A Read-Only MCP Server For Db2 for i
October 12, 2026 Alex Woodie
IBM i developers who want to let their users query Db2 for i using AI tools like Claude Desktop and Cursor, but also want to limit their access to the database, may be interested in a new open source MCP server that connects to the database in read-only mode.
Roni Ström just wanted to be able to leverage the SQL-generation capabilities of latest AI coding assistants to be able to ask questions of Db2 for i using plain language. But the Finnish IBM i developer was becoming frustrated with the process.
“I kept doing the same thing,” Ström wrote in a January 2026 blog post. “I’d open an AI assistant to help with a query against an IBM i database, then spend the first ten minutes pasting table definitions into the chat and explaining which library held what. The assistant was good at SQL. It just couldn’t see the system.”
So Ström did what thousands of developers have done before him when faced with the functionality gap: He built the tool himself.
The tool he created, called Db2 for i MCP Server, is based on Model Context Protocol (MCP), which has become the de facto standard for connecting data sources with AI tools since Anthropic first released it in 2024. The tool, developed primarily in TypeScript with some Astro, sits between the AI coding agent and the IBM i database, and serves as the abstraction layer that enables AI tools to connect to Db2 for i.
Ström released the first iteration of his MCP Server for Db2 for i in January 2026. The software, which can be downloaded from its GitHub page at github.com/Strom-Capital/mcp-server-db2i, is a read-only system that executes SELECT statements. There is no functionality for updates, and any SQL statements that aren’t queries are rejected before they hit the database. “I wanted something I’d be comfortable pointing at a real system, and ‘the model promised not to’ isn’t a control,” he wrote in his blog post.
Version 1.0 of Db2 for i MCP Server only supported the JT400 JDBC driver. It enabled users to list libraries, tables and views. Equipped with an MCP-enabled AI assistant like Claude Desktop or Cursor, users could query the database using plain language, such as “What columns are in the ORDERS table?” or “Show me orders from the last seven days.”
Ström quickly followed up the first version with a second that tightened up the “read-only” constraints, as well as an HTTP endpoint that doesn’t require the AI assistant to be running on the client machine.
Db2 for i MCP Server isn’t the only MCP server available for IBM i and its database. A year ago, IBM released its own MCP server, dubbed the IBM i MCP Server. That product, which was spearheaded by IBM’s open source guru for IBM i, Jesse Gorzinski, is being actively developed via GitHub at its page at github.com/IBM/ibmi-mcp-server. The GitHub page for this product, which is distributed via an Apache 2 license, lists 12 active developers, 85 stars, and 39 forks.
Ström’s Db2 for i MCP Server has also attracted a following of open source developers. The GitHub page for Db2 for i MCP Server, which is distributed via an MIT license, lists five contributors, 24 stars, and nine forks.
After several quiet months, the development activity suddenly picked up for Ström’s Db2 for i MCP Server. Last month he released Db2 for i MCP Server 2.0, which he dubs “the first major release.” The validator has been tightened up even more to refuse anything other than read-only requests.
That was followed up within days with version 2.2, which adds a validate_query check to function as a bulwark against hallucinated column names, as well as support for YAML. Versions 2.4. and 2.5 quickly followed, which added better search functions, an audit log, and column masking.
With 2.8, Ström added support for the Mapepire database driver, version 2.9 added an OAuth 2.1 authentication mechanism, while version 2.10 brought better support for things like query timeouts, indices, procedures and functions, and searching IBM i services.
Today, the software is up to version 3.6.1, with daily updates from the developers. In addition to the GitHub page, Ström, who is the principal at his business Ström Capital, also shares information about the software at db2i-mcp.com/.
Simplicity and read-only enforcement are the key advantages for Ström’s Db2 for i MCP Server. He notes that the software doesn’t require users to install anything on their IBM i server, that it leverages the JDBC or ODBC database host servers that are already installed, and it’s read-only by design.
In contrast, IBM’s MCP server for IBM i requires the Mapepire database driver, which most people don’t have installed yet. The IBM i MCP Server is a better fit for users that want ready-made SQL toolsets for performance, jobs, security, and storage, he writes. It’s also a better fit for users who are building agents using tools like LangChain or Google ADK, or who want command line access.
You can learn more about this software here.
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