Alter Standard Table - Schema Evolution

Last updated: January 27, 2026

Modifies schema evolution settings. Schema evolution enables flexible schema changes without explicit DDL commands.

Known limitations:

This change type does not support automatic rollback.
Snowflake snapshots created with Liquibase Secure 5.1 are incompatible with earlier versions due to enhanced object type detection for TABLES and VIEWS. Regenerate all snapshots with 5.1 after upgrading to avoid false differences in diff and diff-changelog operations.

Available attributes

Attribute	Type	Description	Required
`catalogName`	String	Name of the catalog (database) containing the table	No
`schemaName`	String	Name of the schema containing the table	No
`tableName`	String	Name of the table to alter	Yes
`ifExists`	Boolean	Only execute if the table exists	No

alterSchemaEvolution nested attributes

Attribute	Type	Description	Required
`newEnableSchemaEvolution`	Boolean	New schema evolution value	No*
`unsetEnableSchemaEvolution`	Boolean	If true, unsets schema evolution	No*

*Exactly one of newEnableSchemaEvolution or unsetEnableSchemaEvolution must be specified.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<databaseChangeLog
        xmlns="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog"
        xmlns:pro-snowflake="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro-snowflake"
        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        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/pro-snowflake
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro-snowflake/liquibase-pro-snowflake-latest.xsd">

    <!-- Enable schema evolution -->
    <changeSet id="enable-schema-evolution" author="examples">
        <pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable tableName="FLEXIBLE_SCHEMA">
            <pro-snowflake:alterSchemaEvolution newEnableSchemaEvolution="true"/>
        </pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable>
    </changeSet>

    <!-- Disable schema evolution -->
    <changeSet id="disable-schema-evolution" author="examples">
        <pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable tableName="STRICT_SCHEMA">
            <pro-snowflake:alterSchemaEvolution newEnableSchemaEvolution="false"/>
        </pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable>
    </changeSet>

    <!-- Unset schema evolution -->
    <changeSet id="unset-schema-evolution" author="examples">
        <pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable tableName="LEGACY_TABLE">
            <pro-snowflake:alterSchemaEvolution unsetEnableSchemaEvolution="true"/>
        </pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable>
    </changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

{
  "databaseChangeLog": [
    {
      "changeSet": {
        "id": "enable-schema-evolution",
        "author": "examples",
        "changes": [
          {
            "alterStandardTable": {
              "tableName": "FLEXIBLE_SCHEMA",
              "alterSchemaEvolution": {
                "newEnableSchemaEvolution": true
              }
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "changeSet": {
        "id": "disable-schema-evolution",
        "author": "examples",
        "changes": [
          {
            "alterStandardTable": {
              "tableName": "STRICT_SCHEMA",
              "alterSchemaEvolution": {
                "newEnableSchemaEvolution": false
              }
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "changeSet": {
        "id": "unset-schema-evolution",
        "author": "examples",
        "changes": [
          {
            "alterStandardTable": {
              "tableName": "LEGACY_TABLE",
              "alterSchemaEvolution": {
                "unsetEnableSchemaEvolution": true
              }
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

databaseChangeLog:
  # Enable schema evolution
  - changeSet:
      id: enable-schema-evolution
      author: examples
      changes:
        - alterStandardTable:
            tableName: FLEXIBLE_SCHEMA
            alterSchemaEvolution:
              newEnableSchemaEvolution: true

  # Disable schema evolution
  - changeSet:
      id: disable-schema-evolution
      author: examples
      changes:
        - alterStandardTable:
            tableName: STRICT_SCHEMA
            alterSchemaEvolution:
              newEnableSchemaEvolution: false

  # Unset schema evolution
  - changeSet:
      id: unset-schema-evolution
      author: examples
      changes:
        - alterStandardTable:
            tableName: LEGACY_TABLE
            alterSchemaEvolution:
              unsetEnableSchemaEvolution: true

--liquibase formatted sql

--changeset examples:enable-schema-evolution
-- Enable schema evolution
ALTER TABLE MYDB.PUBLIC.FLEXIBLE_SCHEMA SET ENABLE_SCHEMA_EVOLUTION = TRUE;

