Init Commands

The purpose of the init commands is to help users quickly set up a new Liquibase project, make a copy of an existing project, or quickly start the H2 in-memory database. The commands provide the required configuration files and parameters to successfully connect a database and run Liquibase.

Init Category

These commands are available in all Liquibase editions.

init copy: copies project files from a source directory to a target directory.
init project: finds or creates your project folder with the changelog and Liquibase properties files and delivers an example H2 database to help you get started.
init start-h2: starts the in-memory H2 database included in the Liquibase installation package to get started and test how Liquibase works.

Each individual init command page specifies the criteria for using the command successfully, including a list of required and optional command-specific arguments.

Init Command Requirements

The init project command requires the liquibase-commercial.jar file to be located in the /liquibase/internal/lib folder for the command to work.
Using the init commands requires Liquibase version 4.7.0 or later.

Troubleshooting

Visit the Liquibase Installation Troubleshooting documentation page for troubleshooting steps.
If Liquibase returns an error when you run an init command, use the Liquibase --help parameter to check the correct syntax of the command and the command-specific parameters you can use with it.

For example, in the CLI:
```
liquibase <command> --help
```

Liquibase Resources

Liquibase Help

Visit the Liquibase Forum channel to ask questions, find answers from other Liquibase users, and learn about new Liquibase version releases.

Tutorials

Visit the Design Your Liquibase Project getting started tutorial to learn more about building a Liquibase project.
Visit the Liquibase Database Tutorials page to learn more about configuring Liquibase to work for your database.