Looker release notes

Looker 26.18 will roll out to Looker (original) instances on the following schedule:

• Expected deployment start: Monday, September 21, 2026
• Expected final deployment and download available: Sunday, October 4, 2026

Looker 26.18 is expected to include the following changes, features, and fixes.

An issue has been fixed in self-service analytics where CSV and Excel uploads to BigQuery and Snowflake could fail or corrupt data when files contained multiline headers, leading numeric characters, UTF-8 BOM markers, or special characters. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where custom content theme fonts were improperly applied to the Look edit mode bar. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where creating a shared branch based on the production branch in a bare repository project could initialize from stale remote commits, causing the Looker IDE to immediately report the branch as being behind production. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where scheduled deliveries intermittently failed with permission errors such as Cannot send all results because user permissions were incorrectly cached across scheduled jobs on worker threads. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where downloading a dashboard as a CSV or ZIP file could result in a 500 error if any dashboard elements lacked an explicit title. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where links created using the LookML link parameter could return a 500 error if no label was specified. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where dashboard filter token chips didn't display an active highlighted background when a filter value was selected. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where the Git connection test could fail to recognize Git credentials as sufficient if a branch protection rule on the Git provider restricted temporary branches. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where analytic models that referenced cross-database, schema-qualified, or dot-delimited table names failed to compile in BigQuery and Snowflake DDL generation. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where custom tooltips in Single Record visualizations appeared at the bottom of the Explore panel rather than directly beneath the selected row. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where dashboard filter tokens and popover menus could fail to inherit fonts from custom themes. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where dragging series between Y-axes on pivoted Cartesian charts could cause the Explore page to crash or prevent visualization configurations from being saved. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed in Explores where you couldn't scroll within the Chart Config Editor dialog when editing JSON visualization configurations. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where scheduled PDF deliveries to Cloud Storage could produce corrupted files and unexpectedly replace spaces in filenames with underscores. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where attempting to visualize pivoted query results in SQL Runner resulted in a TypeError configuration error. This feature now performs as expected.

API requests that target a LookML project whose files or directories aren't found on the instance now return a 404 Not Found error instead of a 500 Internal Server Error.

In Conversational Analytics, the Open in Explore button and sidebar exploration links are now hidden or disabled with explanatory tooltips when you lack explore permissions for the underlying model.

The embed preload page now supports custom theming using the theme URL query parameter.

Donut Multiples visualizations now automatically hide overlapping value labels.

The Looker extension for VS Code is now generally available, enabling local LookML development and AI-assisted "vibe coding" using the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This update introduces an interactive onboarding walkthrough, support for populating workspaces from bare repositories, and enhanced synchronization between local Git branches and Looker Development Mode. Additional improvements include support for OAuth with the Kiro IDE and more secure storage of API client secrets.

The deprecation of the Looker Mobile (Legacy) application has been postponed to January 31, 2027. Starting on January 31, 2027, support for the Looker Mobile (Legacy) app will be discontinued and the app will be unavailable for download from the App Store or Play Store. Although users will still be able to use the Looker Mobile (Legacy) app if they already have it installed, we recommend that you install the non-legacy Looker mobile app.

Looker 26.16 will roll out to Looker (original) instances on the following schedule:

• Expected deployment start: Tuesday, September 8, 2026
• Expected final deployment and download available: Sunday, September 20, 2026

Looker 26.16 is expected to include the following changes, features, and fixes.

An issue has been fixed where IAM administrators on Looker (Google Cloud core) instances failed authentication when the auth_requires_role and strict Group Role Mapping were enabled. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where logging in with a Google Cloud Workforce Identity within an embedded iframe could fail as a result of frame restrictions or because the authentication popup closed before session cookies were established. This feature now performs as expected.

Now available in preview, the Admin Assistant helps you use natural language to manage Looker roles.

Some elements of the Conversational Analytics System Activity dashboard have been renamed. The dashboard layout and functionality remain the same.

Specifically, the Feature column and Feature Name filter value on the Token usage tab have each been renamed to Conversation Surface. The renaming of this element may cause a potential breaking change for users who have built custom dashboards that reference the Feature column or the Feature Name filter value.

Note: This item was added on September 22, 2026.

The Semantic Search feature is now generally available.

An issue has been fixed where switching to a histogram visualization in an Explore could fail or revert unexpectedly. Additionally, stack resolution on pivoted histograms has been improved. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where the alert creation and edit modal displayed Method instead of defaulting to Email as the notification method. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where embedded dashboards with numerous filters caused horizontal container overflow, prevented filters from wrapping across rows, and resulted in clipped tiles during PDF and PNG exports.

