Git version control for notebooks (legacy)

Important

Legacy notebook Git integration support was removed on January 31st, 2024. Databricks recommends that you use Databricks Git folders to sync your work in Databricks with a remote Git repository.

This article describes how to set up Git version control for notebooks (legacy feature). You can also use the Databricks CLI or Workspace API to import and export notebooks and to perform Git operations in your local development environment.

Enable and disable Git versioning

By default version control is enabled. To toggle this setting:

  1. Go to Admin settings > Workspace settings.

  2. In the Advanced section, deselect the Notebook Git Versioning toggle.

Configure version control

To configure version control, create access credentials in your Git provider, then add those credentials to Databricks.

Work with notebook versions

You work with notebook versions in the history panel. Open the history panel by clicking version history icon in the right sidebar.

Version history

Note

You cannot modify a notebook while the history panel is open.

Save a notebook to GitHub

While the changes that you make to your notebook are saved automatically to the Databricks version history, changes do not automatically persist to GitHub.

  1. Click version history icon in the right sidebar to open the history panel.

    History panel - save now
  2. Click Save Now to save your notebook to GitHub. The Save Notebook Version dialog appears.

  3. Optionally, enter a message to describe your change.

  4. Make sure that Also commit to Git is selected.

    Save version
  5. Click Save.

Revert or update a notebook to a version from GitHub

Once you link a notebook, Databricks syncs your history with Git every time you re-open the history panel. Versions that sync to Git have commit hashes as part of the entry.

  1. Click version history icon in the right sidebar to open the history panel.

    History panel
  2. Choose an entry in the history panel. Databricks displays that version.

  3. Click Restore this version.

  4. Click Confirm to confirm that you want to restore that version.

Use branches

You can work on any branch of your repository and create new branches inside Databricks.

Create a branch

  1. Click version history icon in the right sidebar to open the history panel.

  2. Click the Git status bar to open the GitHub panel.

  3. Click the Branch dropdown.

  4. Enter a branch name.

    Create branch
  5. Select the Create Branch option at the bottom of the dropdown. The parent branch is indicated. You always branch from your current selected branch.

Create a pull request

  1. Click version history icon in the right sidebar to open the history panel.

  2. Click the Git status bar to open the GitHub panel.

    Git preferences - create pull request
  3. Click Create PR. GitHub opens to a pull request page for the branch.

Rebase a branch

You can also rebase your branch inside Databricks. The Rebase link displays if new commits are available in the parent branch. Only rebasing on top of the default branch of the parent repository is supported.

Rebase

For example, assume that you are working on databricks/reference-apps. You fork it into your own account (for example, brkyvz) and start working on a branch called my-branch. If a new update is pushed to databricks:master, then the Rebase button displays, and you will be able to pull the changes into your branch brkyvz:my-branch.

Rebasing works a little differently in Databricks. Assume the following branch structure:

Before rebase branch structure

After a rebase, the branch structure looks like:

After rebase branch structure

What’s different here is that Commits C5 and C6 do not apply on top of C4. They appear as local changes in your notebook. Merge conflicts show up as follows:

Merge conflict

You can then commit to GitHub once again using the Save Now button.

What happens if someone branched off from my branch that I just rebased?

If your branch (for example, branch-a) was the base for another branch (branch-b), and you rebase, you need not worry! Once a user also rebases branch-b, everything will work out. The best practice in this situation is to use separate branches for separate notebooks.

Best practices for code reviews

Databricks supports Git branching.

  • You can link a notebook to any branch in a repository. Databricks recommends using a separate branch for each notebook.

  • During development, you can link a notebook to a fork of a repository or to a non-default branch in the main repository. To integrate your changes upstream, you can use the Create PR link in the Git Preferences dialog in Databricks to create a GitHub pull request. The Create PR link displays only if you’re not working on the default branch of the parent repository.

Troubleshooting

If you receive errors related to syncing GitHub history, verify the following:

  • You can only link a notebook to an initialized Git repository that isn’t empty. Test the URL in a web browser.

  • The GitHub personal access token must be active.

  • To use a private GitHub repository, you must have permission to read the repository.

  • If a notebook is linked to a GitHub branch that is renamed, the change is not automatically reflected in Databricks. You must re-link the notebook to the branch manually.

Migrate to Databricks Git folders

Users that need to migrate to Databricks Git folders from the legacy Git version control can use the following guide: