# hibernate/hibernate-validator

Hibernate Validator - Jakarta Validation Reference Implementation

Repository: https://github.com/hibernate/hibernate-validator
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/hibernate-validator
Homepage: https://hibernate.org/validator/
Language: Java
License: Apache-2.0
License Family: permissive
Topics: bean-validation, java, hibernate
Last push: 2026-08-25T09:10:11+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 98/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 95, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5808, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": 38, "gap_med": 13, "n_releases_24m": 6}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1269, forks 595 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:11.616004+00:00)

## What it is
Hibernate Validator is the reference implementation of the Jakarta Validation (Bean Validation) 3.1 specification for Java. It lets developers express validation rules as annotations on JavaBeans and methods, with XML descriptors to override or extend the metadata.

## Use cases
- validate request payloads in a Java REST API
- add annotation-based constraints to JavaBeans
- validate method parameters and return values
- enforce input validation rules in a Spring Boot application
- check DTO field constraints before persisting to a database
- standardize bean validation across Java frameworks

## When to choose
- you need standards-based (Jakarta Validation) validation in a Java or Kotlin application
- you want annotation-driven constraints with framework integration (Spring, Jakarta EE, Quarkus)
- you need method-level as well as bean-level validation

## When to avoid
- you are not on the JVM platform
- you need validation for non-Java data formats like JSON schemas or database schemas directly
- your runtime is below JDK 17

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: stable
- function: middleware, developer-tools, sdk
- domain: backend, web-development, developer-tools, apis
- platform: jvm, cross-platform
- tags: bean-validation, jakarta-validation, input-validation, annotation-based-constraints, java, hibernate

## Member repositories
- hibernate/hibernate-validator (main) score 98

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:11.616004+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 2026-08-30T05:03:31.600225+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/hibernate/hibernate-validator (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:11.616004+00:00, sha 1d05ea2d7ce3)
  - homepage: https://hibernate.org/validator/ (fetched 2026-08-29T12:15:16.157892+00:00, sha 677f8f359ed1)
  - site_page: https://hibernate.org/orm/documentation (fetched 2026-08-29T12:15:16.170487+00:00, sha 7ea3c71705b5)
  - site_page: https://hibernate.org/orm/documentation/migrate (fetched 2026-08-29T12:15:16.172185+00:00, sha f8839376eabc)
  - site_page: https://hibernate.org/search/documentation (fetched 2026-08-29T12:15:16.177280+00:00, sha b4ce13430d6f)
  - site_page: https://hibernate.org/search/documentation/migrate (fetched 2026-08-29T12:15:16.178979+00:00, sha 0149c80b2e11)
  - site_page: https://hibernate.org/search/releases (fetched 2026-08-29T12:15:16.175669+00:00, sha 3a58539ad5d8)
  - site_page: https://hibernate.org/orm (fetched 2026-08-29T12:15:16.166928+00:00, sha 3c9ba7be528e)
  - site_page: https://hibernate.org/orm/releases (fetched 2026-08-29T12:15:16.168865+00:00, sha 491abdac3522)
  - site_page: https://hibernate.org/search (fetched 2026-08-29T12:15:16.173952+00:00, sha c6c9c50c37ad)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.