Reference
Version · 4.33
Reference guide

createIndex

Last updated: August 12, 2026

The createIndex Change Type creates an index on an existing column or a set of columns.

Uses

You can typically use the createIndex Change Type when you want to add an index on one of the columns or a set of columns to increase the searchability of the records in your database.

If you set the clustered attribute to true, Liquibase will create a clustered index, which defines the order in which records are stored in a table. If you set the clustered attribute to false, Liquibase will create a non-clustered index, where the order of the rows will not match the order of the actual records.

When creating indexes, Liquibase uses the order of columns that you list in the createIndex Change Type. For example:

These changesets will produce the following (the update-sql command example):

CREATE TABLE public.department (col_1 INT, col_2 INT, col_3 INT); CREATE INDEX index_one ON public.department(col_1, col_2, col_3); CREATE INDEX index_two ON public.department(col_3, col_2, col_1); CREATE INDEX index_three ON public.department(col_2, col_3, col_1);

Running the `createIndex` Change Type

To run this Change Type, follow these steps:

Add the Change Type to your changeset, as shown in the examples on this page.
Specify any required attributes. Use the table on this page to see which ones your database requires.
Deploy your changeset by running the update command: liquibase update

Available attributes

Name	Description	Required for	Supports
`associatedWith`	Specifies which columns to filter in the index you're creating. Some databases, like Oracle, automatically create indexes for primary key constraints and unique constraints, but not foreign key constraints. Use this attribute to specify what your index associations are. Valid values: `primaryKey`, `foreignKey`, `uniqueConstraint`, `none`.
`catalogName`	Name of the catalog		all
`clustered`	Boolean. Whether to create a clustered index		all
`indexName`	Name of the index	firebird, hsqldb	all
`schemaName`	Name of the schema		all
`tableName`	Name of the table for which to add the index.	all	all
`tablespace`	Name of the tablespace to use for the index		all
`unique`	Defines whether a unique clause should be applied		all
`using`	Only available for PostgreSQL. Defines what index type is used. Valid values: `btree`, `gin`, hash, gist, spgist, brin. All available index types and their uses are documented by PostgreSQL.		PostgreSQL

Nested tags

Name

Description

Required for

Supports

Multiple allowed

column

The column(s) to add to the index.

Note: YAML and JSON changelogs using the column tag must nest it within a columns tag.

all

yes

Nested property attributes

Name	Description	Required for	Supports
`name`	Name of the column. It can contain the direction by appending `ASC` or `DESC` to the name.	all	all
`computed`	Set to `true` if the value in `name` isn't actually a column name but a function. Boolean.		Since 3.3.0.
`descending`	Specifies that a column should be used in a descending order in the index. (i.e. ascending order)	--	Since 3.4.

Database support

Database	Notes	Auto Rollback
DB2/LUW	Supported	Yes
DB2/z	Supported	Yes
Derby	Supported	Yes
Firebird	Supported	Yes
Google BigQuery	Supported	Yes
H2	Supported	Yes
HyperSQL	Supported	Yes
INGRES	Supported	Yes
Informix	Supported	Yes
MariaDB	Supported	Yes
MySQL	Supported	Yes
Oracle	Supported	Yes
PostgreSQL	Supported	Yes
Snowflake	Not Supported	No
SQL Server	Supported	Yes
SQLite	Supported	Yes
Sybase	Supported	Yes
Sybase Anywhere	Supported	Yes

createIndex examples

--liquibase formatted sql

--changeset liquibase-docs:createIndex-example
CREATE  UNIQUE  INDEX  idx_address  ON  department.person(address  DESC);

databaseChangeLog:
-  changeSet:
    id:  createIndex-example
    author:  liquibase-docs
    changes:
    - createIndex:
       clustered:  true
       columns:
       - column:
          descending:  true
          name:  address
       indexName:  idx_address
       schemaName:  public
       tableName:  person
       tablespace:  A String
       unique:  true

{
    "databaseChangeLog": [
        {
            "changeSet": {
                "id": "createIndex-example",
                "author": "liquibase-docs",
                "changes": [
                    {
                        "createIndex": {
                            "clustered": true,
                            "columns": [
                                {
                                    "column": {
                                        "descending": true,
                                        "name": "address"
                                    }
                                }
                            ],
                            "indexName": "idx_address",
                            "schemaName": "public",
                            "tableName": "person",
                            "tablespace": "A String",
                            "unique": true
                        }
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    ]
}

