Java | Zed Code Editor Documentation
Description: Learn how to use and customize Zed, the fast, collaborative code editor. Official docs on features, configuration, AI tools, and workflows.

# Java

Java language support in Zed is provided by:

- Zed Java: zed-extensions/java
- Tree-sitter: tree-sitter/tree-sitter-java
- Language Server: eclipse-jdtls/eclipse.jdt.ls

## Install OpenJDK

You will need to install a Java runtime (OpenJDK).

- macOS: `brew install openjdk`
- Ubuntu: `sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openjdk-23 && sudo apt-get install openjdk-23`
- Windows: `choco install openjdk`
- Arch Linux: `sudo pacman -S jre-openjdk-headless`

Or manually download and install OpenJDK 23.

## Extension Install

You can install by opening `zed: extensions`(`cmd-shift-x|ctrl-shift-x`) and searching for `java`.

## Quick start and configuration

For the majority of users, Java support should work out of the box.

- It is generally recommended to open projects with the Zed-project root at the Java project root folder (where you would commonly have your `pom.xml` or `build.gradle` file).

- By default the extension will download and run the latest official version of JDTLS for you, but this requires Java version 21 to be available on your system via either the `$JAVA_HOME` environment variable or as a `java(.exe)` executable on your `$PATH`. If your project requires a lower Java version in the environment, you can specify a different JDK to use for running JDTLS via the `java_home` configuration option.

- You can provide a custom launch script for JDTLS, by adding an executable named `jdtls` (or `jdtls.bat` on Windows) to your `$PATH` environment variable. If this is present, the extension will skip downloading and launching a managed instance and use the one from the environment.

- To support Lombok, the lombok-jar must be downloaded and registered as a Java-Agent when launching JDTLS. By default the extension automatically takes care of that, but in case you don't want that you can set the `lombok_support` configuration-option to `false`.

Here is a common `settings.json` including the above mentioned configurations:

    {
      "lsp": {
        "jdtls": {
          "settings": {
            "java_home": "/path/to/your/JDK21+",
            "lombok_support": true,
          },
        },
      },
    }

## Debugging

Debug support is enabled via our Fork of Java Debug, which the extension will automatically download and start for you. Please refer to the Debugger Documentation for general information about how debugging works in Zed.

To get started with Java, click the `edit debug.json` button in the Debug menu, and replace the contents of the file with the following:

    [
      {
        "adapter": "Java",
        "request": "launch",
        "label": "Launch Debugger",
        // if your project has multiple entry points, specify the one to use:
        // "mainClass": "com.myorganization.myproject.MyMainClass",
        //
        // this effectively sets a breakpoint at your program entry:
        "stopOnEntry": true,
        // the working directory for the debug process
        "cwd": "$ZED_WORKTREE_ROOT",
      },
    ]

You should then be able to start a new Debug Session with the "Launch Debugger" scenario from the debug menu.

## Launch Scripts (aka Tasks) in Windows

This extension provides tasks for running your application and tests from within Zed via little play buttons next to tests/entry points. However, due to current limitations of Zed's extension interface, we can not provide scripts that will work across Maven and Gradle on both Windows and Unix-compatible systems, so out of the box the launch scripts only work on Mac and Linux.

There is a fairly straightforward fix that you can apply to make it work on Windows by supplying your own task scripts. Please see this Issue for information on how to do that and read the Tasks section in Zeds documentation for more information.

## Advanced Configuration/JDTLS initialization Options

JDTLS provides many configuration options that can be passed via the `initialize` LSP-request. The extension will pass the JSON-object from `lsp.jdtls.settings.initialization_options` in your settings on to JDTLS. Please refer to the JDTLS Configuration Wiki Page for the available options and values. Below is an example `settings.json` that would pass on the example configuration from the above wiki page to JDTLS:

    {
      "lsp": {
        "jdtls": {
          "settings": {
            // this will be sent to JDTLS as initializationOptions:
            "initialization_options": {
              "bundles": [],
              // use this if your zed project root folder is not the same as the java project root:
              "workspaceFolders": ["file:///home/snjeza/Project"],
              "settings": {
                "java": {
                  "home": "/usr/local/jdk-9.0.1",
                  "errors": {
                    "incompleteClasspath": {
                      "severity": "warning",
                    },
                  },
                  "configuration": {
                    "updateBuildConfiguration": "interactive",
                    "maven": {
                      "userSettings": null,
                    },
                  },
                  "import": {
                    "gradle": {
                      "enabled": true,
                    },
                    "maven": {
                      "enabled": true,
                    },
                    "exclusions": [
                      "**/node_modules/**",
                      "**/.metadata/**",
                      "**/archetype-resources/**",
                      "**/META-INF/maven/**",
                      "/**/test/**",
                    ],
                  },
                  "referencesCodeLens": {
                    "enabled": false,
                  },
                  "signatureHelp": {
                    "enabled": false,
                  },
                  "implementationCodeLens": "all",
                  "format": {
                    "enabled": true,
                  },
                  "saveActions": {
                    "organizeImports": false,
                  },
                  "contentProvider": {
                    "preferred": null,
                  },
                  "autobuild": {
                    "enabled": false,
                  },
                  "completion": {
                    "favoriteStaticMembers": [
                      "org.junit.Assert.*",
                      "org.junit.Assume.*",
                      "org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.*",
                      "org.junit.jupiter.api.Assumptions.*",
                      "org.junit.jupiter.api.DynamicContainer.*",
                      "org.junit.jupiter.api.DynamicTest.*",
                    ],
                    "importOrder": ["java", "javax", "com", "org"],
                  },
                },
              },
            },
          },
        },
      },
    }

## See also

Zed Java Repo Eclipse JDTLS Repo