Releasesby GlyphData Classification now scans Unity Catalog views (Beta)
Data Classification can now scan Unity Catalog views in addition to tables, classifying columns for sensitive data using the same detection engine. This is a Beta feature. See Classify views .
Also shipped Sep 15, 2026Databricks 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.
Cortex AI Gateway (Preview)
We are pleased to announce the preview of Cortex AI Gateway, the control plane where you govern how AI applications and third-party agents in your organization reach models.
Reinforcement learning fine-tuning in the Google Cloud console (Preview)
You can create, monitor, and test reinforcement learning fine-tuning jobs for Gemini models in the Google Cloud console ( Preview ). From the Models > Tuning page, you can configure Python code or model-based reward functions, test reward logic against sample prompts before launching a job, track training and evaluation metrics in real time, and test tuned...
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The READ METADATA privilege will soon be available by default for workspaces with the compliance security profile enabled
The READ METADATA privilege will be available by default for workspaces with the compliance security profile enabled in mid-October 2026. READ METADATA grants read-only visibility into an object's metadata, including security-sensitive information that BROWSE doesn't expose, such as privilege grants, row filters and column masks, and ABAC policies.
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 .
VARIANT cast extends to ARRAY and MAP columns in ABAC column masks
You can now use a single VARIANT function to mask columns of type ARRAY and MAP , in addition to STRUCT and other types. This requires Databricks Runtime 19 or above. See Masking multiple column types with a single function .
Metastore-level ABAC policies are in Beta
Metastore-level ABAC policies are in Beta in Unity Catalog. You can now attach an ABAC policy (row filter, column mask, GRANT, or DENY) at the metastore level, so a single policy applies across every catalog in the metastore, including catalogs created later.
Sharing foreign Iceberg tables with OpenSharing is now generally available
Sharing and reading foreign Iceberg tables with OpenSharing is now generally available. Providers can share Iceberg tables federated from foreign Iceberg catalogs using Lakehouse Federation, including to recipients using external Iceberg clients.
Sharing foreign schemas and tables with OpenSharing is now generally available
Sharing and reading foreign schemas and foreign tables with OpenSharing is now generally available. Providers can share foreign schemas and tables federated from external data sources using Lakehouse Federation, without copying data into Databricks.
External secrets in Unity Catalog (Beta)
External secrets connect a Unity Catalog schema to AWS Secrets Manager. The secrets appear in Unity Catalog as read-only securable objects that you govern with Unity Catalog privileges. Databricks reads their values from AWS Secrets Manager on demand. See External secrets in Unity Catalog .
Invite OpenSharing recipients by email (Beta)
You can now invite OpenSharing recipients by email instead of exchanging a sharing identifier or credential file. OpenSharing emails the recipient a secure activation link to connect and read the shared data. Email sharing is in Beta . See OpenSharing by email .