READ METADATA privilege is GA
The READ METADATA privilege is now generally available in Unity Catalog. READ METADATA provides read-only visibility into the same metadata available to the object's owner or a user with MANAGE , including security-sensitive information that BROWSE doesn't expose, such as privilege grants, row filters and column masks, and ABAC policies.
Also shipped Aug 10, 2026Databricks in August 2026 →
BigQuery supports gemini-3.1-flash-lite and gemini-3.5-flash GA models
Both models work in all BigQuery generative AI functions and are available on the us, eu and global multi-regional endpoints.
AI_MULTI_EMBED support for large video files in semantic video search (General availability)
Snowflake Cortex AI_MULTI_EMBED is now generally available for semantic video search with support for large video files up to 6 GB using the TwelveLabs Marengo Embed 3.0 model, enabling organizations to index and search production-grade video content directly in Snowflake.
Amazon S3 Tables Iceberg REST catalog integration (General availability)
Snowflake can now connect directly to the Amazon S3 Tables Iceberg REST endpoint, so you don’t need to create an AWS Glue integration. This capability is now generally available.
Request Access in Workspaces (Preview)
With this preview release, you can resolve access-related SQL errors in Workspaces by submitting access requests directly from Snowsight. When a query fails because of missing privileges and the user can’t self-resolve the issue by switching roles, the user can submit a request with a reason.
Spanner dynamic channel pooling for Go and Java clients is GA
Dynamic channel pooling for gRPC channels prevents issues from under- or over-provisioned channels and reduces configuration overhead in the Go and Java client libraries. It is disabled by default.
Gemini Enterprise: Export user data to a CSV file
Gemini Enterprise administrators can export user data to a comma-separated values (CSV) file to sort, filter, and analyze records offline. This feature is generally available (GA). For more information, see Export user data .
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Unity Catalog ABAC GRANT policies support more securable types in Beta
ABAC GRANT policies dynamically grant Unity Catalog privileges to securables whose governed tags match a condition. These policies were previously only available for models, but now also support model services, model provider services, Model Context Protocol (MCP) services, and agent services. All supported types are in Beta.
Define business concepts with Pages (Beta)
You can now use Pages to give business terms, acronyms, and KPIs a single governed definition. Part of Unity Catalog semantics , Pages form the human-modeled layer of the Genie Ontology that Genie One draws on to ground its answers. See Pages .
Unity Catalog OSS UnityCatalog 0.5.0
We are thrilled to announce Unity Catalog 0.5.0 release, which includes exciting new features, many bug fixes, and improvements. A huge thank you to the awesome community who made this release possible!
Sharing tables backed by default storage will be enabled by default for all accounts
OpenSharing support for tables backed by default storage is generally available and on by default for most accounts. For most Enterprise or Premium tier accounts, Databricks will enable it automatically in mid-September 2026, and by early 2027 for the rest.
Tags page in Governance Hub (Beta)
The Tags page in Governance Hub is now in Beta . The Tags page provides a centralized view of how tags are applied across your account. It summarizes governed tag usage, shows recent tag assignments and their sources, and surfaces recommendations to fix invalid tag values and add tags to important assets that are missing them.
Sharing tables backed by default storage is now generally available
OpenSharing support for tables backed by default storage is now generally available and is being enabled by default for accounts on a rolling basis. Providers can share these tables with any recipient, whether open or Databricks, including recipients that use classic compute.
Tag automations (Beta)
Tag automations are now in Beta . A tag automation assigns or removes governed tags on the Unity Catalog tables or volumes that match conditions you define, so tags stay accurate as your data and metadata change.
Sharing managed Iceberg tables is now generally available
Sharing managed Iceberg tables in Databricks-to-Databricks sharing and open sharing is now generally available. Providers can now also share managed Iceberg tables to external Iceberg clients. See Add managed Iceberg tables to a share and Read shared managed Iceberg tables .