March 2026

These features and Azure Databricks platform improvements were released in March 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.

Agent Bricks now covers all Databricks AI capabilities

March 27, 2026

The Agent Bricks page has expanded beyond declarative agents to serve as the umbrella for all Databricks AI capabilities.

Classification and Information Extraction are in Public Preview

March 27, 2026

Two new UI experiences for document analysis are now in Public Preview:

  • **Classification **: A visual UI for classifying documents into predefined categories. Configure and refine classification labels, preview results on sample documents, and then run classification at scale.
  • **Information Extraction **: A visual UI for extracting structured data from documents, tables, PDFs, and images. Define and refine an extraction schema, preview results on sample documents, and then extract at scale.

Both experiences are built on the v2 signatures of ai_classify and ai_extract .

ai_classify and ai_extract now support v2 signatures (Public Preview)

March 27, 2026

The ai_classify and ai_extract AI Functions now support new v2 signatures with improved quality and performance, greater flexibility, and native composability with ai_parse_document to power end-to-end document processing workflows.

Type widening is now generally available

March 25, 2026

Type widening for Delta Lake tables is now generally available. Type widening allows you to change column data types to wider types such as INT to BIGINT or FLOAT to DOUBLE during ingestion without rewriting underlying data files.

See Type widening.

Auto Loader supports automatic type widening (Public Preview)

March 25, 2026

Auto Loader now supports automatic type widening with the new addNewColumnsWithTypeWidening schema evolution mode. This feature automatically widens data types (such as int to long or float to double) without requiring data rewrite or user intervention. Type widening is available for all file formats with schema evolution support in Auto Loader including text formats (JSON, CSV, XML) and binary formats (Avro, Parquet).

This feature is in Public Preview and requires DBR 16.4 or above. See Automatic type widening with Auto Loader.

Dynamic parameters in the new SQL editor

March 24, 2026

The new SQL editor now supports a Dynamic dropdown widget type for named parameter markers. Select a saved query to populate dropdown values, keeping the list current as your data changes. See Dynamic dropdown.

Supervisor Agent supports long-running tasks

March 21, 2026

Supervisor Agent now supports long-running task mode, which automatically breaks complex tasks into multiple request/response cycles using task continuation to avoid timeouts.

Create alerts for anomaly detection in the Data Quality Monitoring UI (Beta)

March 19, 2026

You can now create and view alerts for anomaly detection directly in the Azure Databricks Data Quality Monitoring UI. This feature is in Beta.

AI Runtime is now in Public Preview

March 19, 2026

Designed for deep learning workloads, AI Runtime brings GPU support to Databricks serverless compute. AI Runtime for single-node tasks is now in Public Preview.

The distributed training API for multi-GPU workloads remain in Beta.

SQL alert task for jobs (Beta)

March 19, 2026

You can now add a SQL alert task to your Azure Databricks jobs to evaluate Databricks SQL alerts as part of your workflows. SQL alert tasks enable automated condition checks and notifications within your data pipelines. See SQL alert task for jobs.

Databricks JDBC driver 2.8.0 is available

March 18, 2026

Databricks JDBC driver version 2.8.0 is now available for download. The new version includes the following features:

  • Upgrades the Simple Logging Facade for Java (SLF4J) from version 1.7.36 to 2.0.13 and moves slf4j-api to the root package path to align with standard SLF4J usage. The driver no longer depends on Log4j.
  • The EnableTelemetry connection property is now on by default. The driver only sends telemetry when the workspace allows it.

This release also includes the following bug fixes:

  • Fixes an incorrect error message when the driver can't write to the configured log path.
  • Fixes a connectivity failure when using HTTP proxies that don't require authentication.

Azure Databricks usage dashboard is now generally available

March 18, 2026

The usage dashboard is now generally available. Account admins can import customizable, pre-built usage dashboards to monitor their Azure Databricks usage at the account and workspace levels.

Databricks Apps supports uv for Python dependency management

March 17, 2026

You can now use uv to manage Python dependencies in your Databricks apps using pyproject.toml and uv.lock.

