diff --git a/rdmo_chatbot/chatbot/stores/mysql.py b/rdmo_chatbot/chatbot/stores/mysql.py
index 28ae075..e4f73fd 100644
--- a/rdmo_chatbot/chatbot/stores/mysql.py
+++ b/rdmo_chatbot/chatbot/stores/mysql.py
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import json
 
 import MySQLdb
+from MySQLdb import OperationalError
 
 from ..utils import dicts_to_messages, get_config, messages_to_dicts
 from . import BaseStore
@@ -10,12 +11,34 @@
 class MysqlStore(BaseStore):
 
     def __init__(self):
+        self.connection = None
+        self.cursor = None
+        self._connect()
+        self.create_table()
+
+    def _connect(self):
         self.connection = MySQLdb.connect(**config.STORE_CONNECTION)
+        self.connection.autocommit(True)
         self.cursor = self.connection.cursor()
-        self.create_table()
+
+    def _ensure_connection(self):
+        try:
+            self.connection.ping(True)
+        except Exception:
+            self._connect()
+
+    def _execute(self, sql, params=None):
+        self._ensure_connection()
+        try:
+            return self.cursor.execute(sql, params or ())
+        except OperationalError as exc:
+            if exc.args and exc.args[0] in (2006, 2013):
+                self._connect()
+                return self.cursor.execute(sql, params or ())
+            raise
 
     def create_table(self):
-        self.cursor.execute("""
+        self._execute("""
             CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS history (
                 id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
                 user_identifier VARCHAR(150),
@@ -26,10 +49,9 @@ def create_table(self):
                 UNIQUE KEY unique_user_project (user_identifier, project_id)
             );
         """)
-        self.connection.commit()
 
     def has_history(self, user_identifier, project_id):
-        self.cursor.execute("""
+        self._execute("""
             SELECT count(*) FROM history WHERE user_identifier = %s AND project_id = %s;
         """, (user_identifier, project_id)
         )
@@ -37,7 +59,7 @@ def has_history(self, user_identifier, project_id):
         return result[0] > 0 if result else False
 
     def get_history(self, user_identifier, project_id):
-        self.cursor.execute("""
+        self._execute("""
             SELECT messages FROM history WHERE user_identifier = %s AND project_id = %s;
         """, (user_identifier, project_id)
         )
@@ -45,17 +67,15 @@ def get_history(self, user_identifier, project_id):
         return dicts_to_messages(json.loads(result[0])) if result else []
 
     def set_history(self, user_identifier, project_id, messages):
-        self.cursor.execute("""
+        self._execute("""
             INSERT INTO history (user_identifier, project_id, messages, created) VALUES (%s, %s, %s, CURRENT_TIMESTAMP)
             ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE
                 messages = VALUES(messages),
                 updated = CURRENT_TIMESTAMP;
         """, (user_identifier, project_id, json.dumps(messages_to_dicts(messages))))
-        self.connection.commit()
 
     def reset_history(self, user_identifier, project_id):
-        self.cursor.execute("""
+        self._execute("""
             DELETE FROM history WHERE user_identifier = %s AND project_id = %s;
         """, [user_identifier, project_id]
         )
-        self.connection.commit()