bleep.build

What It Is

Bleep is a build tool for the JVM ecosystem, designed to reduce the complexity commonly found in Maven, Gradle, and sbt around plugins, lifecycles, scopes, and task graphs. It uses bleep.yaml as a data-oriented build file that only describes projects, dependencies, templates, JVM settings, and platform configuration; actual custom logic is executed from Java/Kotlin/Scala scripts stored in the code repository.

Core Capabilities

Language support is one of its main focuses. On the Java side, it supports javac, ECJ, Lombok, MapStruct, Dagger, Immutables, and other annotation processors, and also provides Spring Boot integration and Maven import. The gaps are that BOM/dependencyManagement is not yet covered, and Android is out of scope. On the Kotlin side, it supports kotlinc 2.x, common compiler plugins, KSP, and Kotlin/JS, but does not support KAPT, Android, or Gradle import; KSP also currently runs from scratch on every compilation. On the Scala side, its capabilities are stronger, covering Scala 2.13/3 cross-building, Scala.js, Scala Native, scalafmt, scalafix, Zinc incremental compilation, sbt import, and more.

It also provides a rich CLI, including compile, test, run, sourcegen, publish, dependency updates, build normalization, project renaming, diff, invalidated, and other commands. For IDEs, it integrates with IntelliJ IDEA and Metals via BSP. Installation options include curl, Coursier, GitHub Action, Nix, and GitHub Releases.

Pricing and Openness

No commercial pricing or paid plans appear in the main text. The project is distributed via GitHub, releases, Nix, and Coursier, and provides links to plugin source code, which suggests it is closer to a free and open-source tool; however, the specific license is not clearly stated in the captured text.

Pros and Cons

The advantages are a clear model and readable build files, without hiding logic inside plugins or a DSL; broad baseline coverage for mainstream JVM languages and IDE workflows; and documentation that clearly lists what is supported, partially supported, and unsupported. The drawbacks are that the version is still 1.0.0-M10, so maturity needs to be validated; the lack of a traditional plugin system means complex workflows need to be written as scripts; and missing capabilities such as Android, KAPT, and BOM support may limit migration for some teams.

Who It’s For and Access from China

It is suitable for JVM multi-project teams, Scala/sbt users, build engineers who want to reduce Gradle/Maven build complexity, and teams willing to express build logic explicitly as code. It is not suitable for Android projects or projects that depend heavily on the Gradle plugin ecosystem. Access from China is not mentioned in the main text. Installation depends on resources such as GitHub, raw.githubusercontent.com, and Maven repositories, so real-world availability should be tested against the local network environment. Alternatives include Maven, Gradle, sbt, Bazel, and Mill.