An issue has been fixed where custom themes configured as the instance default were not applied to dashboards in view-only mode or during dashboard navigation. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where LookML dashboard URLs that were opened from the search page contained encoded colons (%3A%3A), which prevented filter interactions from updating URL query parameters. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where Single Value visualizations and KPI visualizations would not allow creating a comparison against a non-measure table calculation. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where visualization-level filters could not be edited or deleted because of missing popover menus. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where resizing an Explore that contained a Word Cloud visualization could cause the Explore to crash. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where generating LookML for analytic models without selecting any database tables could cause Looker to create views for all database tables and to drop certain properties because of identifier case sensitivity. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where filter context banners and timezone settings were not preserved when generating PNG downloads from drill menus. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where applying pivots to merge queries could cause visualization errors and blank column headers in the results table. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where standalone tile exports from embedded dashboards with filter context could render off-screen or with clipped visualizations in PDF and PNG formats. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where clearing all text from a dashboard note tile failed to persist upon page refresh. This feature now performs as expected.

The BigQuery High Throughput API has been disabled by default to prevent connection errors for environments without bigquery.readsessions.create permissions. Additionally, required JVM flags for JDK 11 environments have been added. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where updating the data for a self-service Explore that was created from a Google Sheets document with OAuth authentication would default to the BigQuery connection's service account credentials instead of using the user's OAuth credentials, which could cause Google Sheets API enablement or permission errors during model refresh. Looker admins now need only to enable the Google Sheets API in either the Google Cloud project that's associated with the service account or the Google Cloud project that owns the OAuth client ID credentials, depending on which authentication method is used. This feature now performs as expected.

Note: This item was added on September 22, 2026.

An issue has been fixed where multi-line prompt text in dashboard chat views caused action buttons (such as the Thinking toggle and Send button) and vertical scrollbars to be misaligned. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where pinned Looks on boards generated broken URLs that redirected to the home page and failed to dynamically reflect title updates. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where selecting a suggestion could reset the dropdown to a loading spinner. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where collapsible navigation items in the Admin panel and the main navigation pane rendered rectangular focus outlines rather than rounded focus indicators during keyboard navigation. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where typed search strings persisted after you selected an autocomplete suggestion in multi-select filters. This feature now performs as expected.

When you duplicate a user-defined dashboard, associated Looker data agent instructions, configurations, and sources are now preserved on the copied dashboard.

Self-service models have been restricted to only their assigned user database connections, preventing unintended instance-wide database connection access.

Boxplot visualizations now render transparent median dividers and borders properly in inverted and dark theme layouts.

OpenJDK 11 will no longer be supported as of January 14, 2027. Customer-hosted instances must upgrade to OpenJDK 21.

Localized data processing for European Union (EU)-based customers now applies to all Conversational Analytics data agents, including agents that are associated with Looker Explores, user-defined dashboards, and LookML dashboards. This support means that localized data processing now applies to all Conversational Analytics in Looker features.

Note: This item was added September 9, 2026.

The Looker Mobile (Legacy) application is no longer available for download from the App Store or Play Store and support for the app has been discontinued. Although users will still be able to use the Looker Mobile (Legacy) app if they already have it installed, we recommend that you install the non-legacy Looker mobile app.

Note: The deprecation of the Looker Mobile (Legacy) application has been postponed to January 31, 2027. This item was updated on September 9, 2026.

From August 24 through August 26, 2026, the following features will be automatically enabled for Looker (original) instances running Looker 26.14.

Looker Continuous Integration is now supported on Looker (Google Cloud core) instances that use Private Service Connect private or hybrid connections, instances enabled for customer-managed encryption keys (CMEK), and instances within a Virtual Private Cloud Service Controls perimeter.

Note: This item was added on September 22, 2026.

Looker now supports connections to MongoSQL. Although existing connections to the legacy MongoDB Connector for BI are still fully supported, Looker recommends that you update MongoDB Connector for BI connections to use the MongoSQL dialect.

See the MongoDB documentation Transition from Atlas BI Connector to MongoSQL and the Looker documentation Migrating to MongoSQL for information on migrating from the MongoDB Atlas BI Connector to the newer MongoSQL Interface.

Note: One year before the MongoDB Connector for BI is to be deprecated, customers will be sent a service announcement to that effect. The information will also be reflected in product documentation and release notes.

The Advanced Unused Content Cleanup feature is now generally available.

Looker Continuous Integration (CI) can be triggered from GitLab CI, Bitbucket Pipelines, and GitHub Actions workflows by using the Looker API and the official Looker Python SDK (looker-sdk). For configuration steps and sample scripts, see the Admin settings - Continuous Integration documentation.

