Comparison
javafmt came out of reading Why are there no decent code formatters for Java? by Jan Ouwens — and sharing his frustration. None of the existing formatters fit our needs either: we were spending too much time hand-fixing Checkstyle violations, and every option came with trade-offs we didn't want to make.
| Criterion | Best of the rest | javafmt | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maven integration | Decent (via Spotless or fmt-maven-plugin) | Native | A real javafmt-maven-plugin with check and format goals. Drop it into pom.xml. Nothing else to install. |
| Speed | google-java-format CLI is fast | Same league | O(n) Wadler-Lindig printer. Fat JAR plus GraalVM native-image gives roughly 10 ms cold start. No Node.js, no Eclipse runtime. |
| Formatting quality | google-java-format, Prettier Java | Comparable | Same Doc-algebra approach Prettier uses, so line breaking is consistent and predictable. |
| Ergonomics | google-java-format wins on this | On par | Zero config. No XML to export from an IDE. No version drift — formatting is treated as a contract. |
| IntelliJ plugin | IntelliJ's built-in formatter | Good enough | javafmt-intellij calls the same core, so what the IDE shows is what CI checks. |
| Configurability | IntelliJ and Eclipse expose hundreds of knobs | Deliberately minimal | Opinionated by design. Configurability gets added one option at a time, only where the case is overwhelming. |
How javafmt addresses each complaint
- "Anything not enforced by CI is merely a suggestion." javafmt ships both a Gradle integration (via Spotless) and a Maven plugin, so either build system can fail on unformatted files.
- "Maven is too slow for format-on-save." javafmt ships IntelliJ and VS Code plugins so format-on-save is trivial in the two dominant IDEs. The CLI handles every other workflow.
- "Formatting isn't stable between versions." Any change to formatting behavior is treated as a major version bump. javafmt will live in pre-1.0.0 for a while because of it.
- "Requires a full Node.js runtime." javafmt is pure Java. Integrations cover Gradle (via Spotless), Maven, IntelliJ, VS Code, and a standalone CLI — pick whichever fits your existing workflow.
- "Requires the IDE to configure." Less config, fewer formatting debates. javafmt keeps it minimal — effectively none today — to avoid the bikeshed.
- "No proper standalone tool." This is exactly why
javafmt-cliships from day one.