July 2026 platform release notes
These features and SAP Databricks platform improvements were released in July 2026. The cloud the release applies to is indicated for each release note.
Releases are staged. Your SAP Databricks account might not be updated until a week or more after the initial release date.
Automatic upgrades begin rolling out row tracking and Checkpoint V2 to existing tables
July 29, 2026 | Applies to: 
AWS GCP Azure
Automatic upgrades begin rolling out row tracking and Checkpoint V2 to existing Unity Catalog managed tables, not just new tables. This rollout is gradual, so these features become available to different customers at different times. Automatic upgrades turn on a feature only after an observation window verifies that every client accessing a table supports it.
Python UDTFs in Unity Catalog are now generally available
July 28, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
Registering Python user-defined table functions (UDTFs) in Unity Catalog is now generally available. A Unity Catalog Python UDTF is a governed function that returns a table, invoked in the FROM clause of a SQL statement to return multiple rows and columns.
Git CLI commands in Git folders are now in Preview
July 24, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
Git CLI commands in Git folders are now in Preview. Git folders that you create from the UI automatically get Git CLI access when your workspace is eligible, so you can run standard Git commands such as git stash, interactive rebase, pre-commit hooks, Git submodules, and Large File Storage (LFS) directly from a SAP Databricks terminal. Workspace admins can control access to this feature from the Previews page.
Anthropic Claude Opus 5 now available as a Databricks-hosted model
July 24, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
SAP Databricks Model Serving now supports Anthropic Claude Opus 5 as a Databricks-hosted model. To access this model, use Foundation Model APIs pay-per-token.
Priority pay-per-token for Foundation Model APIs
July 22, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
Priority pay-per-token, also referred to as priority mode, for Foundation Model APIs pay-per-token is generally available for partner models and in Preview for open source models. Priority mode is for latency-sensitive, real-time applications that need more consistent availability under load.
Automated setup for S3 external locations
July 22, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
You can now create an S3 external location using automated setup, the recommended method for connecting an S3 bucket to SAP Databricks. Automated setup uses AWS IAM temporary delegation to configure your external location and provision all required resources, including the IAM role, storage credential, and external location. It also provides built-in approval workflows for users who need AWS admin authorization.
Variant and Variant shredding are now generally available
July 22, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
Variant is now generally available. Variant is a flexible data type for semi-structured data that delivers structured-like query performance through Variant shredding, which is also generally available. Use Variant to ingest semi-structured data from streaming sources (Kinesis, Event Hub), REST APIs, and schemaless databases, while maintaining high-performance query access.
Role-based access control (RBAC) is in Preview
July 22, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
Role-based access control (RBAC) is now in Preview. RBAC lets users assume a role in SAP Databricks using only that role's permissions for the duration of the session instead of their own accumulated permissions. This enables exclusive access. Users must actively assume a role to reach sensitive data, which prevents them from accessing it as their own identity and from mixing data across use cases, clinical trials, projects, or clients. To enable RBAC, an account admin turns on the preview at the account level. Workspace admins then enable it in each workspace.
Transactions are now generally available
July 22, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
Transactions that write to Unity Catalog managed Delta tables are now generally available. Group multiple SQL statements across one or more tables into a single atomic transaction using BEGIN ATOMIC ... END; or BEGIN TRANSACTION; ... COMMIT; syntax. All changes succeed together or roll back together, ensuring data consistency across your operations. Transactions require catalog commits enabled on participating tables.
Email notifications for expiring service principal tokens are now generally available
July 22, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
SAP Databricks now automatically sends an email notification when a service principal token is set to expire within seven days. Because service principals don't have their own mailboxes, SAP Databricks sends these notifications to workspace admins. Notifications are sent only for service principal tokens that have a lifetime longer than seven days and have been used at least once. No configuration is required.
Networking charges for performance-intensive products
July 22, 2026 | Applies to: Azure
SAP Databricks now charges for cross-region and public-internet data egress back to the client for performance-intensive products, including Zerobus and the Files API. Client ingress and same-region egress are not charged. To track this usage, the billable usage system table adds the recipient_id, associated_product, and networking_client fields to usage_metadata.
Context-based ingress control for workspaces public access is now generally available
July 21, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
Context-based ingress control for workspaces public access is now generally available. Control who can reach your workspace endpoints using allow and deny rules that allow you to combine identities, network sources, and request types.
Scala and Java UDFs in Unity Catalog are now generally available
July 16, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
Register Scala and Java user-defined functions (UDFs) in Unity Catalog and reuse them across notebooks, jobs, and SQL warehouses with Unity Catalog governance. Reuse existing JVM logic and get better performance than Python UDFs on all compute, including serverless.
ai_extract and ai_classify are now available by default for workspaces with the compliance security profile enabled
July 15, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
The ai_extract and ai_classify SQL AI functions are now available by default for workspaces with the compliance security profile enabled and HIPAA, C5, and TISAX controls selected. Use ai_extract to extract structured fields from unstructured text against a user-defined schema. Use ai_classify to classify text into user-defined labels for routing, tagging, and document categorization workflows.
