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This is the most important idea in ORCA. Everything ORCA does over Oracle’s REST APIs is governed — Oracle checks the connection user’s own function and data security on every call, so ORCA only ever sees what that user is allowed to see. New connections are REST-only by default.
Direct SQL through BIP bypasses per-user data security. It stays off until an admin deliberately enables it, and even then the agent must ask before using it.

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The SQL toggle

Each connection card has an amber SQL toggle. When an admin turns it on, a panel explains the trade-off: SQL bypasses Oracle’s per-user data security, the agent must ask before falling back to it, and every SQL-derived answer is labelled “via SQL”. When SQL is off, the agent never even sees the SQL tools (run_sql, search_tables, describe_table) — the model cannot call what does not exist.

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Production connections

The Production connection checkbox is stricter still:
  • The agent always re-asks before running SQL on a prod connection.
  • Standing consent can never apply to a prod connection.
On a trusted non-production connection, an admin can grant standing consent — the “don’t ask me again on this connection” toggle. It lets the agent skip the per-question ask, records who granted it and when, and is revocable in Settings at any time.
Consent removes the question, never the visibility. Even with standing consent, every SQL answer is still labelled — “via SQL (standing consent)”.

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FAQ

Why don’t I see any SQL tools? Because the connection’s SQL toggle is off — the default. REST-only connections never expose the SQL tools to the agent. An admin must enable SQL on that connection first. The table discovery chip says skipped — is it broken? No. Table discovery reads comments over SQL, so it’s skipped whenever SQL is disabled. Enable SQL and re-run discovery if you want it.