Reference
Version · 6.0
Change Automation Reference

createTable

Last updated: August 21, 2026

The createTable Change Type creates a table.

Uses

You can typically use the createTable Change Type when you want to create a table in your changelog file and then deploy it to your database. It can include columns and other values listed in this documentation.

Running the createTable 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

Now, you should see a new table.

Running createTable with dynamic values

If you want to set and dynamically pass a specific attribute in your changelog, you can add ${your-attribute} to one or more of your changesets, and then run those changesets as shown in the following examples:

<changeSet id="1" author="liquibase"> <createTable tableName="department"> <column name="id" type="int"> <constraints primaryKey="true"/> </column> <column name="dept" type="varchar(${dep.size})"> <constraints nullable="false"/> </column> <column name="emp_id" type="int"> <constraints nullable="false"/> </column> </createTable> </changeSet>

liquibase -Ddep.size=50 update

<changeSet id="2" author="liquibase"> <createTable catalogName="department2" remarks="A String" schemaName="public" tableName="person" tablespace="${tablespace}"> <column name="address" type="varchar(255)"/> </createTable> </changeSet>

liquibase -Dtablespace='tablespaceQA' update

Note: For more information, see What is property substitution?

Available attributes

Name	Description	Required for	Supports
`catalogName`	Name of the catalog		all
`ifNotExists`	Liquibase 4.26.0+. If `true`, creates the table only if it does not already exist. Appends `IF NOT EXISTS` syntax to SQL query.		asany, cockroachdb, databricks, db2, db2z, derby, edb, h2, hsqldb, informix, ingres, mariadb, mssql, mysql, postgresql, sqlite, sybase
`remarks`	A short descriptive comment		all
`rowDependencies`	Liquibase 4.29.0+. In an Oracle database, specifies whether to create the table with row-level dependency tracking. If `true`, appends `ROWDEPENDENCIES` to the SQL statement deployed by Liquibase. Default: `false`.		oracle
`schemaName`	Name of the schema		all
`tableName`	Name of the table	all	all
`tablespace`	Name of the tablespace to use to create the table in		all
`tableType`	Liquibase 4.19.0+. Allows users to define tables with modifiers of the format: `CREATE [options] TABLE`, where `tableType` indicates the `[options]`. For example, if `tableType=TEMPORARY`, then the SQL Liquibase generates becomes `CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE`.		databricks, h2, hana, oracle, mariadb, mysql, postgresql, snowflake

Nested tags

Name

Description

Required for

Supports

Multiple allowed

column

Column definitions.

You may use Databricks ARRAY<INT> and ARRAY<STRING>, MAP, and STRUCT variable types on the column object.

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

all

yes

extendedTableProperties

Specifies additional properties on a table you're creating, such as whether to create clustered or partitioned columns.

databricks

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	Supported	Yes
SQL Server	Supported	Yes
SQLite	Supported	Yes
Sybase	Supported	Yes
Sybase Anywhere	Supported	Yes

createTable examples

--liquibase formatted sql

--changeset liquibase-docs:createTable-example
CREATE  TABLE  department.person  (address  VARCHAR(255)  NULL)  COMMENT='A String';
ALTER  TABLE  department.person  COMMENT  =  'A String';

databaseChangeLog:
-  changeSet:
    id:  createTable-example
    author:  liquibase-docs
    changes:
    -  createTable:
        catalogName:  department
        columns:
        -  column:
            name:  address
            type:  varchar(255)
        remarks:  A String
        schemaName:  public
        tableName:  person
        tablespace:  A String

{
    "databaseChangeLog": [
        {
            "changeSet": {
                "id": "createTable-example",
                "author": "liquibase-docs",
                "changes": [
                    {
                        "createTable": {
                            "catalogName": "department",
                            "columns": [
                                {
                                    "column": {
                                        "name": "address",
                                        "type": "varchar(255)"
                                    }
                                }
                            ],
                            "remarks": "A String",
                            "schemaName": "public",
                            "tableName": "person",
                            "tablespace": "A String"
                        }
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    ]
}

<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="createTable-example">
        <createTable catalogName="department"
              remarks="A String"
              schemaName="public"
              tableName="person"
              tablespace="A String">
            <column  name="address"  type="varchar(255)"/>
        </createTable>
  </changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

--liquibase formatted sql

--changeset liquibase-docs:createTable-example
CREATE  TABLE  department.person  (address  VARCHAR(255)  NULL)  COMMENT='A String';
ALTER  TABLE  department.person  COMMENT  =  'A String';

databaseChangeLog:
-  changeSet:
    id:  createTable-example
    author:  liquibase-docs
    changes:
    -  createTable:
        catalogName:  department
        columns:
        -  column:
            name:  address
            type:  varchar(255)
        remarks:  A String
        schemaName:  public
        tableName:  person
        tablespace:  A String

{
    "databaseChangeLog": [
        {
            "changeSet": {
                "id": "createTable-example",
                "author": "liquibase-docs",
                "changes": [
                    {
                        "createTable": {
                            "catalogName": "department",
                            "columns": [
                                {
                                    "column": {
                                        "name": "address",
                                        "type": "varchar(255)"
                                    }
                                }
                            ],
                            "remarks": "A String",
                            "schemaName": "public",
                            "tableName": "person",
                            "tablespace": "A String"
                        }
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
    ]
}

<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="createTable-example">
        <createTable catalogName="department"
              remarks="A String"
              schemaName="public"
              tableName="person"
              tablespace="A String">
            <column  name="address"  type="varchar(255)"/>
        </createTable>
  </changeSet>

</databaseChangeLog>

PreviousCreateSynonym NextCreateTrigger

createTable

Uses

Running the createTable Change Type

Running createTable with dynamic values

Available attributes

Nested tags

Database support

createTable examples

SQL example

YAML example

JSON example

XML example