Apache Iceberg

✓ Do

• Use read-only database credentials to prevent accidental writes
• Connect to read replica, not production primary database
• Set query timeout limits to prevent long-running queries
• Document database schema and common queries for AI context
• Monitor query performance and optimize slow queries
• Use connection pooling for better performance
• Test with non-production data first

✗ Don't

• Don't use production write credentials—risk of data corruption
• Don't query production database during peak traffic hours
• Don't expose sensitive PII without proper access controls
• Don't skip query result validation—AI can misinterpret schema
• Don't allow unlimited result set sizes—set LIMIT clauses
• Don't share database credentials in plain text config files

Protocols

• Model Context Protocol (MCP)
• Database-specific protocols (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB)

Compatibility

• PostgreSQL
• MySQL
• SQLite
• MongoDB
• Redis

✓ Use when

Use for ad-hoc data queries, exploratory analysis, report generation, schema exploration, and democratizing data access. Best for read-heavy analytics workloads.

✗ Avoid when

Avoid for production write operations, mission-critical transactions, real-time OLTP workloads, or when database contains sensitive PII without proper access controls. Use read replicas, not primary.