Create Delta Lake shallow and deep clones for isolated dev/test environments without duplicating storage
domain: docs.delta.io · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
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Steps
Run CREATE TABLE target SHALLOW CLONE source to create a table that copies only metadata/transaction log and references the source's existing data files.
Alternatively run CREATE TABLE target DEEP CLONE source to copy both metadata and the underlying data files into a fully independent location.
Use CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE ... SHALLOW CLONE (or DEEP CLONE) to refresh a clone incrementally, copying only files changed since the previous clone.
Confirm cloned metadata includes schema, partitioning, and constraints, and that the clone has its own independent transaction log.
Point dev/test jobs at the cloned table so writes to the clone never touch the source table's data.
Known gotchas
Running VACUUM on the source table can delete data files a shallow clone still references, causing file-not-found errors when reading the clone.
Shallow clones are cheap but not fully independent for storage lifecycle purposes; the source table's retention policy is effectively a dependency of the clone.
Deep clones copy all data files and can be slow/expensive for large tables; prefer incremental CREATE OR REPLACE ... DEEP CLONE over full re-clones.
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