- Concept
- Version · 6.0
- Create
Maven Properties
Last updated: August 12, 2026
You can set Liquibase Maven properties to change the behavior of your commands. You can pass arguments, like changelog-file, in Maven in the following ways:
Directly in your pom.xml file.
In a liquibase.properties file referenced in your POM.
As environment variables.
As JVM system properties.
Tags like expressionVariables, expressionVars, and systemProperties can only be set in your POM.
For a list of properties you can set, see the property tables on pages for individual Maven Goals.
Note: You can also run the Maven help goal: mvn liquibase: help -Ddetail=true.
Syntax
Directly in your POM
The <configuration> section of the POM, within the <plugin> section for Liquibase, allows you to specify settings that Liquibase will use when it runs. The settings control Liquibase's behavior by specifying the attributes Liquibase uses during execution. For example:
<configuration>
<changeLogFile>changelog.xml</changeLogFile>
<url>MyJDBCConnection</url>
<username>dbuser</username>
<password>dbpassword</password>
</configuration>
Referencing the liquibase.properties file
Note: If you use liquibase.properties or a custom Liquibase properties file, it must be located in the src/main/resources directory or another place in the search path.
<configuration>
<propertyFile>liquibase.properties</propertyFile>
</configuration>
Then, in your liquibase.properties file, specify the properties as follows:
changeLogFile=changelog.xml
url=MyJDBCConnection
username=dbuser
password=dbpassword
For more information, see What is the liquibase.properties file?
Full pom.xml example
Depending on your project and the Maven goals you want to run, you might need a specific pom.xml configuration. The following is a basic example of how you can implement it and where the <plugin> tag can typically appear inside the overall structure.
This example shows the values for Liquibase Secure, version 5.0.1 (released October 3, 2025).
Note: You can add another section, modify the existing ones, and configure them in your own way. For more information, see Add Liquibase extensions with Maven.
<!-- Typical Maven header information -->
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0
http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
<!-- Typical Maven information for your project -->
<groupId>com.my.thing</groupId>
<artifactId>GenChangeLogTest</artifactId>
<version>1.0</version>
<!-- Maven hierarchy of elements for your project -->
<build>
<pluginManagement>
<plugins>
<plugin>
<!-- Basic information to get Liquibase plugin:
include <groupId>, <artifactID>, and <version> elements -->
<groupId>com.liquibase</groupId>
<artifactId>liquibase-maven-plugin</artifactId>
<version>5.0.1</version>
<configuration>
<!-- Set values for Liquibase properties and settings
for example, the location of a properties file to use -->
<propertyFile>liquibase.properties</propertyFile>
</configuration>
<dependencies>
<!-- Set up any dependencies for Liquibase to function in your environment for example, a database-specific plugin -->
<dependency>
<groupId>com.h2database</groupId>
<artifactId>h2</artifactId>
<version>2.1.214</version>
</dependency>
</dependencies>
</plugin>
</plugins>
</pluginManagement>
</build>
</project>