Installation

jGuard requires JDK 21 or later. This guide covers installation via Gradle (recommended) and Maven.

Prerequisites

• JDK 21+ - jGuard uses modern JVM features
• Gradle 8.5+ or Maven 3.8+

Gradle (Recommended)

Add the Plugin

Add the jGuard Gradle plugin to your build.gradle:

plugins {
    id "java"
    id "application"
    id "io.jguard.policy" version "0.2.0"
}

dependencies {
    implementation("io.jguard:jguard-core:0.2.0")
}

Configure the Plugin

jguardPolicy {
    // Policy source file (default: src/main/java/module-info.jguard)
    sourceFile = file("src/main/java/module-info.jguard")

    // Enforcement mode: strict, permissive, or audit
    mode = "strict"

    // Log level: error, warn, info, debug, trace
    logLevel = "info"
}

Create Your Policy

Create src/main/java/module-info.jguard:

security module com.example.myapp {
    entitle module to fs.read(config, "**");
}

Run with Enforcement

# Run with the jGuard agent attached
./gradlew runWithAgent

# Run in audit mode (log violations, don't block)
./gradlew runWithAgent -Pjguard.mode=audit

Maven

Add Dependencies

Add to your pom.xml:

<dependencies>
    <dependency>
        <groupId>io.jguard</groupId>
        <artifactId>jguard-core</artifactId>
        <version>0.2.0</version>
    </dependency>
</dependencies>

Manual Agent Configuration

Download the agent JAR and run manually:

# Download agent
curl -O https://repo1.maven.org/maven2/io/jguard/jguard-agent/0.2.0/jguard-agent-0.2.0.jar

# Compile policy
java -jar jguard-cli-0.2.0.jar compile -o policy.bin module-info.jguard

# Run with agent
java -javaagent:jguard-agent-0.2.0.jar=policy.bin \
     -Djguard.mode=strict \
     -jar your-app.jar

Artifacts

jGuard publishes the following artifacts:

Artifact	Description	Link
io.jguard:jguard-core	Public API for applications	Maven Central
io.jguard:jguard-policy	Policy model and compilation	Maven Central
io.jguard:jguard-agent	Runtime enforcement agent	Maven Central
io.jguard:jguard-cli	Command-line tools	Maven Central
io.jguard.policy	Gradle plugin	Gradle Plugin Portal

Next Steps

• Quickstart - Run your first secured application
• Write your first policy - Learn the policy language