update

Last published July 28, 2025

The update command deploys any changes that are in the changelog file and that have not been deployed to your database yet.

Uses

The update command is typically used to apply database changes that are specified in the changelog file to your database.

When you run the update command, Liquibase sequentially reads changesets in the changelog file, then it compares the unique identifiers of id, author, and path to filename to the values stored in the DATABASECHANGELOG table.

  • If the unique identifiers do not exist, Liquibase will apply the changeset to the database.

  • If the unique identifiers exist, the MD5Sum of the changeset is compared to the one in the database.

  • If they are different, Liquibase will produce an error message that someone has changed it unexpectedly. However, if the status of the runOnChange or runAlways changeset attribute is set to TRUE Liquibase will reapply the changeset.

In Liquibase Pro 4.25.1 and later, you can automatically generate a database Update Report summarizing this command.

Syntax

To run the update command, specify the driver, classpath, and URL in the Liquibase properties file. You can also specify these properties in your command line.

Then run the update command: liquibase update --changelog-file=example-changelog.xml

Note: The username and password attributes are not required for connections and systems that use alternate means of authentication. Also, you can specify database credentials as part of the url attribute.

Parameters

Global parameters

Attribute

Definition

Requirement

--liquibase-catalog-name=<string>

For MSSQL only: Specifies in what catalog the Liquibase DATABASECHANGELOG and DATABASECHANGELOGLOCK tables will be managed

Optional

--liquibase-schema-name=<string>

Specifies in what schema the Liquibase DATABASECHANGELOG and DATABASECHANGELOGLOCK tables will be managed

Optional

Command parameters

Attribute

Definition

Requirement

--changelog-file=<string>

The root changelog

Required

--url=<string>

The JDBC database connection URL.

Required

--change-exec-listener-class=<string>

Fully-qualified class that specifies a ChangeExecListener. For more information, see Implementing a Custom ChangeExecListener Class with Liquibase and ChangeExecListenerCommandStep.

Optional

--change-exec-listener-properties-file=<string>

Path to a properties file for the ChangeExecListener class. For more information, see Implementing a Custom ChangeExecListener Class with Liquibase and ChangeExecListenerCommandStep.

Optional

--context-filter=<string>

Specifies the changeset contexts to match. Contexts are tags you can add to changesets to control which changesets are executed in any particular migration run.

Note: If you use Liquibase 4.23.0 or earlier, use the syntax --contexts instead of --context-filter.

Optional

--default-catalog-name=<string>

Name of the default catalog to use for the database connection

Optional

--default-schema-name=<string>

Name of the default schema to use for the database connection. If defaultSchemaName is set, then objects do not have to be fully qualified. This means you can refer to just mytable instead of myschema.mytable.

Note: In the properties file and JAVA_OPTS only: in 4.18.0 and earlier, specify this parameter using the syntax defaultSchemaName. In 4.19.0 and later, use the syntax liquibase.command.defaultSchemaName.

Note: In Liquibase 4.12.0 and later, you can use mixed-case schema names if you set --preserve-schema-case to true. However, in Liquibase 4.12.0–4.22.0, the Liquibase validator still throws a DatabaseException error if you specify a mixed-case value of defaultSchemaName. In 4.23.0 and later, the Liquibase validator accepts any casing.

Optional

--driver=<string>

The JDBC driver class

Optional

--driver-properties-file=<string>

The JDBC driver properties file

Optional

--force-on-partial-changes=<true|false>

Liquibase Pro only. Use this argument only if you are specifying --rollback-on-error=true to automatically roll back update operations containing errors. --force-on-partial-changes=true specifies whether Liquibase rolls back partially invalid changesets, such as a changeset containing two changes: one with an error and one without an error. This ensures that you can successfully roll back all changes if a deployment has an error, even if the changeset contains multiple changes. Available in Liquibase 4.25.0+. Default: false. See also: failOnError.

Optional

--label-filter=<string>

Specifies the changeset labels to match. Labels are tags you can add to changesets to control which changesets will be executed in any migration run.

Optional

--password=<string>

Password to connect to the target database.

Tip: It is a best practice to store sensitive data in a Secrets Management tool with Liquibase Pro.

Optional

--report-enabled=<true|false>

Enables a report at the command level. Overrides the global parameter --reports-enabled. Default: true.

Optional

--report-name=<string>

Specifies the name of the report file at the command level. Overrides the global parameter --reports-name. By default, Liquibase generates a new report file labeled with a timestamp (user's local time). If you set a custom name, Liquibase overwrites the existing file every time you generate a new report. Default: report-<DD-Mon-YYYY-HHmmss>.html.

Optional

--report-path=<string>

Specifies the file path to the report file at the command level. Overrides the global parameter --reports-path. Default: ./.

Optional

--report-suppress-exception=<true|false>

Liquibase 4.31.0+. Specifies whether to hide exceptions (which may contain SQL) from the operation report at the command level. Overrides the global parameter --reports-suppress-exception. Default: false. However:

If --report-suppress-exception is not set and --report-suppress-sql=true, Liquibase suppresses all SQL, including exception SQL.

If --report-suppress-exception=false and --report-suppress-sql=true, Liquibase suppresses most SQL but shows exception SQL.

