The error "Only absolute paths are currently supported. Paths must begin with '/'" in the context of the Databricks Python SDK means that when creating a job, the notebook path you provide must be an absolute workspace path (like /Users/username/notebook) rather than a relative path or a Git reference.​

Explanation of the Issue

• The Databricks Jobs API (used via client.jobs.create()) expects the notebook path in the job definition to be an absolute path in the Databricks workspace filesystem, not a Git URL or a relative path.​

• Even if you're working with Git-linked notebooks, when defining a job, the "notebook_path" field must always use an absolute path that exists in the workspace (e.g., /Repos/username/repo-name/path/to/notebook).​

How to Fix

• Make sure that when you migrate a job between workspaces, the notebook referenced in the job is present in the destination workspace, and specify its absolute path in the job definition.

• If you're using Git integration, use the absolute workspace path of the notebook synced from Git, not the Git reference or a relative path.​

• Example:

   

  python

  job_settings = { "notebook_task": { "notebook_path": "/Repos/username/repo-name/path/to/notebook" }, # other job settings... } client.jobs.create(**job_settings)

Note on CI/CD and Git References

• If your workflow requires Git-based deployment (to keep test and production in sync), you must automate a step that pulls or syncs the notebooks from Git into the workspace and then reference those absolute paths in the job configuration.

• At this time, the Databricks Jobs API does not support specifying jobs directly referencing a Git branch/tag/commit for the task—jobs work off workspace objects, not directly from Git links.​

Summary Table

Following these steps should resolve the "Only absolute paths are currently supported" error when using the Databricks Python SDK to migrate or create jobs with notebooks.​

@AxelM I see this was a while ago, what was your solution? In my experience, either the `source` field under notebook task is incorrectly set to "WORKSPACE" instead of "GIT", or there's a legitimate issue, such as:

• a typo/mismatch between the specified path and the actual path
• a tag, branch, etc. which the job was originally deployed to target has been changed or deleted

@ROTT 

> The Jobs API does not accept Git refs/tags—only absolute workspace paths allowed

This is not accurate.

From the docs, we see the jobs create API takes a git source option: https://docs.databricks.com/api/workspace/jobs/create#git_source

When that is specified, then other tasks, such as notebook task, require a relative reference, as OP correctly pointed out.

The notebook task parameter specifies that you must use relative paths if using git-source: https://docs.databricks.com/api/workspace/jobs/create#tasks-notebook_task-notebook_path 

• For tasks that use GIT as the source, the task’s notebook_path must be a path relative to the repo root, and absolute paths are rejected. If the job or task isn’t correctly marked as GIT-sourced, the API will think it’s workspace-sourced and enforce absolute paths.
• A common pitfall is placing git_source on the task instead of the job. Jobs expect git_source at the job level; once set, tasks can either omit source (it defaults to GIT when job.git_source is present) or explicitly set source="GIT". Putting git_source on a task leads to exactly the error you saw; moving git_source to the job fixes it.

from databricks.sdk import WorkspaceClient
from databricks.sdk.service.jobs import Task, NotebookTask, Source, GitSource

w = WorkspaceClient()

j = w.jobs.create(
    name="Migrated job",
    git_source=GitSource(
        git_url="https://github.com/<org>/<repo>.git",
        git_provider="gitHub",      # or "azureDevOpsServices", "bitbucketCloud", ...
        git_branch="main"           # or set git_commit
    ),
    tasks=[
        Task(
            task_key="my_task",
            # Path is relative to the repo root:
            notebook_task=NotebookTask(
                notebook_path="path/to/notebook.py",
                source=Source.GIT        # or omit source to default to GIT when job.git_source is set
            ),
            # ... compute settings ...
        ),
        # more tasks...
    ]
)