Stop Restarting
SAP Commerce
Edit. Compile. Keep your JVM running. Explore supported Java and Spring changes, SAP Commerce workflows, and clear restart boundaries.
Illustration · supported SAP Commerce reload workflow
Built For SAP Commerce,
Not Adapted To It.
Reloading Java classes is the easy half. On SAP Commerce most of a day's edits are not Java at all: a type in items.xml, a property, a line of text in a locales file, an ImpEx. Reclazz reloads those too. Every item below was measured on a running 2211 server.
items.xml & beans.xml
Saving one runs the platform's own code generation and reloads the regenerated model and DTO classes, instead of ant clean all and a restart. A new attribute still needs its database column, so Reclazz tells you to run Update Running System rather than touching your schema itself.
Spring XML
Property edits in a *-spring.xml are applied to the live bean in place. A changed constructor argument, factory method or init/destroy method recreates that singleton through Spring itself and repairs the beans still holding the old one, and a brand new bean definition becomes available without a restart.
Properties
The platform reads its property files once, at startup. Save one now and the keys whose value actually changed are applied to the running server, through the same call the HAC console makes. Values consumed once at startup are named as still needing a restart, instead of being reported as done, and a key the platform refuses to write stays pending so that saving the same file again retries it.
Log Levels
SAP Commerce keeps its levels in the property files rather than a log4j2.xml, as a name and level pair. Change one and it reaches the running logger, so turning a class up to debug costs a save instead of a restart. Levels you did not touch are left where they are, including one you raised from the HAC console.
Type & Enum Text
Edit a locales file and the new text is served on the next read. No system update, no database write, no restart.
Backoffice Labels
Label files reach the label cache backoffice actually reads from, every copy of it. Reopen the view and your text is there.
Interceptors
Validate, Prepare, Load, Remove and InitDefaults interceptors re-register: the mapping is captured before Spring refreshes the bean and put back into the platform registry afterwards, verified by a real model save that runs the new rule exactly once. A registration that fails says so instead of claiming success.
ImpEx On Save
Changed .impex files can be imported the moment you save them. It is opt-in, because it runs against your live database, and a file carrying a REMOVE header, written out or hidden behind a macro, is named and refused rather than executed. A header macro the guard cannot resolve is refused the same way.
Extension Aware
It reads your extension layout, classpath and classloader hierarchy on its own. There is no per-extension descriptor to write and keep in sync.
Reclazz vs JRebel on Hybris
JRebel reloads Java classes on SAP Commerce, and it does that well. The rest of what a hybris day is made of is a different question, and the honest place to answer it is JRebel's own SAP Commerce manual.
| What you changed | Reclazz | JRebel |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free & open source | $550+/year per seat |
| A Java class | ✓ | ✓ |
| Per-extension setup file | None | rebel.xml for backoffice extensions |
| A type in items.xml or beans.xml | ✓ regenerates & reloads | ✗ not in its Hybris manual |
| A log level | ✓ applied to the running server | ✗ not in its Hybris manual |
| A property | ✓ applied to the running server | ✗ not in its Hybris manual |
| A type or enum name in a locales file | ✓ | ✗ not in its Hybris manual |
| A backoffice label | ✓ | ✗ not in its Hybris manual |
| An interceptor | ✓ re-registered | ✗ not in its Hybris manual |
| An ImpEx file | ✓ opt-in, imported on save | ✗ not in its Hybris manual |
| Licence server & activation | None, nothing leaves your machine | Commercial licence, activation required |
Compared against JRebel's own SAP Commerce manual, which covers reloading compiled classes and configuring rebel.xml. A cross means that capability is not described there, not that JRebel is broken: it reloads classes on Hybris and that is what it documents.
Deep Spring Integration.
Not Just Hot-Swap.
Reclazz understands Spring internals. When a class reloads, beans refresh, mappings re-scan, caches evict and schedulers re-register, and a method you add after startup is found by the framework that was going to look for it.
Spring Bean Refresh
Automatically destroys and recreates singleton beans after class reload. Your changes take effect immediately without losing application state.