--changeset examples:disable-schema-evolution
-- Disable schema evolution
ALTER TABLE MYDB.PUBLIC.STRICT_SCHEMA SET ENABLE_SCHEMA_EVOLUTION = FALSE;

--changeset examples:unset-schema-evolution
-- Unset schema evolution
ALTER TABLE MYDB.PUBLIC.LEGACY_TABLE UNSET ENABLE_SCHEMA_EVOLUTION;

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<databaseChangeLog
        xmlns="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog"
        xmlns:pro-snowflake="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro-snowflake"
        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
        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/pro-snowflake
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro-snowflake/liquibase-pro-snowflake-latest.xsd">

    <!-- Enable schema evolution -->
    <changeSet id="enable-schema-evolution" author="examples">
        <pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable tableName="FLEXIBLE_SCHEMA">
            <pro-snowflake:alterSchemaEvolution newEnableSchemaEvolution="true"/>
        </pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable>
    </changeSet>

    <!-- Disable schema evolution -->
    <changeSet id="disable-schema-evolution" author="examples">
        <pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable tableName="STRICT_SCHEMA">
            <pro-snowflake:alterSchemaEvolution newEnableSchemaEvolution="false"/>
        </pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable>
    </changeSet>

    <!-- Unset schema evolution -->
    <changeSet id="unset-schema-evolution" author="examples">
        <pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable tableName="LEGACY_TABLE">
            <pro-snowflake:alterSchemaEvolution unsetEnableSchemaEvolution="true"/>
        </pro-snowflake:alterStandardTable>
    </changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

{
  "databaseChangeLog": [
    {
      "changeSet": {
        "id": "enable-schema-evolution",
        "author": "examples",
        "changes": [
          {
            "alterStandardTable": {
              "tableName": "FLEXIBLE_SCHEMA",
              "alterSchemaEvolution": {
                "newEnableSchemaEvolution": true
              }
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "changeSet": {
        "id": "disable-schema-evolution",
        "author": "examples",
        "changes": [
          {
            "alterStandardTable": {
              "tableName": "STRICT_SCHEMA",
              "alterSchemaEvolution": {
                "newEnableSchemaEvolution": false
              }
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    },
    {
      "changeSet": {
        "id": "unset-schema-evolution",
        "author": "examples",
        "changes": [
          {
            "alterStandardTable": {
              "tableName": "LEGACY_TABLE",
              "alterSchemaEvolution": {
                "unsetEnableSchemaEvolution": true
              }
            }
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  ]
}

databaseChangeLog:
  # Enable schema evolution
  - changeSet:
      id: enable-schema-evolution
      author: examples
      changes:
        - alterStandardTable:
            tableName: FLEXIBLE_SCHEMA
            alterSchemaEvolution:
              newEnableSchemaEvolution: true

  # Disable schema evolution
  - changeSet:
      id: disable-schema-evolution
      author: examples
      changes:
        - alterStandardTable:
            tableName: STRICT_SCHEMA
            alterSchemaEvolution:
              newEnableSchemaEvolution: false

  # Unset schema evolution
  - changeSet:
      id: unset-schema-evolution
      author: examples
      changes:
        - alterStandardTable:
            tableName: LEGACY_TABLE
            alterSchemaEvolution:
              unsetEnableSchemaEvolution: true

--liquibase formatted sql

--changeset examples:enable-schema-evolution
-- Enable schema evolution
ALTER TABLE MYDB.PUBLIC.FLEXIBLE_SCHEMA SET ENABLE_SCHEMA_EVOLUTION = TRUE;

--changeset examples:disable-schema-evolution
-- Disable schema evolution
ALTER TABLE MYDB.PUBLIC.STRICT_SCHEMA SET ENABLE_SCHEMA_EVOLUTION = FALSE;

--changeset examples:unset-schema-evolution
-- Unset schema evolution
ALTER TABLE MYDB.PUBLIC.LEGACY_TABLE UNSET ENABLE_SCHEMA_EVOLUTION;

Alter Standard Table - Schema Evolution

Available attributes

alterSchemaEvolution nested attributes

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