Search in metric views fix

March 17, 2026

Searching for measures and dimensions in the metric view overview page now returns correct results across paginated results and supports filtering by display name. See Unity Catalog metric views.

Databricks Asset Bundles is now Declarative Automation Bundles

March 16, 2026

Databricks Asset Bundles has been renamed to Declarative Automation Bundles. See Why was Databricks Asset Bundles renamed to Declarative Automation Bundles?.

Health indicators for tables in Catalog Explorer (Public Preview)

March 13, 2026

You can now view health indicators for tables on schema and table overview pages in Catalog Explorer (Public Preview). Health indicators show a summary of each table's freshness and completeness status based on anomaly detection.

ABAC policy functions now use snake_case naming

March 13, 2026

ABAC policy tag functions now use snake_case naming (has_tag, has_tag_value, has_column_tag, has_column_tag_value), consistent with other Azure Databricks SQL built-in functions. The camelCase forms (hasTag, hasTagValue, hasColumnTag, hasColumnTagValue) continue to work for backward compatibility, but Databricks plans to deprecate their use when creating new policies in the future. Databricks recommends updating any new policies to use the snake_case forms.

Automatic deletion of empty vector search endpoints

March 13, 2026

Vector search endpoints are now only charged after an index has been created, and 24 hours after the last index is deleted from the endpoint, the endpoint no longer incurs any charges.

5X-Large SQL warehouse size (Beta)

March 13, 2026

The 5X-Large cluster size for serverless and pro SQL warehouses is now available in Beta. For serverless SQL warehouses, 5X-Large is available in all supported regions. Workspace admins can control access to this feature from the Previews page. See Manage Azure Databricks previews.

For more information on SQL warehouse sizing, see SQL warehouse sizing, scaling, and queuing behavior.

Lakebase Autoscaling updates: OAuth role management and budget policies and tags

March 12, 2026

Lakebase Autoscaling now includes the following features:

  • OAuth roles: Create OAuth roles using the Lakebase UI or REST API, in addition to SQL.
  • Budget policies and tags: Associate a serverless budget policy and add custom tags to your project for cost attribution and tracking.

Data quality monitoring documentation moved to Data governance (Unity Catalog)

March 12, 2026

The Data quality monitoring documentation has moved from Data guides to the Data governance (Unity Catalog) chapter.

New Lakebase instances are created as Autoscaling projects by default

March 12, 2026

New Lakebase instances are now created as Lakebase Autoscaling projects by default. Lakebase Autoscaling is the latest version of Lakebase, with autoscaling compute, scale-to-zero, branching, and instant restore. This default behavior applies when you create new instances using the UI, Database instance API, Terraform, or SDKs. Existing Provisioned instances are unchanged and keep their current connection strings and behavior.

Databricks Runtime 18.1 is now GA

March 11, 2026

Databricks Runtime 18.1 is now generally available. See Databricks Runtime 18.1 and Databricks Runtime 18.1 for Machine Learning.

Databricks Assistant is now Genie Code

March 11, 2026

Databricks Assistant is now Genie Code, with expanded agentic capabilities for autonomous, multi-step data tasks. Genie Code Agent mode is now generally available for data science, data engineering, and dashboard authoring.

Databricks SQL pipelines support notifications and performance mode (Beta)

March 11, 2026

Materialized views and streaming tables defined and scheduled in Databricks SQL now support failure notifications and serverless performance mode configuration in Beta.

See Schedule refreshes in Databricks SQL.

Databricks Runtime maintenance updates (03/10)

March 10, 2026

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

BI compatibility mode for metric views in Power BI (Beta)

March 9, 2026

BI compatibility mode for metric views in Power BI is now available in Beta. You can query Azure Databricks metric views in Power BI using standard SQL aggregation functions by enabling BI compatibility mode when creating a connection. It automatically rewrites aggregate functions to use the correct measure definitions. See Query metric views in Power BI.

New resources for Databricks Apps

March 9, 2026

You can now add other Databricks apps and Unity Catalog tables as resources for your Databricks app. App resources enable app-to-app communication, and table resources provide governed access to structured data.

