Apache Derby

*Last updated: July 10, 2025*

Apache Derby is an open-source relational database implemented entirely in Java and available under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

Download the driver

Supported database versions

- 10.16.X - 10.15.X - 10.14.X

Procedure

1

Install your drivers.

Download the JDBC driver JAR file (Maven link) and place it in the liquibase/lib directory.

Note: If you use Maven, you must include the driver JAR file as a dependency in your pom.xml file.

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.apache.derby</groupId>
  <artifactId>derbytools</artifactId>
  <version>10.15.2.0</version>
</dependency>
2

Configure your connection.

  1. Ensure your Apache Derby database is configured. As an option, you can run the sysinfo command to check the output of Derby system information. For more details, see the Install Software documentation.

  2. Specify the database URL in the liquibase.properties file (defaults file), along with other properties you want to set a default value for. Liquibase does not parse the URL. You can either specify the full database connection string or specify the URL using your database's standard JDBC format:

    url: jdbc:derby://localhost:1527/MYDATABASE;create=true

Note: If you created MYDATABASE, use create=false or remove create=true from URL.

3

Create a text file called changelog in your project directory and add a changeset.

If you already created a changelog using the init project command, you can use that instead of creating a new file. When adding onto an existing changelog, be sure to only add the changeset and to not duplicate the changelog header.

SQL example
-- liquibase formatted sql
-- changeset my_name:1
CREATE TABLE test_table (
  test_id INT,
  test_column INT,
  PRIMARY KEY (test_id)
)
XML example
<?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"
  xmlns:ext="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext"
  xmlns:pro="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog
    http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-latest.xsd
    http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-ext.xsd
    http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro/liquibase-pro-latest.xsd">
  <changeSet id="1" author="my_name">
    <createTable tableName="test_table">
      <column name="test_id" type="int">
        <constraints primaryKey="true"/>
      </column>
      <column name="test_column" type="INT"/>
    </createTable>
  </changeSet>
</databaseChangeLog>
YAML example
databaseChangeLog:
  - changeSet:
    id: 1
    author: my_name
    changes:
    - createTable:
      tableName: test_table
      columns:
      - column:
        name: test_column
          type: INT
          constraints:
            primaryKey:  true
            nullable:  false
JSON example
{
  "databaseChangeLog": [
    {
      "changeSet": {
        "id": "1",
        "author": "my_name",
        "changes": [
          {
            "createTable": {
              "tableName": "test_table",
              "columns": [
                {
                  "column": {
                    "name": "test_column",
                    "type": "INT",
                    "constraints": {
                      "primaryKey": true,
                      "nullable": false
                    }
                  }
                }
              ]
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}
4

Navigate to your project folder in the CLI and run the Liquibase status command to see whether the connection is successful.

liquibase status --username=test --password=test --changelog-file=<changelog.xml>

Note: You can specify arguments in the CLI or keep them in the Liquibase properties file.

If your connection is successful, you'll see a message like this:

1 changeset has not been applied to <your_jdbc_url> Liquibase command 'status' was executed successfully.

5

Inspect the SQL with the update-sql command. Then make changes to your database with the update command.

liquibase update-sql --changelog-file=<changelog.xml>
liquibase update --changelog-file=<changelog.xml>

If your update is successful, Liquibase runs each changeset and displays a summary message ending with:

Liquibase: Update has been successful. Liquibase command 'update' was executed successfully.

6

From a database UI tool, ensure that your database contains the test_table you added along with the DATABASECHANGELOG table and DATABASECHANGELOGLOCK table.

Apache Derby - Liquibase