Output Formats in the Liquibase AI Changelog Generator

Last updated: May 15, 2026

The AI Changelog Generator is currently in early access, and we're actively seeking customer feedback to help shape its development. If you would like to learn more about this feature, please contact us here. The Liquibase AI Changelog Generator generates changelog output in two formats: the default XML and Formatted SQL. This page explains what each format produces, when to use each one, and how to switch between them.

Overview

When you describe a database change to the AI Changelog Generator in natural language, it generates a Liquibase changelog entry. The output format determines how that entry appears and how Liquibase processes it.

	XML	Formatted SQL
Default format	Yes	No — must be enabled
Database-agnostic	Yes	No — generates dialect-specific SQL
Rollback generation	Auto-generated by Liquibase at runtime for most operations	Explicitly written into the file by the MCP server
Works with include/includeAll	Yes	Yes
Best use case	Teams using Liquibase-native workflows across multiple databases	Teams with SQL-first workflows who prefer readable, explicit SQL files

XML Output

XML is the default output format. The AI Changelog Generator generates a standard Liquibase XML changeset using Liquibase change types such as createTable, addColumn, and createIndex.

When to use XML

Your team uses Liquibase across multiple database platforms
You want Liquibase to manage rollback logic automatically at runtime
You are working with changelogs that use include or includeAll
You need the full range of Liquibase change type attributes

Example XML output

Natural language prompt: "Create a user table with an auto-incrementing ID, a username up to 50 characters that must be unique, and a non-null email."

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<databaseChangeLog
    xmlns="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-latest.xsd">

    <changeSet id="1737598123456-1" author="liquibase-mcp">
        <createTable tableName="users">
            <column name="id" type="BIGINT" autoIncrement="true">
                <constraints primaryKey="true" nullable="false"/>
            </column>
            <column name="username" type="VARCHAR(50)">
                <constraints unique="true"/>
            </column>
            <column name="email" type="VARCHAR(255)">
                <constraints nullable="false"/>
            </column>
        </createTable>
    </changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

Formatted SQL Output

Formatted SQL output produces a plain .sql file using Liquibase's formatted SQL changelog syntax. The SQL is generated for a specific target database, making the output immediately readable and executable by anyone familiar with SQL.

When to use Formatted SQL

Your team prefers working directly with SQL files
You want rollback statements written explicitly into the changelog file
You are targeting a specific database and want dialect-appropriate SQL
You are introducing Liquibase to a team that already has a SQL-based workflow

Example Formatted SQL output

Same natural language prompt, Formatted SQL output for PostgreSQL:

Example formatted SQL

--liquibase formatted sql

--changeset liquibase-mcp:1737598123456-1
CREATE TABLE users (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    username VARCHAR(50) UNIQUE,
    email VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL
);
--rollback DROP TABLE users;