Optional

--report-suppress-sql=<true|false>

Liquibase 4.31.0+. Specifies whether to hide changeset SQL in operation reports at the command level. Overridden by the global parameter --reports-suppress-sql. Default: false.

Optional

--rollback-on-error=<true|false>

Liquibase Pro only. If any changeset in a deployment fails, --rollback-on-error stops the update operation and rolls back all changesets you just deployed. Available in Liquibase 4.18.0+. Default: false.

Note: A changeset marked failOnError=false does not trigger as an error, so rollback-on-error will not occur. Additionally, if a changeset is not auto-rollback compliant or does not have a rollback script, then rollback-on-error does not occur for any changeset. Read more: failOnError.

Optional

--show-summary=<string>

Liquibase 4.24.0+. Produces a summary list of any changesets skipped and why they were skipped. Valid values are OFF, SUMMARY, and VERBOSE. In Liquibase Pro, SUMMARY and VERBOSE provide additional information about failed deployments. Default: SUMMARY.

Note: Liquibase may display one or multiple reasons for halting deployment of a changeset. If Liquibase cannot resolve a halting reason, it does not evaluate the changeset for other possible halting reasons.

Optional

--show-summary-output=<string>

Liquibase 4.24.0+. Summary output to report update summary results. Valid values are LOG, CONSOLE, and ALL. If set to LOG, the --show-summary output is sent to the file specified in --log-file. If set to CONSOLE, the --show-summary output is sent to STDOUT. If set to ALL, the --show-summary output is sent to both locations. Default: ALL.

Optional

--username=<string>

Username to connect to the target database.

Tip: It is a best practice to store sensitive data in a Secrets Management tool with Liquibase Pro.

Optional

Output

In Liquibase Open Source, --show-summary=verbose has the same output as --show-summary=summary.

In Liquibase Pro, --show-summary=verbose also includes a table containing information about changesets that fail to deploy, but it doesn't appear if all your changesets deploy correctly.

Starting Liquibase Pro at 16:37:05 using Java 17.0.13 (version 4.33.0 #84 built at 2025-07-09 19:33:18 UTC) Liquibase Pro Version: 4.33.0 Liquibase Pro license issued to Liquibase, valid until Wed Dec 31 23:59:59 EST 2025 Running Changeset: changelogs/examples/changelog.sql::1::postgres UPDATE SUMMARY Run: 1 Previously run: 0 Filtered out: 0 Failed deployment: 0 ------------------------------- Total change sets: 1 Liquibase: Update has been successful. Rows affected: 0 A Pro Update Report was not created! ** To generate a Update report add command arg 'liquibase update --report-enabled=true' ** To generate all available Pro reports set liquibase.reports.enabled=true, or LIQUIBASE_REPORTS_ENABLED=true Liquibase command 'update' was executed successfully.

Successful deployments

Liquibase Version: 4.30.0 Liquibase Open Source 4.30.0 by Liquibase Running Changeset: example-changelog.xml::1::your.name Running Changeset: example-changelog.xml::2::your.name Running Changeset: example-changelog.xml::3::other.dev Liquibase: Update has been successful. Rows affected: 3 Liquibase command 'update' was executed successfully.

Failed deployments

In this example, the fourth changeset is a duplicate that Liquibase fails to deploy.

Liquibase Version: 4.30.0 Liquibase Open Source 4.30.0 by Liquibase Running Changeset: example-changelog.xml::1::your.name Running Changeset: example-changelog.xml::2::your.name Running Changeset: example-changelog.xml::3::other.dev Running Changeset: example-changelog.xml::4::other.dev

In any example with a failed changeset, Liquibase also includes an error message and stack trace after the update summary:

ERROR: Exception Details ERROR: Exception Primary Class: JdbcSQLSyntaxErrorException ERROR: Exception Primary Reason: Duplicate column name "COUNTRY"; SQL statement: ALTER TABLE PUBLIC.person ADD country VARCHAR(2) [42121-224] ERROR: Exception Primary Source: H2 2.2.224 (2023-09-17) ERROR: Exception Details ERROR: Exception Primary Class: JdbcSQLSyntaxErrorException ERROR: Exception Primary Reason: Duplicate column name "COUNTRY"; SQL statement: ALTER TABLE PUBLIC.person ADD country VARCHAR(2) [42121-224] ERROR: Exception Primary Source: H2 2.2.224 (2023-09-17) Unexpected error running Liquibase: Migration failed for changeset example-changelog.xml::4::other.dev: Reason: liquibase.exception.DatabaseException: Duplicate column name "COUNTRY"; SQL statement: ALTER TABLE PUBLIC.person ADD country VARCHAR(2) [42121-224] [Failed SQL: (42121) ALTER TABLE PUBLIC.person ADD country VARCHAR(2)]

If the Update Report is enabled, Liquibase also includes this in the output:

Pro Update Report created! * File '/C:/path/to/report/Update-report-26-Nov-2024-102245.html' was created. ** To suppress Update reports add command arg 'liquibase update --report-enabled=false' ** To suppress all Pro Reports set liquibase.reports.enabled=false, or LIQUIBASE_REPORTS_ENABLED=false