January 2026

These features and Azure Databricks platform improvements were released in January 2026.

Note

The release date and content listed below only corresponds to actual deployment of the Azure Public Cloud in most case.

It provide the evolution history of Azure Databricks service on Azure Public Cloud for your reference that may not be consistent with the actual deployment on Azure operated by 21Vianet.

Note

Releases are staged. Your Azure Databricks account might not be updated until a week or more after the initial release date.

Trigger on update for pipelines (GA)

January 30, 2026

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 materialized view refreshes and Change the schedule for a streaming table for more information.

Lakeflow jobs system tables are now generally available (GA)

January 30, 2026

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.

View and restore your recent workspace tab sessions

January 30, 2026

You can now view your past workspace tab sessions and restore them. See Switch between authoring contexts.

Paste images into notebooks

January 30, 2026

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.

Compute sizing for Databricks Apps is now generally available

January 28, 2026

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.

Databricks Runtime maintenance updates (01/27)

January 27, 2026

New maintenance updates are available for supported Databricks Runtime versions. These updates include bug fixes, security patches, and performance improvements. For details, see:

Simplified serverless network security with Azure Network Security Perimeter

January 7, 2026

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.

Store and query MLflow traces in Unity Catalog (Beta)

January 26, 2026

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 Databricks SQL warehouse
  • Manage access control through Unity Catalog schema and table permissions
  • Ensure compatibility with other OpenTelemetry clients and tools

Improved group sharing for automatic identity management

January 24, 2026

You can now share account-level assets, such as Databricks Apps, Unity Catalog objects, and Genie spaces with Microsoft Entra ID groups when automatic identity management is enabled. See Sharing and assigning permissions to Microsoft Entra ID identities.

You can now use custom base environments for Python, Python Wheels, and notebook tasks in serverless jobs

January 20, 2026

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, which support both workspace environments and custom base environments.

For more information, see Manage serverless workspace base environments.

Unified Lakebase interface

January 15, 2026

Lakebase Provisioned instances are now accessible through the Lakebase App (via the apps switcher in the Databricks UI). The new unified interface consolidates Lakebase Provisioned and Lakebase Autoscaling management in one location, replacing the previous workflow of navigating to the Compute tab in the Lakehouse UI.

Databricks Runtime 18.0 is now GA

January 15, 2026

Databricks Runtime 18.0 is now generally available. See Databricks Runtime 18.0 and Databricks Runtime 18.0 for Machine Learning.

Ingest Salesforce formula fields incrementally (Beta)

January 13, 2026

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 significantly improves performance and reduces costs.

Agent Bricks: Knowledge Assistant is now generally available

January 13, 2026

Agent Bricks provides a streamlined approach to operationalize data into production-grade AI agents. Use Agent Bricks: 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. For workspaces with enhanced security and compliance, Knowledge Assistant will be generally available soon. See What's coming.

Row filtering for managed ingestion connectors (Beta)

January 13, 2026

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 available for the Google Analytics, Salesforce, and ServiceNow connectors.

Databricks Runtime maintenance updates (01/09)

January 9, 2026

New maintenance updates are available for supported Databricks Runtime versions. These updates include bug fixes, security patches, and performance improvements. For details, see:

Create skills for Databricks Assistant

January 6, 2026

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.

Automatic email notifications for expiring personal access tokens (GA)

January 6, 2026

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.

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