Multi-table transactions are now in Public Preview

March 9, 2026

You can now group multiple SQL statements across multiple tables into a single atomic transaction using BEGIN ATOMIC ... END; syntax. All changes succeed together or roll back together, ensuring data consistency across your operations. Multi-table transactions require catalog-managed commits enabled on participating tables and are supported on Unity Catalog managed Delta tables.

See Transactions.

March 9, 2026

Inbound Private Link for performance-intensive services such as Zerobus Ingest and Lakebase Autoscaling is now in Public Preview.

Serverless compute now available for IRAP and Canada Protected B workloads on Azure Databricks

March 6, 2026

You can now use serverless compute for IRAP and Canada Protected B workloads. You must select environment version 5 for serverless to start with these compliance security profiles enabled.

Endpoint telemetry for custom model serving endpoints (Beta)

March 6, 2026

You can now configure endpoint telemetry to persist logs, traces, and metrics from custom model serving endpoints into Unity Catalog Delta tables using OpenTelemetry. This enables root cause analysis, application health monitoring, and compliance retention using standard SQL queries.

Databricks Apps telemetry (Beta)

March 6, 2026

You can now configure telemetry for your Databricks apps to collect traces, logs, and metrics and persist them to Unity Catalog tables using the OpenTelemetry (OTel) protocol. After you enable app telemetry, Databricks automatically captures system logs and usage events.

Tree view of the workspace browser side panel (Public Preview)

March 5, 2026

The workspace browser side panel now includes a tree view that provides a flexible, tree-based view of your workspace folder hierarchy. The tree view allows you to expand descendant folders, change the root of the tree, and navigate your workspace while keeping the tree steady. This improves the multi-asset authoring experience by providing better control over workspace navigation.

See Tree view of the workspace browser side panel (Public Preview).

Lakebase is now generally available with compliance security profile

March 4, 2026

Lakebase is now generally available for workspaces with the compliance security profile when the compliance standard is set to HIPAA, C5, TISAX, or None.

Knowledge Assistant is now available by default for Enhanced Security and Compliance customers

March 3, 2026

Knowledge Assistant is now available by default for workspaces with the compliance security profile enabled and HIPAA controls selected.

Use Knowledge Assistant to create a chatbot that can answer questions about your documents and provide high-quality responses with citations.

Managed OAuth flows for external MCP servers

March 2, 2026

Databricks now provides managed OAuth flows for select external MCP servers, eliminating the need to register your own OAuth app or manage credentials. Supported providers include Glean MCP, GitHub MCP, Google Drive API, and SharePoint API.

Notebook tagging (Public Preview)

March 2, 2026

You can now apply tags to notebooks to organize and categorize them for easier management. Notebooks also support governed tags, including certification and deprecation system tags, to indicate trust levels or lifecycle status directly within the notebook interface. See Apply tags to notebooks.

Customer-managed keys for Unity Catalog

March 2, 2026

You can now protect data in Unity Catalog catalogs with your own encryption keys using customer-managed keys (CMK).

Lakebase Autoscaling now includes high availability

March 2, 2026

Lakebase Autoscaling now includes high availability. High availability provides automatic failover from your primary compute instance to secondary compute instances distributed across availability zones, with no connection string changes required.

Schedule data refreshes in Google Sheets (Public Preview)

March 2, 2026

You can now schedule automatic data refreshes in the Databricks Connector for Google Sheets on an hourly, daily, or weekly basis.

Connect to Azure Databricks from Microsoft Excel (Public Preview)

March 2, 2026

The new Azure Databricks Excel Add-in is in Public Preview and allows you to connect Microsoft Excel to your workspace, import data from tables or Metric Views, execute SQL queries, and analyze data directly in Excel. See Connect to Azure Databricks from Microsoft Excel.

Update workspace network configuration to VNet injection is now GA

March 2, 2026

You can now update the virtual network (VNet) configuration of an existing Azure Databricks workspace to migrate from an Azure Databricks-managed VNet to your own VNet (VNet injection). This feature is now generally available. See Update workspace network configuration.

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