> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.datafold.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Schema Change Monitors

> Schema Change monitors notify you when a table’s schema changes, such as when columns are added, removed, or data types are modified.

Schema change monitors alert you when a table’s schema changes in any of the following ways:

* Column added
* Column removed
* Data type changed

## Create a Schema Change monitor

There are two ways to create a Schema Change monitor:

1. Open the **Monitors** page, select **Create new monitor**, and then choose **Schema Change**.
2. Clone an existing Schema Change monitor by clicking **Actions** and then **Clone**. This will pre-fill the form with the existing monitor configuration.

## Set up your monitor

To set up a Schema Change monitor, simply select your data connection and the table you wish to monitor for changes.

## Add a schedule

You can choose to run your monitor daily, hourly, or on a cron expression for more complex scheduling. Choose **None** to run the monitor only on demand or via the API:

![](https://mintcdn.com/datafold/BHI8Zy_v4DyXlmzL/images/monitors/schedule.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=BHI8Zy_v4DyXlmzL\&q=85\&s=bba568fdc3049b5cf68cf1b8786eb97e)

## Add notifications

Receive notifications via email, Slack, Microsoft Teams, PagerDuty, or webhooks (webhooks must be enabled for your organization; contact support) when a column is added, removed, or changes data type:

![](https://mintcdn.com/datafold/BHI8Zy_v4DyXlmzL/images/monitor_settings_notifications-c4bd20b39b0ec478ae4a5e46a0dce0e8.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=BHI8Zy_v4DyXlmzL\&q=85\&s=87bfb30d98bd8da832bcdd3192d9c559)

## FAQ

> **Don't data diffs detect schema changes too?**
>
> Yes, but in a different context. While data diffs report on schema differences *between two tables at the same time* (unless you’re using the time travel feature), schema change monitors alert you to schema changes for the *same table over time*.

## Need help?

If you have any questions about how to use Schema Change monitors, please reach out to our team via Slack, in-app chat, or email us at [support@datafold.com](mailto:support@datafold.com).


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