Thinking Machine Labs Inkling now available as a Databricks-hosted model in Preview
July 15, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP
Model Serving now supports Thinking Machine Labs Inkling as a Databricks-hosted model. This mixture of experts (MoE) model supports text and image inputs, a 1 million token context window, and is optimized for coding, reasoning, and agentic tool-use tasks. You can access this model using Foundation Model APIs. Inkling is available in Preview.
AI Search High QPS is now generally available
July 15, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
AI Search High QPS is now generally available for standard endpoints. Set a target QPS on standard AI Search endpoints to power high-throughput, real-time workloads like search bars, recommendation systems, and entity matching. High QPS is enabled by default, but existing endpoints are not affected. Additional capacity and the associated cost apply only when you configure a target QPS for an endpoint.
Custom URLs for your SAP Databricks account (Preview)
July 15, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
You can now claim and enable a Custom URL that gives your SAP Databricks account a single, branded entry point (for example, acme.databricks.com) for all users and workspaces.
Data Classification is now available by default for additional compliance standards
July 15, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
Data Classification is now available by default for workspaces with the compliance security profile enabled and either C5 or TISAX controls selected.
Serverless compute is now available in the Azure UK West region
July 14, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
Serverless compute for notebooks, jobs, pipelines, and SQL warehouses, along with serverless private connectivity, is now generally available in the Azure UK West (ukwest) region.
View warehouse activity details (General Availability)
July 13, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
The Activity details toggle in the SQL warehouse monitoring UI is now generally available. View color-coded annotations on the Running clusters chart that explain why a warehouse remains active, including query activity, fetching queries, open sessions, and idle states. Hover over bars to see metadata, or click on fetching activity to filter the query history table.
Secrets in Unity Catalog (Preview)
July 10, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
You can now store, govern, and access secrets as securable objects in Unity Catalog. A Unity Catalog secret uses the three-level namespace (catalog.schema.secret) and is governed by Unity Catalog privileges, so you can apply the same access controls and auditing that you use for other data assets.
Databricks SQL alerts are now available by default for workspaces with the compliance security profile enabled
July 9, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
Databricks SQL alerts now support all compliance security profile standards that SAP Databricks supports, and are available by default for workspaces with the compliance security profile enabled. Use Databricks SQL alerts to monitor data and KPIs by running queries on a schedule, evaluating conditions, and notifying recipients when the conditions are met.
Private connectivity to SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC)
July 9, 2026 | Applies to: AWS Azure
You can now use AWS PrivateLink or Azure Private Link to privately connect to SAP Business Data Cloud (BDC). If your organization requires private network connectivity, configure private connectivity to the S3 buckets (AWS) or storage accounts (Azure) that back your SAP BDC shares before you create a connection.
Protobuf tensor input for custom model serving endpoints (Preview)
July 9, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
For custom model serving endpoints with a tensor-based input signature, you can now send the request body as a serialized KServe v2 ModelInferRequest with Content-Type: application/x-protobuf, instead of JSON. This feature is in Preview and is only available on endpoints deployed after July 9, 2026.
Zhipu AI GLM 5.2 now available as a Databricks-hosted model
July 8, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP
Model Serving now supports GLM 5.2 as a Databricks-hosted model. This mixture of experts (MoE) model supports a 1 million token context window and is optimized for long-horizon reasoning, coding, and agentic tool use. You can access this model using Foundation Model APIs.
Restrict access to AI Functions with Unity Catalog permissions (Preview)
July 8, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
You can now use Unity Catalog permissions to restrict which task-specific AI Functions your organization can access, independent of foundation model access. Contact your account team to enable this feature.
Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4 is scheduled for retirement
July 8, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
Anthropic Claude Sonnet 4 will be retired on October 9, 2026. Claude Sonnet 4.6 is the recommended replacement.
Object metadata column is now in Preview
July 8, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
The _object_metadata column is now in Preview. The _object_metadata column is a hidden metadata column that exposes object-level properties for objects in cloud storage, including MIME type, ETag, user-defined key-value metadata, system-defined metadata, and object tags.
Excel file format support is now available by default
July 7, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
Excel file format support is now available by default for all workspaces. You can ingest, parse, and query .xls, .xlsx, and .xlsm files directly using built-in support, without external libraries or manual conversions.
Budgets are now generally available
July 6, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP Azure
Budgets, including budgets for Unity AI Gateway, are now generally available. Budgets let admins define spending thresholds. For requests managed through Unity AI Gateway, admins can set additional per-user thresholds and overrides, with configurable actions such as email alerting and usage blocking.
Okta support for automatic identity management is now generally available
July 3, 2026 | Applies to: AWS GCP
Okta support for automatic identity management is now generally available. Automatic identity management lets you sync users and groups from Okta into SAP Databricks without SCIM provisioning. When enabled, you can search for users and groups directly in identity federated workspaces and add them to your workspace, and SAP Databricks uses Okta as the source of record for group memberships.