agent safety

Agent safety answer

maven builds Java projects and can deploy artifacts to package repositories.

Credential access

Reads settings.xml credentials, environment variables, and repository auth.

Remote mutation

Can deploy artifacts and run plugins that call remote services.

Publish/artifact risk

Can publish jars, plugins, and release metadata.

Recommended control

Gate deploy, release plugins, and credentialed repository access.

Agent-use guidance

Allow test/package goals; require approval for deploy, release, and secret-backed plugin goals.

install

Additional install commands

macOS

Homebrewverified · 100%

brew install maven

provider-native install command

overview

Package summary

Java-based project management

Project links

Homepage

Commands and aliases

mvn
mvnDebug
mvnyjp

history

Project history and usage

Apache Maven is the Apache Software Foundation's long-running Java build and project-management tool, centered on a project object model, dependency coordinates, plugins, and repository metadata.

Project history

Maven's official site describes it as a build tool for Java projects that uses a Project Object Model to manage compilation, testing, and documentation. The Apache Maven source page also shows that the project is not a single repository in practice: full Maven sources span Maven core, plugins, components, skins, and related repositories, with a manifest repository used to check out the whole source tree.

The release history documents Maven 3 as the maintained general-availability line and Maven 4 as a long-running alpha, beta, and release-candidate effort. That makes Maven unusual among CLI build tools: the user-facing command is compact, but the surrounding ecosystem of plugins, resolver components, repository layout, and site tooling is large and separately versioned.

Adoption history

Maven became a default packaging and dependency idiom for Java because its repository model is shared beyond Maven itself. Apache's Maven Central documentation explicitly addresses both projects that use Maven for builds and projects that only want their releases added to the central repository.

Homebrew, Debian-family, RPM-family, Chocolatey, Scoop, Nix, Pacman, and other package-manager entries in the input show Maven's broad CLI distribution footprint outside Java IDEs.

How it is used

Typical CLI use is `mvn` in a project containing a `pom.xml`, with per-user settings in `~/.m2/settings.xml` and project-local runner options in `.mvn/maven.config`, `.mvn/jvm.config`, and `.mvn/extensions.xml`. Credentials for remote repositories and mirrors live in the Maven settings model's `servers` entries, with encrypted-password support via `settings-security.xml`.

Why package nerds care

Maven matters to package nerds because it standardized much of the vocabulary of Java artifact packaging: groupId, artifactId, version, POM metadata, transitive dependency resolution, local caches, and central remote repositories. Even tools that compete with Maven frequently consume Maven repositories and Maven metadata.

Timeline

2002: Apache Maven site copyright history begins.
2010: Maven 3 line begins and later becomes the long-lived GA family.
2023: Maven 4 alpha releases appear in the official release history.
2024: Maven 4 beta and release-candidate series begins.
2026: Maven 3.9.x remains a maintained GA release line while Maven 4 release candidates continue.

Related projects

Maven Central, Maven Resolver, Maven plugins, Maven Wrapper, Maven Daemon, Gradle, Apache Ant, Apache Ivy

Sources

security posture

Risk level: yellow

build system capable of executing project logic.

Risk classifier

yellow risk · high confidence · runtime

Why

build system capable of executing project logic

Signals

override:maven

Install behavior

No Homebrew bottle metadata was recorded.

Recommended review

Before unattended agent use, check whether the tool reads plaintext credentials, writes remote state, publishes artifacts, or shells out to plugins.

local files

Configuration and credential file locations

These source-backed paths show where this package keeps local settings or durable credentials. Automic Vault can use them as review targets for secret scanning, migration, and command approval.

Configuration files

Config paths the tool may read or write during local use.

Unix: ~/.m2/settings.xml

Credential files

Credential-bearing paths to review before unattended agent runs.

Unix: ~/.m2/settings.xml

executables

Installed executables

Command	Kind	Exposure	Note
`mvn`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`mvnDebug`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.
`mvnyjp`	executable	indexed executable	Discovered from the local executable index.

freshness

Version and freshness

These signals separate page generation age, package-manager activity, and upstream release comparison. Version lag is warned only when an evidence URL and comparable versions are present.

page generated2026-08-03

manager version3.9.16

manager updated2026-05-17

local dataunknown

upstreamnot available

latest detectednot detected

okNo freshness warnings were generated.

install metadata

Package metadata

Package key	brew:maven
Version	3.9.16
Package manager	Homebrew
Homepage	https://maven.apache.org/
Last updated	2026-05-17T19:11:46Z
Pulse	updated
Bottle	not recorded
Service	none declared

package graph

Links come from deterministic package relationships, av.db category and tag curation, ecosystem matches, and package hub membership.

source trail

Generated from repository data

This page is generated by av-web from the private package SQLite artifact built by scripts/generate-pkg-sqlite.py.

Combined YAML source

View the package source record on GitHub.

combined/maven.yml

Used sources

Geiger risk classifier
Nucleus package database
curated agent safety answer
curated configuration and credential file locations
curated package history
pkgdb category and tag curation

Install maven with Homebrew