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Azure Databricks release notes · January 2026

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January 2026#

  • Serverless workspaces are now generally available — Jan 30 · Azure · Product Serverless workspaces are now generally available. Serverless workspaces come pre-configured with serverless compute and default storage, providing a fully-managed, enterprise-ready SaaS experience. See Create a serverless workspace.
  • Trigger on update for pipelines (GA) — Jan 30 · Azure · Product TRIGGER ON UPDATE is now generally available. Use trigger on update in Databricks SQL when creating a pipeline schedule to refresh the pipeline when a source table changes. See Schedule refreshes for more information.
  • Lakeflow jobs system tables are now generally available (GA) — Jan 30 · Azure · Product The lakeflow system tables jobs, job_tasks, job_run_timeline, and job_task_run_timeline are now generally available (GA). These tables provide insights into all jobs and job runs in your account. For a reference of these tables, see Jobs system table reference.
  • View and restore your recent workspace tab sessions — Jan 30 · Azure · Product You can now view your past workspace tab sessions and restore them. See Organize your work with spaces.
  • Paste images into notebooks — Jan 30 · Azure · Product You can now copy images from your local file system and paste them into Markdown cells in Databricks notebooks using ⌘ + V (Mac) or Ctrl + V (Windows). See Display images.
  • Dashboard visualization and data improvements — Jan 29 · Azure · AI/BI Fixed access request availability: Resolved an issue where the option to request access was not available and a "Resource not found" error was incorrectly shown. Full-width pivot tables: Widgets now render pivot tables at full width for better readability. Tooltip fields on chart
  • Genie Agent (formerly Genie Space) API and user experience improvements — Jan 29 · Azure · AI/BI Full query result downloads: A new API endpoint supports downloading complete result sets up to about 1 GB. Fixed chart generation from prompts: Resolved an issue where requesting charts directly in the prompt would not create visualizations. Collapsible error messages: Errors no
  • Compute sizing for Databricks Apps is now generally available — Jan 28 · Azure · Product Compute sizing for Databricks Apps is now generally available. Choose between Medium (2 vCPUs, 6 GB) and Large (4 vCPUs, 12 GB) compute sizes to match your workload requirements. See Configure compute resources for a Databricks app. App compute sizing is coming soon to workspaces
  • Databricks Runtime 18: January 27, 2026 — Jan 27 · Azure · Runtime Auto Loader now reports batchSizeNumFiles, batchSizeNumBytes, and file processing states ( numFilesProcessed, numFilesSkippedCorrupted, numFilesSkippedMissing, numFilesUnknownState) as metrics. INSERT INTO... BY NAME now supports the REPLACE WHERE clause. The configuration proper
  • Databricks Runtime maintenance updates (01/27) — Jan 27 · Azure · Product New maintenance updates are available for supported Databricks Runtime versions. These updates include bug fixes, security patches, and performance improvements. For details, see: Databricks Runtime 18.0 Databricks Runtime 17.3 LTS Databricks Runtime 17.2 Databricks Runtime 17.1
  • Knowledge Assistant is now available in more regions — Jan 27 · Azure · Product Knowledge Assistant is now available in the following Azure regions: canadacentral, australiaeast southeastasia. For these regions, cross-geo processing must be enabled to access Knowledge Assistant. Users in these regions can now use Knowledge Assistant to create a production-gr
  • Managed MCP servers is now Public Preview — Jan 27 · Azure · Product Azure Databricks Managed MCP servers is now Public Preview. Managed MCP servers allow your AI agents to securely connect to Databricks resources and external APIs. See MCPs and agent tools.
  • Store and query MLflow traces in Unity Catalog (Beta) — Jan 26 · Azure · Product You can now store MLflow traces in Unity Catalog tables using OpenTelemetry format and query them using Databricks SQL. This provides several benefits: Store unlimited traces in Delta tables for long-term retention and analysis Query trace data directly using SQL through a Databr
  • Improved group sharing for automatic identity management — Jan 24 · Azure · Product You can now share account-level assets, such as Databricks Apps, Unity Catalog objects, and Genie Agents with Microsoft Entra ID groups when automatic identity management is enabled. See Automatic identity management.
  • Google Drive connector (Beta) — Jan 23 · Azure · Product The standard Google Drive connector in Lakeflow Connect allows you ingest Google Drive files into Azure Databricks. You can use read_files, spark.read, COPY INTO, and Auto Loader to create Spark DataFrames, materialized views, and streaming tables, enabling you to build custom pi
  • Genie One search and discovery improvements — Jan 22 · Azure · AI/BI Databricks Apps filtering: Genie One consumers can now filter to include or exclude inactive Databricks apps when browsing. Inactive apps are those with a status other than Running, such as Stopped, Deploying, or Crashed. See App status. Dashboard widget title search: Search now
  • Dashboard subscriptions, custom calculations, and visualization improvements — Jan 22 · Azure · AI/BI Account-level user subscriptions: Dashboard authors can now subscribe account-level users to scheduled dashboard updates. See Manage scheduled dashboard updates and subscriptions. Microsoft Entra ID user subscriptions: Dashboard authors can now subscribe users in Microsoft Entra
  • Genie Agent (formerly Genie Space) lineage and entity matching improvements — Jan 22 · Azure · AI/BI Unity Catalog lineage for Genie Agents (formerly Genie Spaces): Genie Agents (formerly Genie Spaces) are now discoverable in Unity Catalog lineage. Bulk actions for entity matching: Users can now make bulk actions for entity matching (add, remove, and refresh).
