How to Enable Lombok in Spring Tool Suite (STS) 4.x Step by Step

Lombok is not working in Spring Tool Suite (STS). This usually happens because Lombok needs to be explicitly integrated with your IDE. Let me walk you through it step by step:

1- Check Lombok dependency in `pom.xml`

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.projectlombok</groupId>
    <artifactId>lombok</artifactId>
    <optional>true</optional>
</dependency>

2- Run Lombok installer

Open a terminal/command prompt and Locate the Lombok JAR inside your .m2:
Run:

java -jar lombok-1.18.38.jar

It will open a small Lombok Installer window.
Click Specify Location → point it to your STS installation folder (e.g., C:\Users\<your-user>\sts-4.x.x.RELEASE).
Select SpringToolSuite4.ini.
Click Install/Update.

This adds Lombok as a -javaagent entry in your SpringToolSuite4.ini.

3- Verify Installation

Open SpringToolSuite4.ini (same folder as SpringToolSuite4.exe) and check for a line like:

-javaagent:C:\Users\<your-user>\sts-4.x.x.RELEASE\lombok.jar

If not present, add it manually.

4- Install APT (Annotation Processing) plugin in STS

Go to:
Help → Eclipse Marketplace
Search for APT or m2e-apt (full name: Maven Integration for Eclipse JDT APT).
Install m2e-apt.
Restart STS.

5- Enable Annotation Processing

After restart, you’ll now see the menu:

Right click your project → Properties
Go to:
Java Compiler → Annotation Processing
- Check ✅ Enable annotation processing
- Check ✅ Enable project specific settings
Also go to:
Java Compiler → Annotation Processing → Factory Path
- Verify Lombok JAR is listed there (if not, add it manually from your Maven/Gradle cache, e.g. ~/.m2/repository/org/projectlombok/lombok/1.18.xx/lombok-1.18.xx.jar).

6- Update Project

Run: Right click → Maven → Update Project
Do a Project → Clean → Rebuild.

7- Verify

Try a simple Lombok class:

import lombok.Getter;
import lombok.Setter;

public class Employee {
    @Getter @Setter
    private String name;
}

In main():

Employee e = new Employee();
e.setName("Rupendra");
System.out.println(e.getName());

If STS still shows red errors, do:

Alt+Shift+O → Organize Imports
Rebuild once more.

✅ If no error → Lombok is working.

1- Check Lombok dependency in pom.xml