PMD MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides PMD static code analysis capabilities to AI assistants.

Features

• pmd_check - Run PMD static analysis on source files
• pmd_cpd - Detect copy-paste (duplicated) code
• pmd_list_languages - List supported programming languages
• pmd_list_rulesets - List available rulesets for analysis

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• PMD installed locally (via Homebrew, or in PATH)

Installing PMD

# macOS (Homebrew)
brew install pmd

# Verify installation
pmd --version

Installation

For Windsurf / Cursor / VS Code

Add to your MCP configuration (.mcp.json or settings):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pmd": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@springsoftware/pmd-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

For Claude Desktop

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pmd": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@springsoftware/pmd-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Usage Examples

Run PMD Analysis

Use pmd_check to analyze /path/to/my/java/project for code quality issues

Detect Duplicated Code

Use pmd_cpd to find duplicated Python code in /path/to/project with minimum 75 tokens

List Available Rulesets

What PMD rulesets are available for Java?

Tools Reference

pmd_check

Run PMD static code analysis on source files.

Parameters:

• path (required) - Path to source file or directory
• rulesets - Array of rulesets to apply (default: quickstart)
• language_version - Language version (e.g., "java-21")
• minimum_priority - Minimum priority to report (1-5)
• excludes - File patterns to exclude

Example:

{
  "path": "/Users/me/project/src",
  "rulesets": ["category/java/bestpractices.xml", "category/java/errorprone.xml"],
  "minimum_priority": 3
}

pmd_cpd

Run copy-paste detection to find duplicated code.

Parameters:

• path (required) - Path to source file or directory
• language (required) - Programming language (python, java, typescript, etc.)
• minimum_tokens - Minimum token count for duplication (default: 50)
• ignore_literals - Ignore literal values
• ignore_identifiers - Ignore identifier names
• excludes - File patterns to exclude

Example:

{
  "path": "/Users/me/project",
  "language": "python",
  "minimum_tokens": 75,
  "ignore_literals": true
}

pmd_list_languages

List all supported programming languages.

pmd_list_rulesets

List available rulesets, optionally filtered by language.

Parameters:

• language - Filter by language (e.g., "java", "apex")

Supported Languages

Static Analysis (pmd_check)

• Java, JavaScript (ECMAScript), Apex, Kotlin, Swift
• HTML, XML, XSL, JSP, Velocity
• PL/SQL, Modelica, Scala, Visualforce

Copy-Paste Detection (pmd_cpd)

• Python, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, Kotlin, Swift
• Go, Ruby, Rust, Scala, C/C++, C#, PHP
• And many more...

Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build
npm run build

# Run in development mode
npm run dev

# Run tests
npm test

License

BSD-4-Clause (same as PMD)

Links

• PMD Documentation
• MCP Specification
• PMD GitHub