The SharedMergeTree table engine is a cloud-native solution designed for ClickHouse Cloud, which stores data in virtually limitless shared object storage. It provides seamless cluster scaling, improved durability for inserts, and more lightweight strong consistency for select queries. The engine enables the introduction of Lightweight Updates, which allow users to instantly make results of ALTER UPDATE queries available while using fewer resources. This feature boosts performance and makes updates easier to use for ClickHouse users. The SharedMergeTree table engine is now the default table engine in ClickHouse Cloud for new Development tier services, and it supports a wide range of features that benefit from its improved throughput and scalability of background merges and mutations.