Note: This item was added on August 28, 2026 and changed from a non-breaking change to a feature on September 9, 2026.

Now available in preview, the visual modeling canvas lets you connect to BigQuery data sources to build and edit LookML data models using an interactive, drag-and-drop canvas. With the visual modeling canvas, you can visually join tables, define dimensions and measures, preview query results in real time, and publish Explores without writing LookML code.

For more information, see the Using the visual modeling canvas documentation page.

Note: This item was added on September 9, 2026.

Conversational Analytics verified queries, also known as golden queries, are now generally available. You can also now define verified queries in Looker (Google Cloud core) instances.

Now available in preview, model localization is supported for imported projects. By default, Looker uses the locale definitions from the importing project only, if the importing project has locale definitions. However, if you want to merge the locale definitions from an imported project with the locale definitions of the importing project, you can add the import_locale_defs: yesstatement to thelocalization_settings parameter in your importing project's manifest file. See the Localizing your LookML model documentation page for more information.

Note: This item was added on August 31, 2026 and changed from a non-breaking change to a feature on September 9, 2026.

You can now configure Continuous Integration to automatically run CI suites when a dbt Cloud CI job finishes. The CI suite run verifies whether changes in your dbt models will cause SQL errors in your Looker Explores before the dbt changes are deployed.

Now available in preview, the New/Edit Roles Enhancement feature provides a modernized, step-by-step interface for creating and editing roles on the Roles page in the Users section of the Admin panel.

Now available in preview, you can define and chat with data agents on a LookML dashboard. To use this feature, the Conversational Analytics and Enable Dashboard Agents settings must be enabled on the Gemini in Looker Admin page.

Now available in preview, you can define Looker-managed, in-database analytic models directly from existing LookML Explores by using the model_source subparameter of the derived_analytic_model parameter. Looker automatically translates your Explore topology, joins that are defined with foreign_key, dimensions, and measures into in-database analytic models (such as BigQuery Graphs or Snowflake semantic views).

For more information, see the derived_analytic_model parameter reference page.

The Google Maps Enhancements preview feature now includes the following features:

The Dual-axis Map option now supports points and circles. You can now specify a custom map layer by providing a URL to a TopoJSON file.

When the New Looker Explore and Merge Query Experience preview features are enabled, editing a merge query tile on a dashboard now opens the Join data page directly within the dashboard edit canvas, rather than opening a new tab.

The Conversational Analytics System Activity dashboard Token usage tab now includes observability information about top users and top conversations by token usage. The tab also now indicates the type of data agent in its observability metrics.

When connecting Looker to your database, you can specify additional Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) parameters. To maintain security, Looker restricts the allowed values for certain parameters. For the JDBC parameters that have a restricted set of allowed values, the allowed values are listed in the "Supported JDBC parameters" section of the database configuration instructions page for your dialect.

Dashboard parameter filters now correctly respect manually restricted option lists when determining default values. This prevents filters from reverting to base LookML defaults that were intentionally hidden from the dashboard's user interface.

Tiles that are on dashboard tabs will now run only when the dashboard tab that they are saved on is opened.

The latest versions in the Looker (Google Cloud core) release channels are beginning deployment as follows:

• Latest version in the Rapid channel: Looker 26.14
• Latest version in the Regular channel: Looker 26.12
• Latest version in the No Channel channel: Looker 26.14

Looker's Continuous Integration is based on the legacy standalone Spectacles service. Looker will continue to integrate and evolve the Spectacles features into Looker's Continuous Integration, and the legacy standalone Spectacles service itself will be discontinued starting November 30, 2026. Existing Spectacles customers will receive an email with details. If you have any questions or require assistance, please contact us at spectacles-support@google.com.

Looker 26.14 will roll out to Looker (original) instances on the following schedule:

• Expected deployment start: Monday, August 10, 2026
• Expected final deployment and download available: Sunday, August 23, 2026

Looker 26.14 is expected to include the following changes, features, and fixes.

An issue has been fixed where users with Admin via IAM privileges on Looker (Google Cloud core) couldn't enable the Looker Marketplace. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where dashboard filters of type: string_filter could spin indefinitely if no suggestions were configured. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where clicking edit for a visualization from a dashboard caused the dashboard tile header to render on top of the Explore, preventing editing. This feature now performs as expected.

An issue has been fixed where LookML drill links and Liquid variables inside table cells could fail to render properly on dashboards and embedded visualizations. This feature now performs as expected.

Now generally available, the Dashboard Tile Limits feature allows admins to set limits on tiles per dashboard and per tab to optimize performance, which is configured on the Content Guardrails page in the Performance Center section of the Admin panel. Note: This item was added on August 13, 2026.