Nifty Java Quality: Format, Checkstyle & PMD

Format Java with google-java-format or palantir-java-format, and see Checkstyle and PMD problems as you save. Tools download from Maven Central when you say so; zero setup for Maven and Gradle.

Maintained. No sign-in. No telemetry. Works in VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VSCodium and other editors that use Open VSX.

Features

• Formatting with google-java-format or palantir-java-format. Format Document, Format Selection and format on save use google-java-format (Google or AOSP style) or palantir-java-format. Choose what happens to imports: sort and remove unused ones, only sort, only remove, or leave them. Organize Imports fixes imports without touching anything else.
• Checkstyle as you work. Files are checked when you open and save them, and Check Workspace checks the whole project. Findings land in the Problems panel with the rule name linked to its documentation, as warnings (errors are left to the compiler; checkstyle.severity changes that). They stay after you close a file, go when it's deleted or renamed, and Clear Problems removes them all.
• Your project's own config, found for you. checkstyle.xml or config/checkstyle/checkstyle.xml, or whatever the Maven Checkstyle plugin (configLocation, suppressionsLocation, propertyExpansion) or Gradle's checkstyle { configFile … } points at. Multi-module builds use the nearest module's config. ${config_loc} and ${basedir} just work. Nothing configured? Google's checks, or Sun's if you prefer.
• PMD too. The project's ruleset (a ruleset file, the Maven PMD plugin's <rulesets> or Gradle's pmd { ruleSetFiles … }), or PMD's quickstart rules. Each finding shows its rule, category and priority, with a link to the docs. With pmd.severity set to asReported, priorities 1-2 are warnings and 3-5 information.
• Suppress in one click. The light bulb adds // CHECKSTYLE.SUPPRESS: Rule, // CHECKSTYLE:OFF … // CHECKSTYLE:ON or @SuppressWarnings("checkstyle:Rule"), whichever your Checkstyle config supports, and // NOPMD or @SuppressWarnings("PMD.Rule") for PMD.
• No manual downloads. The first time a tool is needed, you're asked whether to download the pinned version from Maven Central. Every jar is checked against the checksum published next to it and against the SHA-256 built into the extension, then kept in the extension's own storage. Nothing is downloaded until you click Download. Behind a firewall? Point download.repository at your company's Maven mirror, or use your own jars.
• See what ran. The status bar shows which tools are active; click it for downloads, Check Workspace and the output, which lists the exact command lines.

Requirements

A JDK, 17 or newer. The extension uses nifty.java-quality.javaHome, then JAVA_HOME, then java on your PATH, and picks the tool versions for it: the newest on Java 21 or newer, and the last google-java-format and Checkstyle releases that run on Java 17 otherwise (it tells you once when it does). PMD also runs on Java 8 to 16; the formatters and Checkstyle don't.

Pinned versions

Commands

Format Document and Format Selection (Shift+Alt+F) use the formatter. The extension doesn't take over Java formatting on its own, because many Java setups already have a formatter they rely on. The first time you format or save a Java file while another formatter (or none) is the default, it asks once whether to use it for Java: in this workspace, in all workspaces, not now, or never. You can also run Use as the Java Formatter, or pick it with Format Document With….

Settings

Install

• VS Code: search for "Nifty Java Quality" in the Extensions view, or install from the Visual Studio Marketplace.
• Cursor, Windsurf, VSCodium, Kiro, Antigravity: install from Open VSX.

Privacy

This extension collects no telemetry and needs no account. It only goes online when you click Download (or run Download Tools), to fetch the tools from Maven Central or the repository you set.

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