From 6c5b1c8318d5c97667d98ad4e5c66697e13c67ed Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Lennart Kats <lennart.kats@databricks.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2026 14:28:08 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] Fix default_catalog handling in aitools init-template
 commands

Don't set default_catalog in config map when catalog flag is empty.
This lets the template schema default handle the fallback to
hive_metastore, instead of passing an empty string which bypasses
the default.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
---
 experimental/aitools/cmd/init_template/empty.go    | 11 ++++-------
 experimental/aitools/cmd/init_template/job.go      | 10 +++-------
 experimental/aitools/cmd/init_template/pipeline.go | 11 ++++-------
 3 files changed, 11 insertions(+), 21 deletions(-)

diff --git a/experimental/aitools/cmd/init_template/empty.go b/experimental/aitools/cmd/init_template/empty.go
index bb68cf83d1..55322b4d0c 100644
--- a/experimental/aitools/cmd/init_template/empty.go
+++ b/experimental/aitools/cmd/init_template/empty.go
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 
 	"github.com/databricks/cli/cmd/root"
-	"github.com/databricks/cli/experimental/aitools/lib/middlewares"
 	"github.com/databricks/cli/libs/template"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 )
@@ -62,16 +61,14 @@ After initialization:
 			return fmt.Errorf("--language must be 'python', 'sql', or 'other', got '%s'", language)
 		}
 
-		// Default to workspace default catalog if not specified
-		if catalog == "" {
-			catalog = middlewares.GetDefaultCatalog(ctx)
-		}
-
 		configMap := map[string]any{
 			"project_name":     name,
 			"personal_schemas": "yes",
 			"language_choice":  language,
-			"default_catalog":  catalog,
+		}
+
+		if catalog != "" {
+			configMap["default_catalog"] = catalog
 		}
 
 		return MaterializeTemplate(ctx, TemplateConfig{
diff --git a/experimental/aitools/cmd/init_template/job.go b/experimental/aitools/cmd/init_template/job.go
index 311192e0f8..3b579a297b 100644
--- a/experimental/aitools/cmd/init_template/job.go
+++ b/experimental/aitools/cmd/init_template/job.go
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 
 	"github.com/databricks/cli/cmd/root"
-	"github.com/databricks/cli/experimental/aitools/lib/middlewares"
 	"github.com/databricks/cli/libs/template"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 )
@@ -50,11 +49,6 @@ After initialization:
 			return errors.New("--name is required. Example: init-template job --name my_job")
 		}
 
-		// Default to workspace default catalog if not specified
-		if catalog == "" {
-			catalog = middlewares.GetDefaultCatalog(ctx)
-		}
-
 		configMap := map[string]any{
 			"project_name":     name,
 			"include_job":      "yes",
@@ -62,7 +56,9 @@ After initialization:
 			"include_python":   "yes",
 			"serverless":       "yes",
 			"personal_schemas": "yes",
-			"default_catalog":  catalog,
+		}
+		if catalog != "" {
+			configMap["default_catalog"] = catalog
 		}
 
 		return MaterializeTemplate(ctx, TemplateConfig{
diff --git a/experimental/aitools/cmd/init_template/pipeline.go b/experimental/aitools/cmd/init_template/pipeline.go
index 345d917497..35e5276bde 100644
--- a/experimental/aitools/cmd/init_template/pipeline.go
+++ b/experimental/aitools/cmd/init_template/pipeline.go
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 
 	"github.com/databricks/cli/cmd/root"
-	"github.com/databricks/cli/experimental/aitools/lib/middlewares"
 	"github.com/databricks/cli/libs/template"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 )
@@ -59,16 +58,14 @@ After initialization:
 			return fmt.Errorf("--language must be 'python' or 'sql', got '%s'", language)
 		}
 
-		// Default to workspace default catalog if not specified
-		if catalog == "" {
-			catalog = middlewares.GetDefaultCatalog(ctx)
-		}
-
 		configMap := map[string]any{
 			"project_name":     name,
 			"personal_schemas": "yes",
 			"language":         language,
-			"default_catalog":  catalog,
+		}
+
+		if catalog != "" {
+			configMap["default_catalog"] = catalog
 		}
 
 		return MaterializeTemplate(ctx, TemplateConfig{