# prometheus/client_java

Prometheus instrumentation library for JVM applications

Repository: https://github.com/prometheus/client_java
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/client_java
Homepage: http://prometheus.github.io/client_java/
Language: Java
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: instrumentation, java, metrics, prometheus
Last push: 2026-08-26T16:04:05+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 95/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 88, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4959, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 83, "gap_med": 26.5, "n_releases_24m": 19}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2285, forks 835 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:34.040812+00:00)

## What it is
The official Prometheus instrumentation library for JVM applications, providing metric types (counters, gauges, histograms including native histograms), exporters, and an OpenTelemetry OTLP exporter. Version 1.0+ supports concurrent updates, runtime configuration, and a bridge for the legacy simpleclient API.

## Use cases
- instrument a Java web service with Prometheus metrics
- expose counters and histograms from a JVM application
- export JVM metrics in OTLP format to OpenTelemetry
- add native histogram metrics to a Java service
- monitor a Spring Boot application with Prometheus
- migrate from prometheus simpleclient to the 1.0 client

## When to choose
- you run JVM services and want Prometheus-native metrics with low-overhead concurrent updates
- you need OTLP export or runtime-configurable instrumentation in Java
- you want the official, actively maintained Prometheus Java client

## When to avoid
- you need application metrics in a non-JVM language
- you want full tracing/logging rather than metrics instrumentation
- you are locked to the legacy simpleclient API and cannot adopt the 1.0 registry

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: monitoring, tracing, developer-tools
- domain: monitoring, backend, developer-tools
- platform: jvm, cross-platform
- tags: metrics, instrumentation, prometheus, observability, opentelemetry, histograms, devops

## Member repositories
- prometheus/client_java (main) score 95

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:34.040812+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:41:04.712374+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/prometheus/client_java (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:34.040812+00:00, sha d1952f9894cd)
  - homepage: http://prometheus.github.io/client_java/ (fetched 2026-08-29T10:21:15.479297+00:00, sha e1b73b10c953)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.