How to connect to your OCI Oracle Database via SQLcl

Your Oracle database connection is usually defined on your local machine, in the settings files for your tools such as SQL Developer (VS code or Classic), SQLcl, etc. But in the ‘cloud’ – you can also define a Connection resource in our Database Tools developer service in OCI. This connection empowers three things, mainly –…

AI dev tool power rankings & comparison [June 2026]

Which AI frontend dev tech reigns supreme? This post is here to answer that question. We’ve put together a comparison engine to help you evaluate AI models and tools side-by-side, produced an updated power rankings to show off the highest performing tech of June 2026, and conducted a thorough analysis across 50+ features to help…

Working with tables in Oracle SQL Developer for VS Code

My first Middle Eastern sunset, Doha Qatar I started this post in Qatar waiting for my connection to Hyderabad. My goal is to publish 7 blog posts in 7 days, and share some personal/travel stuff along with the technical content you usually see here. Today’s article is a short article, around one of our newest…

How to compare two Oracle Database schemas with SQLcl

I have two environments: HR123 – I started a simple schema with just two tables, and no comments, indexes, constraints, etc HR456 – I have a Codex that helps me come up with what a real HR system would look like What do I want I would like to point my Oracle tools at two…

Options for our local MCP Oracle Database Server in VS Code

We have released an update to the SQL Developer Extension for VS Code, version 25.4.1 [changeLog]. When you download the new extension update, you may experience problems with our MCP Server. Let’s discuss what happens and how you can avoid it. You have two main options to make our SQLcl MCP server available to the…

Is a "Skeleton key” the right MCP tool for a DBA?

Our MCP Servers ship (SQLcl) or optionally offer (OCI) a run_sql tool. It’s great! We built it, we use it, and it works exactly as intended — give the agent a way to execute SQL (generated or otherwise) against your Oracle database. Be careful WHO gets the keys to your house! But “works as intended”…

Loading a CSV with the SQL Developer extension for VS Code

Today’s post was inspired by Karin’s LiveLab demonstrating Property Graphs. You can see it here. If you choose to run this lab ‘on your own’, you will be given several CSV files to contain two tables. You can now do this in VS Code with our SQL Developer extension! Alternatively, you can right-click the Tables…

Who uses your Oracle data (AI!), and how to secure it!

A Glance at OAuth Identity, SYS_CONTEXT, and Row-Level Security via OCI AI Database MCP Server The Model Context Protocol (MCP) has defined a very simple way to allow AI Agents to interact with external resources. The HTTPS streaming MCP server is implemented via OAuth2, and it allows business users, identified using Azure Entra ID or…

Oracle SQL 24.3 Developer Support Extended

Starting today, the support window for Oracle SQL Developer version 24.3 has been updated to April 2027. Source: We’re also looking at a minor update to the current 24.3.1 offering that will address some third party libraries that need to be updated along with the embedded Java home. However, there are no new features planned…

SQL Developer Extension for VS Code VSIX Download

Not everyone can download their favorite VS Code extensions from the Microsoft VS Code Marketplace. We now also offer extension packages from Oracle.com, such as the one we have for SQL Developer. You can now get individual VSIX distributions from our SQL Developer extension for VS Code Download page! The license is FUTC, so no…