MVC Re-scan
Re-registers @RequestMapping methods when a controller changes. An endpoint you add is served on the next request, on an ordinary JDK and inside a Tomcat webapp as well, instead of after a restart. An @ExceptionHandler, @InitBinder or @ModelAttribute you add to a running controller or advice runs through Spring's own selection, local priority and advice ordering included.
Cache Eviction
Evicts Spring caches for classes with @Cacheable, @CacheEvict, or @CachePut. No stale data after reload.
Scheduler Reload
Cancels and re-registers @Scheduled tasks. Changed cron expressions and fixed-rate schedules apply immediately, and a @Scheduled method you add after startup is registered on a stock JDK; removing it, or its annotation, cancels it.
Structural Changes
Add or remove methods and instance fields, and change annotations, on supported JDK 17+ paths. No patched JVM required. An added static field gets its initial value too, without re-running the rest of the static block. An enum value added on the end is applied to the running JVM, JDK 26 included: what that release closes is sun.misc.Unsafe, and the JDK's own Unsafe does the same writes. A changed compile-time constant is named together with the files that inlined it, and rebuilt where Reclazz is the compiler.
Template Reload
Editing a Thymeleaf or Freemarker template takes effect on the next render, with caching left on.
Property & Log Changes
Spring Boot reads a properties file once, at startup. Save a .properties or .yml file now and it is reloaded at its own place in the Environment, so command-line overrides keep winning, a nested YAML value or list reaches the same binding as at startup, and a key you delete falls back to the next source or the default instead of staying stale. The @ConfigurationProperties beans that read it are rebound or, when constructor-bound, rebuilt and re-pointed; @Value fields are re-resolved, computed expressions included. Log levels, and a saved logback.xml or log4j2.xml, reach the running logging context too. An invalid value holds the whole save and says why.
It Explains Itself
When nothing happens, ask why: the build did not reach the class, it is built somewhere Reclazz does not watch, the bytes came out identical, or the JVM has not loaded it yet. None of those produce an error, which is why the log was empty. A second question, what still needs a restart, lists what this session left behind, and says so plainly when there is nothing.
AOP & Events
Clears AOP proxy caches for @Aspect classes and parses an edited pointcut again, instead of leaving every proxy matching the old expression. The one half a restart is still needed for is named: a bean already proxied keeps the advice it was built with until it is itself reloaded. Re-registers @EventListener methods, including ones you add after startup, and a @TransactionalEventListener you add fires at its transaction phase through Spring's own synchronization. Refreshes @Async processing.
Spring Data & Security
Refreshes Repository beans. An edited @EnableWebSecurity configuration is rebuilt into the running filter chain, and method security (@PreAuthorize, @Secured) is re-read on the service class that carries it, not only on the security configuration. A @PreAuthorize or @PostAuthorize you add to a running service method, direct or a fixed composed marker, is enforced on both the classic Spring 5 and modern Spring 6 stacks.
What The Frameworks Cached
A reload is only half the job. Every framework answers from what it worked out about your class once, at startup, and nothing tells it otherwise. So an @Autowired you add to an existing field actually injects, a constraint you add is enforced on the next request, an @ExceptionHandler, @InitBinder or @ModelAttribute you add runs, an edited @Aspect pointcut is parsed again, and Jackson stops serialising the shape it first saw: a getter, a setter or a field you add to a DTO is written and read by the next request's JSON. Each one was measured on a running server, before and after.
Methods You Add Are Found
On a stock JDK a method you add lives on a hidden companion class, where a framework's scan cannot see it. Reclazz hands the framework the saved metadata instead: a new @Bean factory registers its product, with collections, Optional, providers and @Value arguments resolved by Spring; a new @PostConstruct or @PreDestroy runs on the next instance and keeps its destroy callback; a new @Transactional, @Cacheable, @Async or @PreAuthorize/@PostAuthorize service method runs through the real interceptors, custom composed forms and both the Spring 5 and Spring 6 security stacks included; an added @KafkaListener or @RabbitListener topic, group or queue can be a #{SpEL} expression and a @JmsListener can reply through @SendTo; an added @Bean factory honours a direct @Conditional or the Boot @ConditionalOnProperty, @ConditionalOnBean and @ConditionalOnMissingBean. A shape without an adapter is named as needing a restart, never silently skipped.
