sdk

List all available candidates (Java, Scala, Kotlin, etc.)

$ sdk list

$ sdk list java

$ sdk install java

$ sdk install java [21.0.4-tem]

$ sdk use java [17.0.12-tem]

$ sdk default java [21.0.4-tem]

$ sdk current

$ sdk upgrade

sdk command [candidate] [version]

SDKMAN (Software Development Kit Manager) is a tool for managing parallel versions of multiple SDKs on Unix-based systems. It simplifies installing, switching, and removing development kits for the JVM ecosystem.
Supported candidates include Java (multiple distributions like Temurin, Zulu, GraalVM), Scala, Kotlin, Groovy, Maven, Gradle, Ant, sbt, Spring Boot, Spark, and many more. SDKMAN automatically manages JAVA_HOME and PATH environment variables.
Project-specific versions can be configured using .sdkmanrc files. With sdkman_auto_env=true in the config, SDKMAN automatically switches versions when entering a project directory.

~/.sdkman/etc/config

SDKMAN configuration file controlling auto-answer, auto-env, color, and other settings.

Per-project file specifying required SDK versions. SDKMAN automatically switches versions when entering the directory if sdkman_auto_env=true is set.

Environment variable overriding the default SDKMAN installation directory (~/.sdkman).

install candidate [version]

Install a candidate version; latest stable if version omitted

Remove an installed version

List available candidates or versions of a specific candidate

Switch version for current terminal session only

Set version as default for all future shells

Show active version of a candidate or all candidates

Upgrade outdated versions

Display SDKMAN version information

Return absolute installation path for a version

Manage project-specific .sdkmanrc configuration

Toggle offline mode

Update SDKMAN itself

Refresh candidate metadata cache

Clear local cache and state

Open SDKMAN configuration file

SDKMAN requires curl, zip, and unzip to be installed. It modifies shell configuration files during installation. The use command only affects the current shell; use default for persistent changes across sessions.

SDKMAN was originally created as GVM (Groovy enVironment Manager) by Marco Vermeulen around 2012. It was later renamed to SDKMAN to reflect its broader support for multiple SDK candidates beyond Groovy. The tool draws inspiration from version managers like RVM (Ruby), nvm (Node.js), and pyenv (Python).

java(1), javac(1), gradle(1), mvn(1), sbt(1)