Railyard Tutorial: Read-Only SQL Access for AI Agents via MCP
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Railyard published a tutorial showing how to give an AI agent read-only SQL access to a production database through the MCP tools list_tables and query_database, so the agent can answer plain-language questions about the data. Every query passes five guard rails: write-scoped connections, role caps limited to admins and owners, read-only transactions that always roll back, a statement timeout, and a 200-row cap that is flagged as truncated when more rows exist. Write access, and the ability to grant it, is restricted to admins and owners. A restore_backup tool exists but always waits for an admin's approval in Railyard because it replaces current data. The SQL text itself is never written into the MCP audit entry.
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- Hacker News · AILet an AI agent query your production database safely with read-only SQL over MCP
This tutorial shows how to let an AI agent answer plain-language questions about a production database on Railyard using the list_tables and query_database MCP tools. Every query passes five guard rails: write-scoped connections, admin/owner-only role caps, read-only transactions that always roll back, a statement timeout, and a 200-row cap flagged as truncated. The SQL text is never written into the MCP audit entry.
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