Message Listeners
A @KafkaListener, @JmsListener or @RabbitListener you add to a running component registers through the application's own listener processor and container factory. Before the bean is recreated its existing consumers are stopped and waited for, so a queue is never consumed twice; edits, topic or queue changes, removal and restoration follow later saves. Verified against embedded Kafka and ActiveMQ brokers and a real RabbitMQ container.
Instant Hot-Swap
Redefines classes in the running JVM via the Instrumentation API. Method body changes apply in ~50ms. Zero downtime.
100% Local & Private
No telemetry, no analytics, no license server, no outbound requests. Everything runs on your machine. Your code never leaves your environment. The download carries its licence terms and a list of everything inside the agent, for whoever reviews it on your behalf.
Reclazz vs DevTools vs JRebel
Spring Boot DevTools restarts your entire context. JRebel costs $550+/year. Reclazz is free, open-source, and performs true in-place hot-swap.
| Feature | Reclazz | Spring Boot DevTools | JRebel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free & open source | Free | $550+/year |
| Reload type | In-place hot-swap | Full context restart | In-place hot-swap |
| Application state | Preserved | Lost on restart | Preserved |
| Reload speed | ~50ms | Seconds | ~50ms |
| Method body changes | ✓ | ✓ (restart) | ✓ |
| Add/remove methods & instance fields | ✓ supported JDK 17+ paths | ✓ (restart) | ✓ |
| Added static field gets its value | ✓ (constants & self-contained initialisers) | ✓ (restart) | ✗ (initialiser not re-run) |
| Add enum values (on the end) | ✓ add or remove at the end, JDK 17-25 | ✓ (restart) | ✓ |
| Add/remove an interface | ✓ JBR or DCEVM; stock JDK refuses and says so | ✓ (restart) | ✓ |
| Change superclass | ✗ no JVM redefines it | ✓ (restart) | ✓ loads classes itself |
| Spring bean refresh | ✓ | ✓ (restart) | ✓ |
| New @Service / @Controller class | ✓ supported JDK 17+ paths, wired and mapped | ✓ (restart) | ✓ |
| Spring Security rules | ✓ filter chain rebuilt live | ✓ (restart) | ✓ separate plugin |
| @Bean method added after startup | ✓ supported JDK 17+ paths; collections, Optional, providers and @Value arguments | ✓ (restart) | not documented |
| Handler or callback method added after startup | ✓ @ExceptionHandler, @InitBinder, @ModelAttribute, @Scheduled, @EventListener, @TransactionalEventListener, @PostConstruct, @PreDestroy | ✓ (restart) | not documented |
| Message listener added after startup | ✓ @KafkaListener, @JmsListener, @RabbitListener; the old consumer is stopped first | ✓ (restart) | not documented |
| Jackson property added after startup | ✓ getter, setter or field on a running DTO | ✓ (restart) | ✓ |
| Properties and YAML follow the saved file | ✓ removed keys fall back, constructor-bound beans rebuilt | ✓ (restart) | ✓ |
| Spring XML constructor, factory and init/destroy edits | ✓ singleton recreated, holders repaired | ✓ (restart) | not documented |
| Deleted members stop being visible | ✓ hidden from reflection | ✓ (restart) | ✓ |
| MVC mapping re-scan | ✓ | ✓ (restart) | ✓ |
| Cache eviction | ✓ | ✓ (restart) | not documented |
| @Scheduled re-register | ✓ | ✓ (restart) | ✓ |
| @EventListener refresh | ✓ | ✓ (restart) | not documented |
| AOP proxy refresh | ✓ | ✓ (restart) | not documented |
| JPA mapping picks up a new field | ✓ opt-in (jpaRefresh=true), JBR/DCEVM with ddl-auto; otherwise named in the log | ✓ (restart) | ✓ column still yours to add |
| New @Entity class picks up a mapping | ✓ supported JDK 17+ paths, opt-in | ✓ (restart) | ✓ |
| SAP Commerce support | Purpose-built | ✗ | Generic |
| Open source | ✓ Apache 2.0 | ✓ | ✗ |
The Reclazz column is what the test suite covers, on SAP Commerce 2211 and Spring Boot 2.7 and 3.3. The JRebel column is what JRebel's own documentation describes; where it describes nothing, this says so rather than guessing. JRebel reloads Java classes well, and a blank cell is a gap in its manual, not a claim that it fails.
