Welcome to the first Monthly Product Pulse of 2026! Start your year strong with Oracle’s most exciting news, developer breakthroughs, and community highlights. In this comprehensive update, explore game-changing database integrations, AI-powered development, customer success stories from the APEX and MySQL communities, top SQL resources, event opportunities, and more.

Read on to stay informed and make the most of everything Oracle has to offer in 2026!

Feature Spotlights & Technical Releases

Announcing the 2025 Oracle Dev Gym Championships

Congratulations to the top 50 players who have earned a place in this year’s Oracle Dev Gym Championships! Join us in celebrating SQL mastery and friendly competition.
Read the announcement

How to Convert Object Comments to Schema Annotations

Bring your schema documentation into the modern era! Use this helpful script to convert traditional object comments to schema annotations for Oracle Database 26ai.
Learn how

Oracle Entity Framework Core 10: Streamlined App Deployment

Oracle Database now delivers official support for Microsoft Entity Framework (EF) Core 10. Explore new developer features designed to accelerate modern, robust .NET application deployment and integration.
Read more: Deploy Apps with Oracle Entity Framework Core 10

Oracle Spatial Data Comes to Entity Framework Core

Location intelligence is easier than ever with Oracle Spatial support in EF Core (Preview). Seamlessly map Oracle spatial data types to EF Core spatial types and manage your GIS data directly from your apps.
Explore more: Oracle Spatial Data in Entity Framework Core

Building AI Agents with LangChain4j, Model Context Protocol & Oracle SQLcl MCP Server

Now you can build advanced AI agents that connect directly to Oracle AI Database 26ai. Discover how to use LangChain4j, Model Context Protocol (MCP), and Oracle SQLcl MCP Server to enable powerful new application workflows.
Read the blog: Creating AI Agents with LangChain4j, Model Context Protocol, Oracle SQLcl MCP Server, and Oracle AI Database

Java AI Apps: Quarkus, LangChain4j, and Oracle AI Database 26ai

Bring intelligence to your Java apps! Learn to build a Quarkus-based AI support agent using LangChain4j, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and Oracle AI Database 26ai. Your agent can handle natural language error queries, scan a knowledge base, and send email responses with solutions—automatically.
Read more: Unleash the Power of AI Agents with Java: Building Intelligent Applications with Quarkus, LangChain4j, and the Oracle AI Database 26ai

Featured Videos

What’s New for Oracle Developers: .NET 10, EF Core 10, Spatial & More

Catch up with our December Oracle .NET Office Hours replay, recapping the freshest features: .NET 10, EF Core 10, spatial support, Amazon/Google configuration providers, OpenTelemetry, transaction priority, and Visual Studio 2026 tools.
Watch now

Schema Showdown: You Choose the Table Design!

Watch November’s Ask TOM Live replay as Chris Saxon works through table design decisions—with real-time input from the developer community.
Watch now

Oracle APEX Community Highlights

Oracle APEX Newsletter – Stay Informed!

Get the latest technical articles, product updates, customer success stories, and more from the world of Oracle APEX. Be the first to know about APEX news!
Subscribe: Oracle APEX Newsletter

APEX ACE Masters: Learn from the Experts

Watch APEX-focused sessions presented by Oracle ACE members for real-world insights and best practices.
YouTube Playlist

MySQL Community Updates

MySQL Community Advent Calendar – December Highlights

Explore the December Advent Calendar from the MySQL Community! A month of blog posts features:

  • Community collaborations, events, and recaps
  • Practical deployments: MySQL on OCI (complete multi-part series)
  • Celebrating 30 years of MySQL
  • Top tips, videos, and essential guides
  • MySQL + HeatWave news, developer event wrap-ups, and more

Catch up on all posts via the MySQL Community Blog.

Event: MySQL Belgian Days 2026

Don’t miss one of the top MySQL community events of the year!
When: January 29–30, 2026, Brussels, Belgium

Interview: Database Query Performance in HeatWave and MySQL

Gain insight on next-level query optimization in this interview with Kaan Kara, featured at ODBMS.org.
Read the Interview

From AI-powered productivity and modern .NET integration to global community stories in APEX and MySQL, January brings you the resources to innovate—together. Dive in, explore new features, and connect with Oracle professionals worldwide. Stay tuned for February’s Product Pulse!

Have ideas, best practices, or feedback? We’d love to hear from you—join our LinkedIn group and help shape the Oracle journey!