Persistent "cannot find symbol method parserBuilder()" in Codespaces with JJWT 0.12.5 and Java 21

[mahidar-br]

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I'm experiencing a critical compilation error (cannot find symbol method parserBuilder()) when building my Spring Boot application in a GitHub Codespace. This issue has persisted despite extensive troubleshooting, including multiple Codespace recreations, and seems to indicate an underlying environmental problem specific to Codespaces.

Problem:
When running ./mvnw clean install -U, the build fails with a Compilation Failure error, specifically stating that method parserBuilder() cannot be found on io.jsonwebtoken.Jwts in JwtTokenProvider.java.

Error Snippet:

[ERROR] /workspaces/marriage-brokerage-app/src/main/java/com/marriagebureau/security/JwtTokenProvider.java:[60,29] cannot find symbol
symbol: method parserBuilder()
location: class io.jsonwebtoken.Jwts
[ERROR] /workspaces/marriage-brokerage-app/src/main/java/com/marriagebureau/security/JwtTokenProvider.java:[71,17] cannot find symbol
symbol: method parserBuilder()
location: class io.jsonwebtoken.Jwts
[ERROR] /workspaces/marriage-brokerage-app/src/main/java/com/marriagebureau/security/JwtTokenProvider.java:[91,29] cannot find symbol
symbol: method parserBuilder()
location: class io.jsonwebtoken.Jwts
[INFO] 3 errors
Environment Details:
Platform: GitHub Codespaces

Java Version (within Codespace): javac 21.0.7 (confirmed via javac -version in terminal)

Project URL: https://github.com/The-Madmaster/marriage-brokerage-app

Project Type: Spring Boot (using spring-boot-starter-parent v3.2.5)

JJWT Version: 0.12.5 (as declared in pom.xml)

Steps to Reproduce:
Open the repository (https://github.com/The-Madmaster/marriage-brokerage-app) in a new GitHub Codespace.

Open the integrated terminal.

Run the command: ./mvnw clean install -U

Observe the COMPILATION ERROR related to parserBuilder().

pom.xml Snippet (relevant dependencies and compiler plugin):
XML

21 1.18.32 0.12.5 io.jsonwebtoken jjwt-api ${jjwt.version} io.jsonwebtoken jjwt-impl ${jjwt.version} compile io.jsonwebtoken jjwt-jackson ${jjwt.version} compile

</dependencies>

org.apache.maven.plugins maven-compiler-plugin 3.11.0 ${java.version} ${java.version} ${java.version} org.projectlombok lombok ${lombok.version} JwtTokenProvider.java Snippet (relevant methods): Java

import io.jsonwebtoken.Claims;
import io.jsonwebtoken.ExpiredJwtException;
import io.jsonwebtoken.Jwts;
import io.jsonwebtoken.MalformedJwtException;
// ... other imports ...

// ... class definition ...

// Extracts the user email (subject) from the JWT token.
public String getUserEmailFromJWT(String token) {
    Claims claims = Jwts.parserBuilder() // <--- Error here
            .setSigningKey(key())
            .build()
            .parseClaimsJws(token)
            .getBody();
    return claims.getSubject();
}

// Validates the JWT token.
public boolean validateToken(String token) {
    try {
        Jwts.parserBuilder() // <--- Error here
                .setSigningKey(key())
                .build()
                .parseClaimsJws(token);
        return true;
    } catch (SignatureException ex) {
        // ...
    } // ... other catches ...
    return false;
}

public Long getUserIdFromJWT(String token) {
    Claims claims = Jwts.parserBuilder() // <--- Error here
            .setSigningKey(key())
            .build()
            .parseClaimsJws(token)
            .getBody();
    return ((Number) claims.get("userId")).longValue();
}

}
Troubleshooting Steps Already Taken (and their outcomes):
Deleted and recreated Codespace multiple times: The error persists across fresh Codespace instances.

Aggressively cleaned Maven local repository: Ran rm -rf ~/.m2/repository/io/jsonwebtoken/* and rm -rf target before mvnw clean install -U. JJWT JARs (0.12.5) are re-downloaded but the error remains.

Verified pom.xml JJWT dependencies: Confirmed jjwt-api, jjwt-impl, jjwt-jackson are all 0.12.5.

Changed jjwt-impl and jjwt-jackson scope to compile: No change in outcome.

Explicitly set source, target, and release to 21 in maven-compiler-plugin: No change in outcome.

Confirmed javac -version shows 21.0.7: The correct JDK is present and recognized by the system.

Checked JwtTokenProvider.java imports: import io.jsonwebtoken.Jwts; is correct, and no conflicting imports are present. The code is syntactically valid for JJWT 0.11.0+.

Ran mvnw clean install -X for full debug log: The debug log (which is very large) shows standard dependency resolution but still results in the same compilation error.

Additional Context:
GitHub's own dependency graph (from the generated SPDX JSON) also confirms io.jsonwebtoken:jjwt-api@0.12.5, jjwt-impl@0.12.5, and jjwt-jackson@0.12.5 as recognized dependencies.

This problem seems to be isolated to the Codespaces environment, as similar configurations work outside of Codespaces.

Expected Outcome:
The project should compile successfully without the cannot find symbol method parserBuilder() error, as all dependencies and Java versions are correctly configured.

[Chamath-Adithya]

It looks like your issue with Jwts.parserBuilder() not being found is a dependency resolution / classpath problem rather than a problem with your code. A few things to check specifically in GitHub Codespaces:

1. Ensure all required JJWT JARs are included

   • JJWT 0.12.5 separates the API, implementation, and Jackson modules. You must have all three:

     <dependency>
         <groupId>io.jsonwebtoken</groupId>
         <artifactId>jjwt-api</artifactId>
         <version>0.12.5</version>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
         <groupId>io.jsonwebtoken</groupId>
         <artifactId>jjwt-impl</artifactId>
         <version>0.12.5</version>
         <scope>runtime</scope>
     </dependency>
     <dependency>
         <groupId>io.jsonwebtoken</groupId>
         <artifactId>jjwt-jackson</artifactId>
         <version>0.12.5</version>
         <scope>runtime</scope>
     </dependency>

     Notice that jjwt-impl and jjwt-jackson should be runtime, not compile. Setting them as compile can sometimes confuse the compiler if multiple versions are resolved in Codespaces.

2. Force Maven to update dependencies

   ./mvnw dependency:purge-local-repository
   ./mvnw clean install -U

   This ensures that Codespaces doesn’t use stale or cached versions from .m2/repository.

3. Verify no conflicting older JJWT versions exist
   Sometimes Codespaces’ prebuilt Maven cache or extensions inject an older jjwt version. Run:

   ./mvnw dependency:tree | grep jjwt

   Make sure only 0.12.5 appears.

4. Check module system / classpath
   JJWT 0.12+ requires Java 8+, which you have, but Codespaces’ Maven wrapper might be resolving the dependencies in a different module path. Ensure your maven-compiler-plugin is set like:

   <plugin>
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
       <version>3.11.0</version>
       <configuration>
           <source>21</source>
           <target>21</target>
       </configuration>
   </plugin>

5. Temporary workaround
   If the issue persists, try downgrading jjwt to 0.11.5 in Codespaces to verify it compiles. If it works, then the problem is likely environment-specific with how Codespaces resolves 0.12.5.

In short: the parserBuilder() method exists in JJWT 0.11+, so the compilation error indicates that the runtime or compiler is not actually seeing the 0.12.5 API classes. Ensuring proper scopes (runtime for jjwt-impl and jjwt-jackson) and purging Maven’s local repository usually fixes it in Codespaces.