Switch between output formats in the Liquibase AI Changelog Generator

Last updated: May 15, 2026

Not sure which format to use? See Output Formats in the Liquibase AI Changelog Generator

Procedure

Set these environment variables in your AI Changelog Generator configuration, not in your Liquibase project.

Output format is controlled by two environment variables:

Variable	Values	Default	Description
LIQUIBASE_MCP_OUTPUT_FORMAT	xml \| formatted-sql	xml	Controls the output format of generated changesets.
LIQUIBASE_MCP_SQL_DATABASE	postgresql \| mysql \| mariadb \| oracle \| mssql \| db2 \| h2 \| sqlite	postgresql	Target database dialect for Formatted SQL generation. Only applies when LIQUIBASE_MCP_OUTPUT_FORMAT=formatted-sql.

XML is the default. If you do not set LIQUIBASE_MCP_OUTPUT_FORMAT, the server generates XML. Existing configurations require no changes.

VS Code users: Add the environment variables to your AI Changelog Generator configuration in your VS Code settings.json.

Switch to Formatted SQL

{
  "servers": {
    "liquibase-changelog-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "java",
      "args": ["-jar", "/path/to/liquibase-mcp-changelog-server-0.1.0.jar"],
      "env": {
        "LIQUIBASE_MCP_OUTPUT_FORMAT": "formatted-sql",
        "LIQUIBASE_MCP_SQL_DATABASE": "postgresql"
      }
    }
  }
}

Switch back to XML

{
  "servers": {
    "liquibase-changelog-mcp-server": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "java",
      "args": ["-jar", "/path/to/liquibase-mcp-changelog-server-0.1.0.jar"]
    }
  }
}

Set LIQUIBASE_MCP_OUTPUT_FORMAT to xml, or remove the variable entirely. The LIQUIBASE_MCP_SQL_DATABASE variable has no effect when the output format is XML.

Restart required. After editing settings.json, restart the MCP server for the change to take effect.

Docker users: Pass the environment variables in your Docker run command.

Pass the environment variables using the -e flag in your Docker run command.

Switch to Formatted SQL

docker run --rm -i \
    -e LIQUIBASE_MCP_OUTPUT_FORMAT=formatted-sql \
    -e LIQUIBASE_MCP_SQL_DATABASE=postgresql \
    liquibase/liquibase-mcp-server:latest

Switch back to XML

Omit LIQUIBASE_MCP_OUTPUT_FORMAT or set it explicitly to xml:

docker run --rm -i \
    -e LIQUIBASE_MCP_OUTPUT_FORMAT=xml \
    liquibase/liquibase-mcp-server:latest

Change the target database

Update LIQUIBASE_MCP_SQL_DATABASE to match your target database. For example, to switch from PostgreSQL to MySQL:

docker run --rm -i \
    -e LIQUIBASE_MCP_OUTPUT_FORMAT=formatted-sql \
    -e LIQUIBASE_MCP_SQL_DATABASE=mysql \
    liquibase/liquibase-mcp-server:latest

For a full list of supported values, see Database Targeting for Formatted SQL.

Claude Desktop users: Add the environment variables to your Claude Desktop configuration file.

Add the environment variables to the AI Changelog Generator entry in your Claude Desktop configuration file.

Configuration file location:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Switch to Formatted SQL

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "liquibase-changelog": {
            "command": "docker",
            "args": ["run", "--rm", "-i",
                "-e", "LIQUIBASE_MCP_OUTPUT_FORMAT",
                "-e", "LIQUIBASE_MCP_SQL_DATABASE",
                "liquibase/liquibase-mcp-server:latest"],
            "env": {
                "LIQUIBASE_MCP_OUTPUT_FORMAT": "formatted-sql",
                "LIQUIBASE_MCP_SQL_DATABASE": "postgresql"
            }
        }
    }
}

Switch back to XML

"env": {
    "LIQUIBASE_MCP_OUTPUT_FORMAT": "xml"
}

Restart required. After editing the configuration file, restart Claude Desktop for the change to take effect.