Most AI database questions do not need the primary database.
They feel urgent because somebody typed them into a chat box.
But many are exploratory reads:
- trends
- customer lists
- backlog summaries
- operational snapshots
- anomaly checks
- aggregate reporting
If every question goes straight to the primary, the AI assistant becomes another source of production pressure.
For production MCP database servers, I think read replica routing should be a default design question.
The important part is not only routing. It is making the routing visible:
- source role used
- replica lag
- snapshot/query timestamp
- freshness window
- fallback reason if the primary was used
- audit/query ID
Longer version: Read replica routing for AI database agents
A stale-but-labeled answer is often safer than a live answer that quietly competed with production traffic.