Development Environment: Eclipse IDE 2026-03 enhances Java refactoring

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Eclipse, the open-source IDE for Java, C/C++, and other programming languages, has been released in version 2026-03. It is available not only as a standalone development environment, but its components are also used in other development tools. For example, the Java language support in Visual Studio Code and its forks like Cursor are based on Eclipse. In addition to minor usability improvements, there is a new Java refactoring function to convert a class with immutable data into a record data type. Also new are custom templates for syntax highlighting, which the Eclipse IDE offers for around 40 programming languages.

Java Tooling

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The release does not yet support Java 26, which is scheduled to be released on March 17. A preview version is expected to be available via the Eclipse Marketplace around the official launch of the upcoming Java version.

The new Java refactoring function “Convert Class to Record” can be accessed via the main or context menu under Refactor and is also available as a Quick Assist suggestion Strg+1. Also new are the two Quick Assist suggestions for disabling and re-enabling JUnit test methods. For debugging, there are two minor improvements related to usability. If the debugger stops at one of the Lambda Entry Breakpoints introduced in the previous release, the editor now highlights the lambda expression instead of the entire line as before. This makes it clear which lambda expression the debugger has stopped at if there are multiple chained lambda expressions on one line. It is also new that variables and expressions from the “Variables” and “Expressions” views can be dragged and dropped into the Debug Shell.

Platform and Git Improvements

In the settings, under TextMate | Templates, custom templates for syntax highlighting can be created. They are then available during code completion with Strg+Leertaste. The icon of the console view changes depending on the currently active console. This is particularly helpful when multiple console views are open.

Since tags in Git are typically used for versioning and higher versions are usually more interesting, the IDE now lists them in descending order instead of ascending. For the fetch operation, there is a new option that displays the result via a notification instead of a dialog.

Upgrade or Download

For Windows, Linux, and macOS, the Eclipse Foundation offers ten extensible base packages of the development environment for various use cases. The packages contain everything required to run Eclipse and develop: Java 21 and Git, and in the Java IDE packages, additionally Maven and Gradle. The Eclipse IDE packages are available as the Eclipse Installer and as ZIP files.

An existing Eclipse IDE can be updated via Help | Check for Updates. Further information and the new features from the Eclipse projects involved in the release can be found on the Eclipse IDE website.

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