<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 author="liquibase-docs" id="createIndex-example">
        <createIndex clustered= "true"
              indexName="idx_address"
              schemaName="public"
              tableName="person"
              tablespace="A String"
              unique="true">
            <column descending="true" name="address"/>
        </createIndex>
    </changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

--liquibase formatted sql

--changeset liquibase-docs:createIndex-example
CREATE  UNIQUE  INDEX  idx_address  ON  department.person(address  DESC);

databaseChangeLog:
-  changeSet:
    id:  createIndex-example
    author:  liquibase-docs
    changes:
    - createIndex:
       clustered:  true
       columns:
       - column:
          descending:  true
          name:  address
       indexName:  idx_address
       schemaName:  public
       tableName:  person
       tablespace:  A String
       unique:  true

{
    "databaseChangeLog": [
        {
            "changeSet": {
                "id": "createIndex-example",
                "author": "liquibase-docs",
                "changes": [
                    {
                        "createIndex": {
                            "clustered": true,
                            "columns": [
                                {
                                    "column": {
                                        "descending": true,
                                        "name": "address"
                                    }
                                }
                            ],
                            "indexName": "idx_address",
                            "schemaName": "public",
                            "tableName": "person",
                            "tablespace": "A String",
                            "unique": true
                        }
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    ]
}

<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 author="liquibase-docs" id="createIndex-example">
        <createIndex clustered= "true"
              indexName="idx_address"
              schemaName="public"
              tableName="person"
              tablespace="A String"
              unique="true">
            <column descending="true" name="address"/>
        </createIndex>
    </changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

Changing the index type for PostgreSQL

PostgreSQL provides several index types. Each index type uses a different algorithm. You can choose the one that best fits your project’s performance needs. The PostgreSQL documentation provides all available index types and their use cases.

You can use the following example code to set the index type for your project. You'll need to set the using attribute to the index type you want to use. These examples use gin.

Index type for PostgreSQL examples

--liquibase formatted sql
--changeset liquibase-docs:createIndex-example
CREATE  UNIQUE  INDEX  idx_address  ON  department.person(address  DESC) USING GIN("test");

databaseChangeLog:
-  changeSet:
	id:  createIndex-example
	author:  liquibase-docs
	changes:
	- createIndex:
		clustered:  true
		columns:
		- column:
			descending:  true
			name:  address
		indexName:  idx_address
		schemaName:  public
		tableName:  person
		tablespace:  A String
		unique:  true
		using: gin

{
 "databaseChangeLog": [
	{
	 "changeSet": {
		"id": "createIndex-example",
		"author": "liquibase-docs",
		"changes": [
			{
			 "createIndex": {
				"clustered": true,
				"columns": [
					{
				  	    "column": {
						"descending": true,
						"name": "address"
						}
					  }
					],
					"indexName": "idx_address",
					"schemaName": "public",
					"tableName": "person",
					"tablespace": "A String",
					"unique": true,
					"using": "gin"
                        }
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    ]
}

<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 author="liquibase-docs" id="createIndex-example">
		<createIndex clustered= "true"
			indexName="idx_address"
			schemaName="public"
			tableName="person"
			tablespace="A String"
			unique="true"
			using="gin">
			<column descending="true" name="address"/>
		</createIndex>
	</changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

--liquibase formatted sql
--changeset liquibase-docs:createIndex-example
CREATE  UNIQUE  INDEX  idx_address  ON  department.person(address  DESC) USING GIN("test");

databaseChangeLog:
-  changeSet:
	id:  createIndex-example
	author:  liquibase-docs
	changes:
	- createIndex:
		clustered:  true
		columns:
		- column:
			descending:  true
			name:  address
		indexName:  idx_address
		schemaName:  public
		tableName:  person
		tablespace:  A String
		unique:  true
		using: gin

{
 "databaseChangeLog": [
	{
	 "changeSet": {
		"id": "createIndex-example",
		"author": "liquibase-docs",
		"changes": [
			{
			 "createIndex": {
				"clustered": true,
				"columns": [
					{
				  	    "column": {
						"descending": true,
						"name": "address"
						}
					  }
					],
					"indexName": "idx_address",
					"schemaName": "public",
					"tableName": "person",
					"tablespace": "A String",
					"unique": true,
					"using": "gin"
                        }
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    ]
}

<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 author="liquibase-docs" id="createIndex-example">
		<createIndex clustered= "true"
			indexName="idx_address"
			schemaName="public"
			tableName="person"
			tablespace="A String"
			unique="true"
			using="gin">
			<column descending="true" name="address"/>
		</createIndex>
	</changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

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