cleanly to both worlds: JSON-first application code and…

Brand new to Oracle AI Database? Start Here Many Oracle guides are written for DBAs or long-time developers, and as a newcomer it feels like you’re expected to already know the jargon. I started in the same place, learning the as I went, and I’m still learning each day. If you're considering using…

LangChain vs. DIY: Vector Search with Oracle AI Database When do you use a framework vs. write your own implementation - especially when it comes to AI? Frameworks can be the fastest path to production, only to act as a stumbling block later on. Often, the design choice isn't obvious. To better…

Use Oracle FreeSQL.com as a remote test database FreeSQL.com lets you use a free, hosted Oracle AI Database instance right from your browser. But, FreeSQL can also be used as a remote database for testing, POCs, and more! In this article, we'll walk though how to connect to a FreeSQL database from…

Data Is Context: Building Agent Harness with Database at the Center Long-running agents often fail because they lack disciplined, accurate context. This is especially important when tasks run for hours, touch multiple systems, and must respect permissions, compliance boundaries, and other…

Caching can improve performance by bringing data closer to the client @anders-swanson.bsky.social gives an overview of the caches in Oracle AI Database, including Oracle True Cache Oracle Active Data Guard Database In-Memory Buffer Cache Server-Side Result Cache

Overview of Caching Strategies with Oracle AI Database Recently, I've been exploring different caching database caching strategies with Oracle AI Database and came to the following conclusion: Choosing the right mix of caching and read-scaling options doesn't have to be a one-feature or…

Reflecting on a year of DevRel with Oracle AI Database Over the past year, I’ve been working in DevRel focused on modern application development with Oracle AI Database. Coming from a product engineering background, the shift was challenging: I moved from product, DevOps, and infrastructure work…

Propagating Cross-Database Events with Oracle AI Database Event-driven apps don’t have to stop at a single database boundary. In this hands-on guide, you’ll use Transactional Event Queues (TxEventQ) in Oracle AI Database to propagate real-time events from one database to another, no external…

GraphQL with ORDS & Oracle AI Database If you're running Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) or Oracle Autonomous AI Database, you've got a configurable GraphQL server ready to query your data. GraphQL is a strongly typed query language and runtime for APIs that lets clients request exactly the data…

GraphQL + Oracle: Instantly Query Relational Data GraphQL became popular for its ability to provide fewer round trips, predictable payloads, and evolving client schemas. If you run Oracle AI Database, you don’t need a new data store to get those benefits: Using SQL, you can run GraphQL queries on…

Why You Should Use Pluggable Databases (PDBs) PDBs give microservices their own isolated database environment inside one database instance, reducing blast radius, simplifying lifecycle ops, and enabling hard resource controls. This solves the problem of what services need from the database layer:…

Transactional isolation in a multi-model database Most apps rarely fit a single data model. A single business action can touch JSON documents, update a graph, write spatial coordinates, process vector embeddings, and publish events to downstream services, all within the same database. However, not…

Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) with Docker Compose Setting up Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) test environment is quick and simple with Docker Compose and Oracle AI Database Free. In this article, we'll set up a clean, consistent ORDS + Database environment in minutes using containers: No…

Level Up Your Schema: Annotations for Object Metadata in Oracle AI Database In Oracle AI Database, annotations provide a powerful way to attach metadata to database objects. Tables, columns, views, and domains are enhanced with self-describing, user-defined assets. This article introduces…

Previously on @thatjeffsmith... Can I build an Agent & still use SQLcl’s MCP Server? Yes!

Natural Language SQL with Oracle MCP and LangChain4j Want to build agentic applications with MCP integrations in Java? Sure! Just use Langchain4j. In this article, we'll build a natural language interface for your database orchestrated by Langchain4j agents, integrating Oracle's SQLcl MCP server…

Spring Cloud Config: JDBC Backend & Oracle AI Database Spring Cloud Config's JDBC backend stores application properties in your database, providing a simple method to serve configuration properties to all your Spring Boot apps. Client → Config Server → Oracle DB Client → Config Server → Oracle DB…

Spatial Data in Oracle AI Database Spatial data describes the shape, location, and relationships of objects or points - whether virtual or in the real world. It powers everything from mapping and logistics to proximity search and location-aware applications. In Oracle AI Database, spatial is a…

AI Optimizer & Toolkit: test and generate apps In this article, we'll explore automated testing with the Oracle AI Optimizer & Toolkit, and then generate Python LangChain or Java Spring AI applications from our tested AI configurations. What is the Oracle AI Optimizer & Toolkit? It’s a free and…

Unlocking Session Visibility with Oracle Client Info Monitoring database interactions is critical for performance tuning, debugging, and security. With Oracle AI Database, you can attach client metadata to connections; such as client identifiers, module and action names. Client metadata can be…

AI Optimizer & Toolkit: connect LLMs and use your data In this article, we’ll configure the Oracle AI Optimizer and Toolkit with an LLM, enable embedding and chat APIs, and integrate user context through vectorized data for RAG-powered responses. We'll embed and store user data in Oracle AI…

AI Optimizer & Toolkit: set up a local sandbox The Oracle AI Optimizer and Toolkit is a free and open-source tool designed to make it easier for developers and data engineers to build, benchmark, and optimize AI workflows running on Oracle Database. It provides a modular framework for…

How to write a custom tracer for Oracle Database JDBC In this article, we'll implement a custom JDBC tracer for Oracle Database based on the OJDBC OpenTelemetry provider. Our custom implementation integrates with Spring Boot and adds span attributes like database client info and the system user.…

Oracle JDBC Tracing with Spring Boot OpenTelemetry Oracle's JDBC Driver can export traces to an OpenTelemetry backend - let's walk through how to configure this with Spring Boot and Micrometer! Just looking for the code? Click Here. With OpenTelemetry tracing, you gain visibility into JDBC calls…

Tracing a Spring Boot JMS app with Oracle Database Free In this article, we'll use OpenTelemetry tracing to instrument a Spring JMS application with Oracle Database Free. Tracing allows developers to follow a request as it flows through distributed systems — in this case, from the producer to the…

Monitor your Oracle Database(s) with OpenTelemetry In this article, we'll explore how Oracle Database fits into the modern, open-source, and cloud-native observability stack. What is OpenTelemetry? OpenTelemetry is an open-source observability framework that provides a standardized way to collect…

Testing Go apps with Oracle Database using Testcontainers In this article, we'll walk through how to configure an Oracle Database Free container for go application tests using testcontainers-go. What is Testcontainers? Testcontainers for Oracle Database (go) Write a test for OracleContainer Run…

Migrate an Apache Kafka app to Oracle Database in 5 minutes. youtu.be/LS12tcBNIdM?...

Consumers and message retention in database-driven event streaming In this article, we’ll walk through the differences between push vs. pull messaging, queues and topics, and describe consumer groups in the context of Oracle Database Transactional Event Queues (TxEventQ). By the end of this…