  • Genie One is generally available — Jan 20 · Azure · AI/BI Genie One is now generally available. Genie One is a simplified user interface designed for business users, providing a single, intuitive entry point to interact with data and AI in Azure Databricks without requiring technical knowledge of compute resources, queries, models, or n
  • You can now use custom base environments for Python, Python Wheels, and notebook tasks in serverless jobs — Jan 20 · Azure · Product Serverless jobs now support custom base environments defined with YAML files for Python, Python wheel, and notebook tasks. For notebook tasks, you can either select a custom base environment in the job’s environment configuration or use the notebook’s own environment settings, wh
  • Level of detail expressions for custom calculations — Jan 19 · Azure · AI/BI Level of detail expressions let you control aggregation granularity independently of the dimensions in your visualizations. Use fixed level of detail expressions to aggregate over specific dimensions regardless of visualization groupings, or use coarser level of detail expression
  • Value sampling features renamed — Jan 16 · Azure · AI/BI The value sampling features in Genie have been renamed to better describe their function: Prompt matching (previously value sampling) Format assistance (previously example values) Entity matching (previously value dictionaries)
  • Dashboard navigation, pivot tables, and text widget improvements — Jan 15 · Azure · AI/BI Dashboard page navigation scroll bar: The horizontal scroll bar to navigate between dashboard pages is now thicker. Dashboard title character limit: Dashboard titles now have more horizontal space before truncating. Pivot table header height: Pivot table header height can be conf
  • Genie One favorite and filtering improvements — Jan 15 · Azure · AI/BI Mark assets as favorites: Click the star icon next to asset names in Genie One to mark them as favorites. Favorite and certified content filtering: Filter content by favorite and certified status in Genie One. See Listing pages.
  • Genie Agent (formerly Genie Space) sample data, Research Agent, and space manager improvements — Jan 15 · Azure · AI/BI Sample data tab: View sample data to understand the context behind a Genie Agent (formerly Genie Space). See Manage data objects. Text answer summaries in API: Text answer summaries are now returned in the API. Research Agent starter questions (Beta): Curated starter questions ar
  • Manage Lakebase from the Lakebase App — Jan 15 · Azure · Other Lakebase is now managed through the Lakebase App, accessed from the apps switcher in the Databricks UI. This replaces the previous workflow of navigating to the Compute tab in the Lakehouse UI.
  • Databricks Runtime 18: January 15, 2026 — Jan 15 · Azure · Runtime Databricks Runtime 18 is now in feature development, powered by Apache Spark 4.1.0. This version incorporates all features, improvements, and bug fixes from all previous Databricks Runtime releases. Behavioral changes Review the following changes, which take effect when clusters
  • Databricks Runtime 18.0 is now GA — Jan 15 · Azure · Product Databricks Runtime 18.0 is now generally available. See Databricks Runtime 18.0 (EoS) and Databricks Runtime 18.0 for Machine Learning (EoS).
  • Ingest Salesforce formula fields incrementally (Beta) — Jan 13 · Azure · Product By default, Lakeflow Connect doesn't ingest Salesforce formula fields incrementally. Instead, it takes a snapshot of these fields on each pipeline run, then joins them with the rest of the table. However, you can now enable incremental formula field ingestion, which often signifi
  • Knowledge Assistant is now generally available — Jan 13 · Azure · Product Use Knowledge Assistant to create a chatbot that can answer questions about your documents and provide high-quality responses with citations. Knowledge Assistant is now generally available in select US regions for workspaces without Enhanced Security and Compliance features.
  • Row filtering for managed ingestion connectors (Beta) — Jan 13 · Azure · Product Lakeflow Connect now offers row filtering for managed ingestion connectors to improve performance and minimize data duplication. Row filtering applies conditions similar to a SQL WHERE clause, allowing you to ingest only the data you need from your source systems. This feature is
  • Databricks Runtime maintenance updates (01/09) — Jan 09 · Azure · Product New maintenance updates are available for supported Databricks Runtime versions. These updates include bug fixes, security patches, and performance improvements. For details, see: Databricks Runtime 17.3 LTS Databricks Runtime 17.2 Databricks Runtime 17.1 Databricks Runtime 16.4
  • Dashboard pivot tables, filters, and data export improvements — Jan 08 · Azure · AI/BI JSON cell copy-paste improvement: JSON objects in table cells now remain expanded when you drag to copy-paste. Parameterized default catalog and schemas: Parameterize the default catalog and schemas when deploying dashboards using Declarative Automation Bundles. See dashboard. Mu
  • Genie Agent (formerly Genie Space) PDF export, citations, and accuracy improvements — Jan 08 · Azure · AI/BI PDF export for Research Agent (Beta) reports: Export Genie Research Agent reports as PDF files. See Export Agent mode reports. SQL example citations: Genie's analysis steps now cite the SQL examples used. See Review a response. Currency formatting improvements: Numeric columns in
  • Simplified serverless network security with Azure Network Security Perimeter — Jan 07 · Azure · Product You can now use Azure Network Security Perimeter (NSP) to control access from serverless compute to Azure resources using the AzureDatabricksServerless service tag. This simplifies firewall management and reduces costs compared to subnet-based rules. See Configure a firewall for
  • Change default workspace access to Consumer access (Public Preview) — Jan 06 · Azure · AI/BI Workspace admins can configure new users to receive Consumer access by default using group cloning. Consumer access provides access to Genie One, a view-only experience for business users who must view and interact with dashboards, Genie Agents (formerly Genie Spaces), and apps w
  • Create skills for Databricks Assistant — Jan 06 · Azure · Product You can now create skills to extend Databricks Assistant in Agent mode with specialized capabilities for domain-specific tasks. User skills follow the open Agent Skills standard and are automatically loaded when relevant. See Extend Genie Code with agent skills.
  • Automatic email notifications for expiring personal access tokens (GA) — Jan 06 · Azure · Product Automatic email notifications for expiring personal access tokens are now generally available. For more information, see Set the maximum lifetime of new personal access tokens.