pmd/pmd

Health v2 · maintenance only

Flags: no_license

Adoption not part of the score

5473 stars · 1589 forks observed · 2026-08-28

What it is AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, 2026-08-29, confidence not recorded

PMD is an extensible multilanguage static code analyzer that finds common programming flaws like unused variables, empty catch blocks, and unnecessary object creation. It parses source files into ASTs using JavaCC and Antlr, runs 400+ built-in rules (extensible via Java or XPath), and includes CPD, a copy-paste detector for duplicated code.

Use cases

• find unused variables and empty catch blocks in java code
• detect copy-pasted duplicated code across a codebase
• lint salesforce apex code
• enforce code quality rules in a ci pipeline
• write custom static analysis rules with xpath
• analyze plsql or swift code for common flaws

When to choose

• you need a mature, extensible static analyzer for java or apex
• you want duplicate code detection across many languages
• you need custom rules written in java or xpath
• you want a cross-platform cli tool with docker support

When to avoid

• you need dynamic runtime analysis or profiling rather than static checks
• your language is not among the supported ones
• you want an ide-integrated linter with auto-fix capabilities

Facets

cli-tool · maturity stable

linter parser developer-tools code-review developer-tools programming-languages testing jvm cross-platform cli static-analysis code-quality cpd duplicate-code-detection custom-rules xpath-rules apex plsql swift kotlin docker

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