January 2026
These features and Databricks platform improvements were released in January 2026.
Releases are staged. Your Databricks account might not be updated until a week or more after the initial release date.
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. See Ingest Salesforce formula fields incrementally.
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.
OpenAI GPT-5.1 Codex Max and Codex Mini now available as Databricks-hosted models
January 12, 2026
Mosaic AI Model Serving now supports OpenAI GPT-5.1 Codex Max and GPT-5.1 Codex Mini as Databricks-hosted models. These code-specialized models excel at code generation, refactoring, and software engineering tasks. You can access these models using Foundation Model APIs pay-per-token.
Customers are responsible for ensuring their compliance with the terms of OpenAI's Acceptable Use Policy.
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:
- Databricks Runtime 17.3 LTS
- Databricks Runtime 17.2
- Databricks Runtime 17.1
- Databricks Runtime 16.4 LTS
- Databricks Runtime 15.4 LTS
- Databricks Runtime 14.3 LTS
- Databricks Runtime 13.3 LTS
- Databricks Runtime 12.2 LTS
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.
See Extend the Assistant with agent skills.
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.