Checkstyle
Automate Java coding standards with Checkstyle.
Checkstyle is a static analysis tool for Java source code that checks files against configurable rules covering naming, imports, Javadoc, formatting and whitespace, class design, and coding practices. It processes Java files one at a time and reports violations with file and line locations, helping teams apply consistent coding standards as part of their workflow.
Checks are organized into modules such as TypeName, AvoidStarImport, InvalidJavadocPosition, LeftCurly, FinalClass, and MagicNumber, configured through XML. Supplied configurations include Google Java Style, Sun Conventions, OpenJDK Style, and Doc Style, alongside custom rule sets. Checkstyle runs through Maven, Gradle, ANT, a command-line JAR, and IDE plugins for Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, and NetBeans, and can be added to CI/CD pipelines. Additional checks are available through separate projects, and some violations can be fixed automatically via checkstyle-openrewrite-recipes.
Checkstyle targets Java developers and teams enforcing style rules in builds and editors. It is distributed as an open-source tool, with releases available from GitHub and Maven Central; the current release is 14.3.0. It requires JRE 21 or above for versions 13.x and 14.x, parses Java language features through Java 25, and is documented for the latest release only.
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