ConstraintMustExist

Last updated: July 14, 2025

The ConstraintMustExist check allows you to specify an individual table or column by name to check that it has one or more specific constraints.

Uses

Property

Value

Liquibase version required

4.12.0+

Scope (--checks-scope)

database

Default status

disabled

Default severity (exit code)

0 ("INFO")

Customizable settings

Yes (dynamic)

You can use the check to ensure a specific table contains specific elements, such as a primary key, default values, or other constraints. This upholds the critical data architecture decisions and ensures that non-compliance problems are identified as early as possible.

Before you begin

  1. Ensure that you have correctly specified your Liquibase Pro license key.

  2. Ensure that the --checks-scope parameter includes the scope of this check.

Changelog checks prerequisites

--license-key=<string>
--checks-scope=<string>

Procedure

1

Enable

This check is disabled by default. To enable it, run the checks enable command:

liquibase checks enable --check-name=<string>

When you try to enable the check, Liquibase displays the following message:

This check can not be enabled directly because one or more fields does not have a default value. Create a copy of this check and initiate the customization workflow.

Liquibase then prompts you to specify a name for the new check. By default, the name of the copy is <CheckName>1. You can use the default value by pressing Enter or you can specify a custom name.

2

Customize

This check is dynamic, meaning you can customize its settings. See the table on this page for more information.

1. Once you've enabled the check, follow the steps in the CLI to set new values.

Default values are shown in [brackets]. You can use these by pressing Enter. Alternatively, specify custom values. If a customization setting does not have a default value, you must specify custom values.

2. When finished, verify that your configuration is correct by running the checks show command.

liquibase checks show --check-name=<string>

3. If you need to make any other changes, run the checks customize command:

liquibase checks customize --check-name=<string>

Note: If you want to create another variant of this check with different settings, use the checks copy command to create a copy of the original check and then use the checks customize command to customize it.

3

Run

To run the check, use the checks run command.

liquibase checks run --check-name=<string>