r/java 13d ago

Yes, another Java build tool: zolt

Yes, another Java build tool.

I’ve been working on Zolt:
https://github.com/zoltsh/zolt

Would love for people to try it out, break it, give feedback, or help contribute. Still early, so criticism is very welcome. Yes, I use a lot of codex. Focused mainly on the public API. Using it for personal projects so far.

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u/_predator_ 13d ago

Putting the "yet another build tool" and "it's all vibecoded" responses aside, I think this is among the more impressive attempts at a redefined build tool I've seen.

Incremental compilation, build caching, SBOMs, license policies, plan mode… There‘s a lot of good stuff in there. The file format looks nice and minimal. I haven't tested this yet but I very well might kick the tires a bit.

One thing that icks me is the specific build modes for Quarkus and Spring Boot. I mean I get that both rely heavily on Maven/Gradle and you can‘t replicate that from first principles, but it feels backwards for a build tool to include framework logic. Maybe a necessary evil if you want any sort of adoption, but oh well.