Materialized Tables support for existing Kafka topics
Materialized Tables in Confluent Cloud for Apache Flink can now adopt existing Kafka topics. Flink will use the existing topic and data instead of creating a new one.
Also shipped Sep 15, 2026Confluent in September 2026 →
Predict dynamic table refresh behavior with EXPLAIN CHANGES (General availability)
You can now use EXPLAIN CHANGES to predict a dynamic table's refresh behavior before it happens, either for a manual refresh or as part of a DDL change, without applying the change.
Horizon Catalog Explorer UI (Preview)
With this release, the Horizon Catalog Explorer is the default experience for browsing Snowflake objects in Snowsight, replacing Database Explorer. The Horizon Catalog Explorer provides consistent navigation and object detail pages while preserving the tabs and actions that you already use.
Embedding Streamlit in Snowflake apps in external pages (General availability)
Embedding Streamlit in Snowflake apps in external pages is now generally available. You can render a container-runtime app inside a page you host, such as a customer portal or an internal dashboard, using a single tag.
Elastic Channels for Snowpipe Streaming (General availability)
Elastic Channels for Snowpipe Streaming are now generally available. Elastic Channels provide one implicit, server-scaled ingestion path per pipe, so concurrent producers can stream directly to Snowflake tables and supported Snowflake-managed Iceberg tables without managing channel names, lifecycle, ordering, or offset tokens.
Webhook-triggered deployments for Databricks Apps will soon be generally available
Starting in October 2026, webhook-triggered deployments for Databricks Apps will be generally available. Automatically deploy your app when changes are pushed to a connected GitHub or Azure DevOps repository, so your deployed app stays in sync with your repository without manual redeployment. See Deploy a Databricks app .
Sharing foreign Delta tables with OpenSharing is now generally available
Sharing and reading foreign Delta tables with OpenSharing is now generally available. Providers can share Delta-format tables federated from OneLake, a Hive metastore, or AWS Glue, without copying data into Databricks. See Add foreign Delta tables to a share .
More from Confluent CloudEvery Confluent Cloud release →
Advanced Security add-on in Limited Availability
Organization-level add-on bundling SCIM, self-managed encryption keys (BYOK), and higher limits for security resources such as identity pools and RBAC role bindings. Billed as a percentage uplift on eligible infrastructure charges.
SCIM user provisioning generally available
SCIM user provisioning is GA with the Advanced Security add-on. Your IdP becomes the single source of truth for SSO user accounts, automating provisioning and de-provisioning.
Flink materialized tables can adopt an existing Kafka topic
A CREATE OR ALTER MATERIALIZED TABLE statement can point at an existing table, and Flink adopts it in place, keeping the topic, its data, and its consumers. Previously a materialized table always created a new topic.
Advanced Security add-on for Confluent Cloud
The Advanced Security add-on is now available as a Limited Availability release. It bundles capabilities including SCIM, self-managed encryption keys, and higher limits for security-related resources.
Audit logs record SCIM provisioning events
Confluent Cloud audit logs now record auditable events for SCIM provisioning operations, including enabling SCIM, managing SCIM tokens, and creating, updating, or deleting users through a SCIM client.
Audit logs for SCIM provisioning operations
Confluent Cloud audit logs now record events for SCIM provisioning operations. This includes enabling SCIM, managing tokens, and user lifecycle management.
Flink Table API 2.3-6 adds AI functions, changelog functions, artifact creation
Java plugin 2.3-6 and Python package 2.3.3 on Flink 2.3.0 add AI_SENTIMENT, AI_DETECT_PII, AI_FORECAST and AI_DETECT_ANOMALIES, FROM_CHANGELOG/TO_CHANGELOG support, and ConfluentTools.createArtifact(). Python Table API remains in Open Preview.
Delete empty consumer groups from Confluent Cloud Console
You can now delete consumer groups in the empty state through Confluent Cloud Console.