Works With Your JDK
Reclazz auto-detects your JDK and configures the right flags. Structural changes work everywhere; JetBrains Runtime additionally makes new members visible to reflection.
Measured, not assumed: SAP Commerce 2211 (20 of 20 integration scenarios on a live server), Spring Boot 2.7 and 3.3, Java 17 and 21 plus JetBrains Runtime 25, IntelliJ IDEA 2023.3 through 2026.2.
Standard JDK
JDK 17 / 21 / 25, any vendor- Method body changes
- Add & remove methods and fields
- Spring bean refresh
- MVC re-scan & cache eviction
- Scheduler & event reload
- Change annotations
- Auto-configured
--add-opensflags
JetBrains Runtime / DCEVM optional
JBR / DCEVM 17 / 21 / 25- Everything above, plus:
- New members visible to reflection
- Reflective caches see them without a restart
- Auto-configured
-XX:+AllowEnhancedClassRedefinition
How Reclazz Works
A lightweight Java agent runs inside your application JVM. It watches compiled classes and orchestrates Spring-aware reloading.
What Can't Be Hot-Reloaded
These are fundamental JVM and framework limitations that no tool can fully overcome.
Class Hierarchy Changes
Changing superclass or interfaces is a JVM limitation. No tool can work around this. It requires a restart.
Reflection on New Members (standard JDKs)
Adding and removing methods or fields works on supported JDK 17+ paths. On a standard JDK the new members live on a hidden companion class, so code that calls them directly sees them, but reflection on the original class does not. Spring MVC, @Bean factories, schedulers, event and transaction listeners, lifecycle callbacks, Jackson and the Kafka, JMS and RabbitMQ listener containers get the saved metadata through adapters; a framework without one, Hybris ModelService attribute dispatch for instance, still needs a restart and is named. JetBrains Runtime or DCEVM removes the caveat entirely.
Configuration Beyond a File Edit
A loaded properties or YAML file reloads at its own precedence, and supported XML edits recreate the bean. What still needs a restart: a new config location, profile or import, a bean definition removed from XML, a changed class, scope or parent, and XML definitions with nested beans or managed collections. Each is named when it happens.
Creators, Proxies and Custom Scans
A new @Component class is live, but some shapes stay outside: Jackson constructor and record creators for added properties, a listener or lifecycle callback added to a proxied bean, custom listener factories, Jakarta lifecycle annotations, and frameworks that read your classes through their own reflection. Reclazz refuses these with the reason rather than applying half of them.
Up and Running in 3 Steps
Add the Agent
Download the agent from the latest GitHub release and add the -javaagent flag to your JVM arguments, or install the IntelliJ plugin, which injects it for you.
-javaagent:/path/to/reclazz-agent.jar
Run Your App
Start your Spring Boot application normally. Reclazz auto-detects your project layout and begins watching.
mvn spring-boot:run
Build & Reload
Change your code, then compile. Reclazz hot-swaps the changes automatically. No restart needed.
mvn compile or gradle classes
Frequently Asked Questions
target/classes (Maven) or build/classes/java/main (Gradle) from the classpath. Just run mvn compile or gradle classes and Reclazz hot-swaps the changes automatically.Stop Wasting Time on
Application Restarts
Keep your development session moving with supported reloads. Read the documentation for setup, framework conditions and restart requirements.